Under the Tuscan Sun, and it's good luck to get pooped on, right?

An addendum to yesterday's entry: I got pooped on by a bird on the Rialto Bridge yesterday morning. I think it's supposed to be good luck, but maybe that only applies when it happens in St. Peter's Square in Rome. Thankfully the bombardier was a little wide of the mark and only got my shirt.

We had a decent drive from Marghera to Cortona today. Left around 9 and rolled in to Cortona by 2:30 or so with a half hour for lunch, a gas/bio break, and more than plenty truck traffic between Venice and Ravenna. Our hotel in Cortona, the "Hotel Italia," is very nice and right in the middle of the "centro storico." Had to park the car outside the walls and schlep some luggage up the hill to our hotel, but we planned for that by putting our overnight stuff in a small duffle.

Cortona itself is lovely. Very small, but lovely nonetheless. There are tons of Americans paying some sort of homage to "Under the Tuscan Sun" and pretending to know about "Super Tuscans" and truffle oil. The town itself dates back to pre-Roman times when the Etruscans had a settlement here.

I had wild boar in a ragu over Pappardelle pasta for dinner at this place called "Ristorante Loggetta" that came recommended by a gallery owner we met. I've never had wild boar before and it was very tasty. Angela had canelloni stuffed with meat and bechamel baked in its own dish and that was pretty good, too. Michele had mezzaluna pasta stuffed with spinach and ricotta and a beef sauce. We all shared a mixed plate of bruschetta; one piece was the "standard" kind, one had grilled radicchio and cheese, and one had shaved truffles. I only tried the one with the radicchio and while a little bitter, it was still very good.

One of the benefits of travelling is getting to have nice conversations across the table with very interesting people. Tonight was no exception. We chatted with a woman who's producing her own travel show to air on PBS in the new year. She's been living in Florence part time for several years while getting her show off the ground. We had a really nice time meeting her. Her name is Tracy Rosensteel and her show is going to be called "In Pursuit of Passion."

Like most of these small hill towns, Cortona goes to bed pretty early. Even the gelato stands were closed when we finished dinner.

Tomorrow is a pretty long drive down to Ravello, but after that we can basically put the car away for a couple days since we're going to be there for 5 nights.