His cousin Luigi came to pick us up from the train station (I know, where is Mario). Luigi is exactly what you want your Italian family to be. He had a wealth of knowledge about his home town, interesting stories and wonderful connections around town. He hooked us up at his friends BnB in Montecarlo, which by the way is where you should film any picturesque RomCom taking place in Tuscany. Having come from Milan, Rome and Florence, Montecarlo was exactly what I was ready for.
Luigi immediately took us to his mom's house to meet the rest of the family and have a homemade meal (which was obviously amazing). We chatted, ate and drank and walked around the house, taking in the beautiful day; I got to hold a goose (she has four chickens, two geese and two dogs; good times). After lunch, we got dropped off in Lucca to go explore this beautiful walled in town (there is a massive wall around the entire town with only one entrance). With the sun on our side we rented bikes and set out to cause some trouble like only Americans can.
After putting in work at the Vespa shop (get your mind out of the gutter, I merely did some fiscal damage), we drank, sat, napped, drank some more then headed back to Montecarlo for dinner.
Luigi's wife, daughter and son in law work in a restaurant called...wait for it... Trattoria Montecarlo. I was not prepared for this dining experience. We put our trust in these wise folks and told them to deliver the most authentic Italian culinary experience. And that they did!
We started with a Papa Pomodora, which I'm convinced I can reproduce on a regular basis. Then we moved on to a bean soup followed by, hands down, the best bistecca I have ever had (that would be steak, florentine steak to be exact). The Wanderer said it was his favorite meal this year and I will have to agree. Re-donkey-pants!!! I'm not even going to attempt to describe the orgy that happened in my mouth, it just wouldn't be fair.
I'm pretty sure I ate and drank equal to my weight and was very content on walking, or should I say, rolling the 100 feet back to the BnB, when all of a sudden I'm pretty sure I hear us getting invited to a birthday party. What? I could barely keep my head from hitting the table; I was overly satiated and now I was headed to a party.
When we arrived, there was a lovely mixture of young and elderly (shout out to my kp ohana) folks and we were quickly ushered into the kitchen where the youth had gathered around endless tortas and sparkling wines. There was a random moment when I noticed that I might be the only English speaker, but I was laughing and joking with the best of them. There were no language barriers, only bridges and we were crossing them (haha, that was cheddary). By the end of the night I had coined the term 'Spaniano', one guy (who was HOT, but had a gf) started suffering from English Terets and The Wanderer became the center of attention. By far, one of the most random, weird and amazing situations that I will probably not be able to recreate even if I tried.
Lucca and Montecarlo are divine and normally I would say 'should be had by all', but I want this one for myself. So back up!
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