Day in Arezzo

Arezzo, in northeast Tuscany, is one of my favorite large cities in Italy. I think I like it better than Siena and Orvieto as it has a different sort of vibe--more locals, fewer tourists, lots of interesting restaurants and shops--especially antiques! There is a huge antiques faire in Arezzo each month on the first weekend. We've been to that a few times and enjoy it, but today we thought we'd like to see Arezzo au naturale--without all the vendors and hoopla.

We wandered around the shopping district and up the hill to the Piazza Grande, which is on a steep Incline. On our way up I spotted a great shop called La Casa Dei Sogni, full of beautiful home accessories, lighting, etc. It took forever to navigate the narrow maze of rooms chock full of beautiful things. At the end I was overwhelmed, but took Joe back in because I saw something I wanted to hang on the kitchen wall here in Radicofani. We ended up buying it and now will ask Claudio to put it up for us. Here's Joe holding up the ironwork--an architectural design piece that's just the thing to give some interest to la cucina. What do you think?

We found a lovely outdoor cafe for lunch--right on the tippy piazza. On this beautiful, sunny day, we wanted to sit outdoors and watch the world go by. We lingered a long time, having two half bottles of wine, antipasti and a fruit and cheese plate to finish. After a week of gray skies and rain, we didn't want our lunch to end.