It was only after we had left our next stop, San Gimignano, that we had first experienced a regret that has plagued our future trips abroad: whether to purchase items and have them shipped home or, more specifically, to fork out the dough to buy something that caught our eyes, no matter the cost.
FUN FACT. The town is home to the Blessed Fina, a young Italian girl from the 13th century who suffered from a paralytic condition and spent her short life confined to a bed made from a wooden pallet. It is said that because of her unwavering devotion to God she was able to grant miracles. Upon removing the teenager’s corpse after she had passed away, the townspeople claim to have seen and smelled fragrant white violets emerge from the remaining pallet bed. These “Saint Fina Violets” as they are called still grow along the walls of San Gimignano today.
A portion of the tour included a tasting at a local winery. San Gimignano was in the heart of the Chianti wine-growing region of Italy. Ordering a small case to be shipped back to Seattle would not have been broken the bank! How wonderful it would have been to serve Chianti “from the source” to our friends back home during Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
There is also never a bad time for gelato, Italian ice cream, especially if the town has a Gelato World Champion from the last decade.
