MONTISI www.chicktrips.net/montisi.htm

Cambiano I suonatori ma la musica e sempre quella.
(The melody's changed but the song remains the same.) ---Italian Proverb



		Montisi & the Contrada Lunch ...sounds like the title of a Dr. Seuss book! Along the street the tables were spread. They began to serve a lot more than bread. This meal is not green eggs and ham, These folks can cook! Shazam! Shazam! The wine is good, the food is great... Oh no, here comes another plate! Montisi is divided into four neighborhoods, or contradas, and the Castello Contrada was having a special charity lunch the day after we arrived. Here's what I wrote on a travel website about that memorable day. The subject was The Soul of Italy: "Our brief glimpse into the Soul of Italy happened a few weeks ago in the tiny village of Montisi in Southern Tuscany. Our villa group of 12 descended like locusts on the Castello Contrada lunch - a benefit for the Avis Blood Transfusion Clinic. We were a little nervous about the 'cost', but when we heard it was only money, we were there! Picnic tables with white paper coverings were set up in the narrow street, and awnings were secured overhead for shade. We were served course after course of the local specialties - antipasti of bruschetta, panzanella, pate, and rice salad. Then chickpea soup, pasta ragu, chicken and duck, roasted rosmarino potatoes, mixed green salad, mixed fruit salad, three kinds of cakes, and all the red wine, vin santo, and water one could drink. All for 13 Euro per person - about $13. Southern women can eat, let me tell you, and they still had enough for everybody. It was an amazing meal. The food was wonderful, but they captured our hearts by treating us as part of their village family for the day. They smiled at our fragmented Italian and helped us find the right words, beamed when we cooed at their precious children, and patiently put-up with our flashing cameras. The defining moment came when they discovered that one of our group was a trained opera singer. It was in 'another lifetime 20 years ago', but Mary Ann finally gathered her nerve and sang an Italian aria for them. Well, I truly wish you all could have been there. Their faces lit up like candles and toward the end they were singing softly with her. We were 'in'. They sang song after song for us, entertained us with bawdy jokes, and made us feel totally welcomed. The celebration lasted 5 hours. It will be with us forever." This is Italy! These are the memories that keep us going back... ...and we never know what the next trip will bring.

Montisi & the Contrada Lunch