Public art and Panino of the Gods!!

 In Montepulciano right now is an interesting series of statues that have a sort of Dadaist groove.  They are the work of Carin Grudda, a German contemporary artist who love the counterpoint of placing weird, though darling, works of art amidst historical surroundings.  This "silent dialogue", as she puts it, should invite a fresh contemplation of the urban landscape:

Okay.  Va bene. The REAL story of the day is that I finally stopped to try a panino from this tiny place that I have walked by hundreds of times.  It is called La Schiaccia.  It is really just a counter.  You go up, order your panino, pay and they make it.  And you carry it home.  While you are waiting, you can play with colored chalk and leave a message.  This one, a sketch of Dante, is quite clever:

I swear my panino weighed 2 pounds.  But I carried it home, up and up the hill.  Gorgeous.

I must say that I have always shunned mortadella.... with its pink color and those huge, embedded chunks of fat.  But last year, when I had my first authentic mortadella in Bologna.... oh!  It is truly delicious.