NOTE: I should have added yesterday that Diana and I do not necessarily share Jonathan's sensibilities about the art we are seeing. We both liked the Pregnant Madonna in Monterchi as well as the Resurrection fresco in Sansepolcro.

We are very excited about the whole family being together and returning to Lerici--one of our favorite haunts. A great way to celebrate Diana's birthday.....three days in Lerici and three days in Rome.

Can Italy survive all the Zurer's in one place?
Today that question will be answered.

But first, all's well in Piero land. We head to the Museo Civico to see the della Francesca collection. there are two masterpieces and lots of other stuff. some minor works, some things inspired by della Francesca, some local history. All in a pretty impressive palazzo. I still remain unmoved. I can see why he is important. He lived just as (and helped
cause) the changeover in the early Renaissance, from purely religious iconictry (not a word, but I like it) to more realistic representations (both secular and non). And I can see, in his work, the transition from flat, oddly colored, plain religious work to more authentic human forms, more realistic heads, bodies, and hands. As well as using more interesting backdrops, even for religious themes: using landscapes and detailed urban views (leading to "the Ideal City") in his Madonna's and Last Suppers. And his use of light and shadow, just like the Dutch.
Then, he ends up with portraits, as far from the church as you can get, all in the span of 70 years, in the 15th Century, no less (Jonathan's art history tour brought to you to relieve his mother, so that she doesn't think he's an ignoramous). It just doesn't excite me.

So we depart Sansepolcro. A nice little medieval town.

On to Lerici. We hit the autostrada (after paralleling an autostrada under construction for several km...it's a hell of an engineering job, all bridges and tunnels through the mountains of central Tuscany) and decide to stop in Lucca, where the parents had spent two weeks last fall studying Italian. We are motivated to get there before 1 PM in order to hit the chocolate store that they often frequented. I must drive fast. We happen to end up behind a police car...who seems to be messing with the motorists. He changes speeds, dropping well below the speed limit, weaves into and out of traffic, tailgates another car, but never pulls anyone over. It's unclear why...maybe just a powertrip....Luckily he heads a different direction, freeing me to go fast (I flirt with 165 km/hr...around 100mph and am getting passed like I'm standing still). We pull into Lucca and immediately head into the old city. Lucca is a walled city, not a hill town, that was overlooked during the wars of the Renaissance, so it has survived remarkably well. The walls are intact, there are many towers, and great old streets, buildings, and piazzas.
It's now a moderately wealthy place and is just getting to be a little over touristed. But it's great...a real Italian experience.

We manage to park down the street from the chocolate shop (completely illegally...we shouldn't even be driving inside the walls) and get there with a few minutes to spare. Dad and I run in and return with our booty, large pieces of 'bark', flat pans of dark chocolate with nuts or puffed rice broken into large bricks, bags of plain milk and dark chocolate and what turns out to be Sugar Puffs Cereal...puffed rice coated in caramel.
Then we head over to a hotel in the center where my parent's once stayed and my father has sent many of his travel clients. He is friendly with the owner and wants to say hi. We park right in front (again, completely illegal....but it's Italy!). He's not there unfortunately...it's his day off. We decide to head to the market in the square next door to buy some lunch stuff. No luck...it's not a food market, so it's around the corner to find a store that's still open. and voila...there's a little butcher shop....some mortadella, some proscuitto, a couple of rolls, and some water and we are set. back to the car and we're off. Luckily my parent's know the town very well, so they direct me out of the old center with ease...no small feat.

We pull into Lerici about 45 minutes later. The Hotel Doria Park is an old favorite. It's very modern and not terribly fancy, but it's comfortable, extremely friendly, and in a great location with great views. We pull in and immediately head up to my parent's room. They have rented the top floor suite for the celebration...the room is tiny, but the attached balcony takes up half the roof. I'm pretty sure there is more square footage than my house. there's a table and chairs, chaise lounges and a hot tub. Plus superb views of the the Golf of La Spezia and the town of Lerici. As we are sitting up here eating out lunch, Michael and Seth pull in. The Hotel is set on the side of a very steep mountain, with the terraces of the town working their way to the water.
The entrance to the hotel is above this 6th floor rooftop and you drive down several switch backs on the driveway to get to the parking area behind the hotel (and then down several flights of stairs to get to the lobby. So they can see us on the roof and start honking. They come up and we all sit and have lunch (plus the pecorino, fava, strawberries, bread and cookies we have acquired over the last two days and hear about their flight. Michael and Seth coincidentally also bought fava and pecorino and some sausages, so we have a feast. the Fava beans are no where near as good as the ones we had in Tivoli.....

Neither Michael or Seth have been here before, so we head down to the water (there is a 'street' that leads from the hotel down to the port, it's got steps and is quite steep...it's not for cars. Down is great, up is a bit more work) and walk around town. We head out to the jetty and see the guys practicing the bizarre local sport of kayak water polo, watch the fishing boats unload and cruise through the shopping district.
Then back to the hotel for a nap.

We have dinner in the hotel restaurant, a beginning to the week long celebration of mom's 60th birthday. It's not open to the public only to guests, and we have a nice meal. Lots of seafood (a good change after all the meat we've been eating): marinated anchovies (a local specialty), salted red snapper, spaghetti alla vongole, and sea bass with mushrooms and fried shredded leeks...outstanding. Local white wine and a walk afterwards for gelato (I've been falling down on the gelato quotas) and we are done for the night.

It's now a cool evening and I'm sitting on a balcony overlooking the olive trees and the hills typing. Not so bad.