New apartment and La Foce

 For reasons I won't go into, I had to change to a new apartment.  And frankly, I'm glad I did.  This one is far superior.  Take a look:

And a walk to Conad:

After getting re-settled, I went on an excursion to La Foce.  A fascinating place!  It is the home of Iris Origo, 

who was an amazing woman during the first half of the 20th century.  An anglo-american, born into wealth and privilege.  And as is always the case, met and married into further wealth and status by marrying an Italian bastard son of a Marquis.  They found and purchased La Foce, a terribly neglected estate and farm that is near Chianciano Terme (a hotsprings that is near Montepulciano).  The farm was desolate, smack dab in the middle of desiccated land, completely wretched.  But Iris and Antonio had big plans and those plans spread out into philanthropic work that was very impressive.  She was interested in the lives of the poor, the peasants, and their children.  She started up a school program for  the children of laborers.  She is known for her diaries that chronicle the war years.  Frankly, she was glorious!  An inspiration! And to visit La Foce is to step back in time to a more gentile and fabulous era.

I mean, what more do you need:

I mean.... who hired these doves to coo, these butterflies to flutter, this sky to threaten?:

And of course, totally unplanned by the weather service, an enormous storm of Apocalyptic levels cut loose on the way home... and I had to walk home in it.  Meh... but glorious!