Newsletter July 2014 Dear friends of Galealpe, The newsletters seem to take longer and longer. We have no sooner finished writing when something else turns up that we have to include in it. So now it's finally finished and we have to send it off quick before something else changes!!!!! We left you last year with the upcoming olive harvest. At the time the prospect of spending a few weeks in the sun picking olives filled us with a sense of anticipation and a certain amount of joy. However as it is in farming it never turns out the way you expect. The weather in November and December was miserable (yes, believe it or not the weather in Tuscany can also be miserable). We mentioned the harvesting process before but just let me briefly recap. We do it all ourselves; Dorothee, Martin and the occasional help of Dorothees father Rolf, and constant help (distraction and hindrance) of our dog Gioia. We have to balance the work so that; the first olives that we pick haven't been sitting around too long before we go to the press, and that we have a reasonable amount of olives to take with us. This usually takes us about 4 days. This means of course we need 4 days of, if not good weather, then certainly dry. We had storms, rain, wind and even snow and in the end the harvest which is usually finished in November took us well into December!!!! Olive tree as Christmas tree!!!!
In the end we got through it all, wet cold and very tired and off to the press. Due to the wet weather the olives had taken on more water than usual and as a result produced less oil per weight than in the previous years. However the oil turned out the usual good quality if somewhat reduced in quantity. We really would love to be able to ship it out to our English speaking friends but the quantities are still pretty low and the administrative obstacles remain high. So if you want a sample you re going to have to come and visit! Winter Projects As usual we have used the long dark and wet days of winter to renovate and alter bits of the house. As we mentioned in the last Newsletter we had already transformed the horrible yellow shed at the back of the house into something a bit more appropriate but it was still a bit draughty without the walls. So we found a company which specializes in conservatories and awnings and had them make windows for our winter garden. They are basically just aluminum frames with a thick transparent plastic. But they are; light, removable and keep the room a few degrees warmer when the weather isn t great and when the sun shines we ve had 20 degrees in there when it s only 10 outside. On the other hand as the temperature outside reaches 30 C it s time to remove the windows! We also extended the range of the Wireless LAN so that there is also good reception in there too. It was pretty nearly finished just one little thing that was still to do. We need somewhere to practice Tango but and the room would be perfect, but the floor is rough concrete. So Martin had to get tiling again!!!!
We have been using it to practice Tango but the most interesting part of our new room was probably the World cup final on the big screen. The new apartment Rose After a lot of thought and playing around with many different possibilities and combinations we finally came up with a viable solution for a new apartment. This little apartment for two, is named after Dorothees mother Rosemarie. It s on the ground floor of the original 240 year old main house, and the entrance is from the front garden. The living room/bedroom has wonderful old stone walls, and is equipped with; a small dining table, chest of drawers and a king size bed (160cm x 200cm). In the generously large corridor there is a little cooking area with a fridge and a two hob induction cooker. The bathroom is completely new. In front of the apartment there is a garden table with a view down to Arezzo. We spent a lot of time getting this the way we wanted it and it was ready just in time for the family visits at the beginning of the year. Travel Report We had intended to do a bit of traveling around Italy this winter and get back to you all with stories of the places to go and visit here and round about but what with the late harvest, the work on the new apartment and the first guests arriving in Easter. We simply didn't manage to get away. But as the weather gets better and the towns and villages start to organize their
different events and Sagra (food festivals, mmmmmm) we managed to slip off for a day now and again. One place which we particularly enjoy visiting is Pienza. Pienza is a small medieval town perched on the top of a hill like many others here in Tuscany, however it is special in a couple of ways. First of all it is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is famous for its Pecorino Cheese (cheese made from sheep s milk). The old town isn't big it barely takes 10 minutes to walk from one end to the other. However the views from the town into the Val d'orcia are fantastic and the town has a charm all of its own. The views are fantastic There are of course a large number of shops specialising in selling the famous cheese. Usually at a price no Italian would consider paying, but perhaps the sheer range of cheeses on offer and the smells emanating from the doorways is reason enough to pay a little more. A couple of years ago we stayed a couple of nights in Pienza, which appears to be a rarity for tourists as most just visit for the day and move on. However our stay turned out to be a good idea. Late on in the evening when the majority of tourists had left for the day the Pienza festivities began. This included a display of flag waving and throwing as many have no doubt seen in films set in Tuscany. The second part had something to do with cheese, although at the time we weren't sure, with our Italian in its infancy the words; calcio (football) and cacio (cheese) were easily confused. As it turned out the competition was a form of bowling. Not the American version but more like the British lawn bowling in which the ball is weighted and always rolls off to the side. Except in this case the ball was a large round cheese and the lawn was an uneven cobbled square in front of the cathedral. The teams seemed arbitrary and everybody got to roll the cheese, with the main task seemingly being, to put off the guy who was doing the rolling. We have no idea who won but it seemed to be a lot of fun.
