Chiusi

Joe and I haven't been to Chiusi in at least five years. As much as we like this town, we never seem to remember it when we are planning our itinerary. Today we headed there for a pleasant stroll and a great lunch.

There's plenty do do to fill a half day including the excellent Etruscan Museum and the Museo Civico which descends down into the limestone caves below the piazza to see an ancient well and other artifacts. There is also a tour, starting from the Etruscan Museum, that goes underground to see a network of caves and tombs below the city streets. I can't do stuff like that, but I'm sure it's fascinating. We have already been to the museums so skipped them today.

Chiusi has several restaurants, two of which we have been to and can recommend heartily. One is Zaira, and the other is La Solita Zuppa, which means "the crazy soup." It was a gray day--perfect weather for soup--so we headed to La Solita Zuppa for lunch.

The cute and cozy restaurant has so many quaint, homey touches like lace doilies under plates and custom dishes like coffee cups with tiny lids.

The soup menu changes with the seasons and offers at least five choices per day. I had the cauliflower and orange zest with parmesan; Joe tried the chick pea with porcini mushrooms--both delicious!

For the main course, I tried the rabbit stewed in a fresh ginger and lemon sauce and Joe had guinea hen in an orange sauce. Yum!