La citta' di Arezzo

On Saturday Gary and I took the train to the town of Arezzo.  This ancient town was once the center of the Valdarno area, producing farm goods, and was also well-known for its ceramics.  Arezzo is about 63 kilometers from our home in Cellai, which takes about an hour to drive or to take the train, so we opted for the train as we would not have to deal with parking.

The Arno from the train.  Fall is in the air and the leaves are starting to turn!

The train let us off right in the center of town, which made for little walking.  We originally went to find a vitamin shop, which we never found, but the town is quaint and vibrant.  It of course has many churches,  

La chiesa di San Francesco

but it is also a small rival to Firenze for clothing, leather goods, and other high end goods.  In the middle of town is a very long street, Via Monaco, that is closed to traffic.  Here you find all the beautiful shops full of wonderful clothing, shoes, boots, perfumes, etc.  Mixed in with the shops are ristoranti, gelateria and bars.  The bars are not like our bars.  The Italian bars are coffee shops where you buy your expresso, biscotti, and panini (Similar to our Starbucks but with a much better selection of items). 

This street is the social center of the town, and it was packed with people doing the “stroll”.  Young women dressed to the nines strolling with arms linked, talking as only Italian women can do with so much gusto; while the young men are slicked up, trying to catch the eye of any number of the women; mixed in with this are the families with children in tow; then you have the middle aged couples walking arm in arm; the grandparents keeping everyone on their best behavior; and finally the teenagers all out to show off to their peers.  We could use some of this type of people mixing in the US instead of pick-up bars.

After our stroll we had a wonderful lunch at a trattoria with Montalcino wine, and pasta of course.  I had tagliatelle with porcine mushrooms, and Gary had spinach stuffed ravioli.  Yum!

Then we happened upon the monthly antique fair, and wandered through the outdoor booths looking at all the silver, crystal, ancient artifacts, furniture and collectibles.  Unfortunately I was too busy people watching to take many pictures, but here are a couple I did manage to take:  there was one place where these hanging statues were suspended over the street, and it was too weird to pass up!