Who's going to be the big cheese? Waving the flag... more info on: http://www.pienza.org/cacio/index.html La Maggiolata in Lucigano On a more recent note the little town Lucignano just 40 minutes away has a particular event every year. It's called the Maggiolata and is a form of competition between the four town quarters to build the most spectacular floats decorated with flowers. Each year has a different topic and this years was Hollywood. Recognise them...? http://www.maggiolatalucignanese.it/ In addition We have also been working on our networking. Obviously we work with a few agencies which send us the occasional guest, but these are purely business and usually end up costing a fair bit of money. However we have friends here who run a stable in the village, and give horse riding lessons. We have now included them on our homepage for those wishing to ride here in Tuscany. The riding stable Volpaia just 5 minutes from us
We have also had a bit more contact with another neighbour this year namely La Vialla perhaps it's not such a household name in English speaking regions but in the German speaking world La Vialla is very well known. They produce a number of very good wines, cheeses, salami and of course olive oil all to organic standards. To be honest we are an Island surrounded but La Vialla and have already lost count of the houses and apartments that they offer for holiday rental. However we have had a fair bit of contact with them over the last two years and send most of guests over to do a bit of shopping. La Viallas fame leads of course to them being booked solid, years in advance. This together with our proximity to them has led to guests finding us on the internet when looking for La Vialla and a slow increase of guests being sent to us by La Vialla when they are full. A win/win situation all round. All manner of goodies at La Vialla Musical interlude Often mentioned in passing but never really gone into in any depth, that Dorothee sang Opera 10 years ago and that singing really is her passion. Here in the land of Opera she rediscovered this passion and started lessons in Arezzo. What started of as just for fun took on a more serious tone as Dorothee took part in a Masterclass course here in Arezzo. The course was a little over a week but the at the end of the week there was a concert in which Dorothee took part. On the Piazza Grande in the middle of Arezzo an unforgettable experience with a fabulous background.
Our Tango skills although still in their infancy are improving and we have joined the choreography group in our Tango school and should have been able to bring pictures of our first performance with the group in this newsletter unfortunately the event was postponed till September due to bad weather. But that gives you something to look forward to in the next newsletter. We are right in the middle of our second season and although we do have the occasional gap we have to admit that we are having a good year and more importantly the guests leave us relaxed and full of enthusiasm for Galealpe. They are also kind enough to go home and recommend us in our internet guestbook, Tripadvisor and Google Maps. Many thanks to them for that. We have guests until the middle of October but if someone is looking for a last minute holiday in Tuscany we still have a few weeks in September in which one or the other of the apartments is free. We wish you all a wonderful and warm Summer from Dorothee, Martin and Gioia (Many Thanks to Angelika for the last four photos) Dorothee & Martin Saunders, Loc. Pieve San Giovanni - Galelape 76, 52010 Capolona (Arezzo) Tel 0039 329/8283949, info@galealpe.com, Homepage www.galealpe.com