We left The Poggio and our beautiful view early in the morning the day after the race. Deciding to drive all the way home in one day we took to the peage. As we passed thru – or over – Genova we got to go on the rebuilt viaduct. It only opened four days prior to replace the old one that tragically collapsed two years ago, killing 43 people.

The trip took us past Carrara….

…as well as Trasimeno…

…we made good time and arrived safely back to Papiano in late afternoon.

I’ve been for a few nice rides, the longest of which was 28 km. I finally actually stopped in Olmeto, which I’ve ridden thru many times before – there is a nice shrine as well as a small war memorial outside the church.

The weather’s been mostly sunny and hot, but we did have a bit of a storm yesterday evening.

We took a day-trip to Trasimeno, intending to try out the other restaurant in Monte Buono, but they don’t allow dogs, even outside, so we went on to our usual – Il Ristoro – and had a lovely meal under the trees.

Last Friday Antonio had another dinner at the bar and this one was even more well attended than the pig-roast last month.

We started with a pasta dish, followed by roast pork in a bun, then roasted corn-on-the cob all washed down, of course, with vino rosso.

It was especially nice that many of the younger folks attended, and in addition to the live singer the crowd got into the dancing – a good time was had by all.

A couple of days ago we got the cellar cleared out by some local fellows. As usual we’d asked Antonio if he knew anyone who could do it, and of course he did.

They arrived right around 9 in the morning and it was a good three and a half hours or more work for them. There was so much junk just stuffed in there – old cupboards, bags of crap, loads of old boards, a couple of sinks and a broken sewing machine – years and years of garbage.

One of the only ‘keepers’ is what seems to be a genuine Louis Vuitton handbag – might be good to tote something in if I’m feeling snobbish.

The worst part of the cleanout was five barrels that were buried under the layers of boards – turned out they were full of sand. It took a very long time to empty them one wheelbarrow at a time, as they were crumbling at the bottom and couldn’t be moved while full.

We felt bad, as we hadn’t known about the sand, and offered an additional 50 euros for the extra time and effort – the fellows seemed very appreciative. When they were done they even swept the floor – an excellent job! It would have taken Colin and I forever to clear the space, and we are so grateful to have it done.

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