EAT YOUR CRUST (#5): There were no problems after we got in and out of the roundabout leaving Florence. We spent the night at Villa Dei Bosconi, between Florence and Siena and found it with no problem. The Tuscany countryside was every bit as lovely as in the movies. The country inn was charming, the dining room had tremendous food, and our room had a bath tub just big enough for two. What more could a guy ask for?

On the road again in the morning, I told Cathy about Bob Shoemaker taking me to Machiavelli’s Vineyard during our 1987 trip to England and Italy. And then I saw a sign! I couldn’t believe we found the property and house where Machiavelli lived when he was exiled from Florence after the Medici came back to power in 1512. We toured the winery and had lunch at the attached tavern L’Albergaccio. More great food from the region and a view of the vineyards.

After lunch we drove on to San Gimigano, the medieval walled town known for its bell towers. While in other cities, most or all of their towers have been brought down by wars or catastrophes, San Gimignano has managed to save fourteen. No vehicles are allowed inside the walls, and walking the small town with a population of about 7,000 was like traveling back a thousand years in time.

Then on to Siena, a much larger old walled city. Just like Florence, we arrive just ahead of night fall and had trouble finding our hotel. We had booked a room in the old part of town and we drove around the city walls twice, before Cathy read in our “Let’s Go” guidebook that no cars were allowed inside. Once we parked the car in one of several parking lots, and walked through a large gate, we had no problem finding our hotel. We checked in, walked back to get our luggage and thought about dinner.

While circling the city walls we had seen a restaurant with a line of people waiting to get inside and decided to check it out. It turned out to be a pizzeria unlike any we had ever seen. There was a long counter with a low glass partition. Behind the glass there were at least 12 different kinds of pizza with 6 servers dishing out the piece of your choice. We just took a pizza box and walked along the counter pointing at a pizza, then set our box on top of the glass partition and told the server how many slices we wanted. The box held 8 large slices, so we just walked on and pointed until our box was full. The entire time, fresh hot pizzas were coming out of the ovens to replace the empty pizza pans.

Carrying the pizza box, we went to the car to get our luggage and a bottle of wine, then back to our hotel room. The pizza was still warm, so we opened the wine and dug in. After the third bite, I noticed we eating our pizza in exactly the same way. A cheesy bite from the tip, then a bite with crust from the right side, then a cheesy bite from the right front. I laughingly pointed this out and suggested we close our eyes when we took the next bites. We both took a bite with crust from the left side. Then a cheesy bit from the left front. Then a cheesy bite from the right back, and one from the left back.

After seven bites of pizza in exactly the same order, I started to think, “This could be the girl for me!”