Podere del Cutignolo - Day 3: Club Capanuccia and Capalbio

Josh and I were up early. He left to go for a 2 hour ride – which turned into a 4-hour, 100km ride because he got lost. Actually, it wasn’t his fault. The road wasn’t well-marked. Before he left, I discovered a tree frog, wrapped up in one of our towels outside. Josh caught it and put it in a glass bowl so the kids could see it when they woke up. In fact, it was a big hit. Avery was so excited by the frog that he went upstairs to wake the girls up so they could see it. After an ample amount of wonder, we let the frog go on the grass. We also spotted some beautiful butterflies. Life in the country -- communing with nature!

I wandered around the villa most of the morning, trying to get on-line. Ultimately, I was successful but the connection was so slow, it was painful. When Josh returned, we packed up our beach stuff and headed over to the other side of Feniglia beach – near Ansedonia. Today, we were meeting a friend from RIS whose daughter, Vittoria, was a classmate of Avery’s.

In Italy, it's all about the beach club. While there are public beaches (such as the one we went to yesterday), all the action is at the beach clubs where the lettinos and ombrelloni are set up for you; where there is a snack bar and usually a restaurant; and bathroom and shower facilities. Members have the same "set-up" for the summer. Today, at Club Cappanuccia we joined our friends. We had lunch literally on the sandy beach, just a few meters from the water’s edge. The kids played and swam and everyone had a good time. On our way home, we stopped at a real grocery store in Orbetello to stock up.

I was excited to eat fish. I made a couple of Spigola and a couple of Orate and we drank some good Fiano di Avellino that Josh picked up in Rome. Considering that we are in Tuscany, I haven’t seen too many good white wines in the (two) stores yet.

After dinner, a tired Josh and I took a drive up to Capalbio to have a passeggiatta. This town has all the requirements: ancient walls, a fortress, ramparts, a beautiful porta, and authentic restaurants and shops -- ie. not filled with touristy crap. On top of all of that, from its perch atop the hill, Capalbio boasts a fantastic view of the countryside that stretches all the way to the coastline. Of course, we couldn’t take in the view at night, but we’ll have many more opportunities.