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POSTCARDS FROM JOHN & JODY

| JODY JAFFE & JOHN MUNCIE | Postcards from
Tuscany

This is the second in a series of “postcards”
sent to WDT Magazine publisher, Ron James,
from veteran journalists and friends Jody
Jaffe and John Muncie as they travel the
globe. We hope you find them as informative
and enjoyable as he does.

Dear Ron,

Who would have thought karaoke would
be the highlight — so far — of our trip
to Tuscany?

Yes, the food’s been fabulous, this is It-
aly after all. And the countryside puts
even the best postcards to shame with
those voluptuous green hills punctuat-
ed by giant green exclamation marks
of the Mediterranean cypresses. But it
was a kitschy songfest, led by an exu-
berant young Italian man, we remember
most vividly as we write you our first
postcard from Italy.

We were in the stone-walled base-
ment of an old olive and grain mill for
a very large communal Easter week-
end meal (there were nearly 70 of us).
Since this is Italy, where the unofficial
motto is “Mangiare,” we’re not talking
a simple Easter ham with some marsh- cany about 10 miles southwest of Siena. In its heyday of the
mallow-topped sweet potatoes. This meal started with roast 1700s, Montestigliano supported more than 60 families. To-
chicken then continued with sausage, rabbit, pork ribs, lamb, day the surrounding countryside and remaining buildings are
pasta, potatoes, risotto, pizza and a cheese platter, plus all the owned by the Donati family who, since the 1950s, have slowly
Chianti you could drink. turned it into a combination farm and destination B&B.
And because this is Italy there was still more to come: a sweet Most of the Easter dinner dancers were guests at the six farm
pizza-like dessert confection with pine nuts. That’s when the houses that the Donati’s have remodeled into villas. Our vil-
karaoke started. Beginning with — because this is Italy -- “Vo- la is “Pipestrelli” -- the Italian word for “bats,” because that’s
lare.” By the time the after-dinner aperitifs appeared, the song what filled the place when they resuscitated the 200-year-old
list turned to classic rock-and-roll and at the first four notes of farmhouse a few years back.
“Twist and Shout” we were up on our feet dancing. It was after
midnight when we finally staggered back to our villa. Like so many Tuscan villages, Montestigliano sits atop a hill-
side. Surrounding it like a long, flowing skirt are fields of wheat
We’re staying at Montestigliano, a tiny village in central Tus-

70 Wine Dine & Travel Winter 2015