Art Supplies And Lunch, Cortona

  Not that we need an excuse to hop over the border into Tuscany and visit Cortona, but it is one of our first day trips after arriving in Panicale. There is a very sweet art supply/bookshop on the main corso that is a "go to" for Johnny to buy painting stuff. He really likes the shop owner, who has been there for decades, it seems.

  

  On our 2014 trip, we hit the road for the 40 minute drive, and were stopped in nearby Terontola by a roadblock. 

  What the? 

  A bicycling race! How fun! Johnny and I found a parking space, and settled in for the duration. There wasn't much of a choice, unless we turned around and headed back home…and besides, we love to watch the Tour de France every year, so we grabbed a prime spot and enjoyed the show.

Wheeeeeee!

Done. Now…. where's the car again?

  Back on the road, we continued on to Cortona, where our first stop was for art supplies.

If you are ever in Cortona, stop into this most charming shop.
About half way up the main drag, on the left.

  I always have a grand time looking at all the books and wonderful stationery in this shop. It's a very easy place for me to kill time while Mr. J  loads up on various art supplies. 

  These small shops are always a joy, and they are treasures, as well. It's always a shame to see any of them go away. We never know when this will happen, and have seen it happen too often. This place seems secure, it's in Cortona, a very busy town…so fingers crossed it will still be around for a long time.

  Next on the list: Mangiamo!

  Always a favorite for lunch, we had to stop into Trattoria Dardano. Especially after all the hard work of watching that bike race. My tummy was growling.

  Ok, my tummy is always growling…

   Trattoria Dardano is a perfect spot for us. It's causal, with simple and traditional Tuscan dishes. On weekends, the place is busy at lunchtime, so we try to grab a table soon after the doors open. We like to take our time here.

Lots of locals here, too.

For those of you who are fans,
this is Johnny channeling Wallace. …
"Cheeeese!"

Me? I'm just excited to be here.
Oh, Pasta, how I do Love Thee!

  After ordering some wine and water, we happily dive into our starters...

Mixed vegetarian bruschetta..

….and fried trumpet mushrooms.
This was a special on this day, and so good. Super crispy and just salty enough.

  You may notice that the above photo of the superb mushrooms is a little unfocused. Why? Well let me tell you. 

  As our pals all know, we go into a pretty extreme regiment of exercise and dieting for several weeks leading up to our trip. Drives family and friends nuts. We are no fun to be around, believe you me. 

  You can just imagine how very excited I might be, confronted with these much anticipated plates of goodness that come our way, soon after arriving.

  Hence the shaking hands, as I take the shots. Also, hence the astounding amount of food we order!

  Yes, all in the name of, ummm…..research? Yeah, yeah... that's it…Research.

This is some damn swell tasting research.

  We can only imagine how good the meat dishes are here. We see the plates go by, and the smells are fantastic. I bet they do amazing things with beef and pork.

  As vegetarians, it's usually a carb-filled wonderland. And we love it.

  For me, it's always the simple pasta dishes here. The sauces are just right, and I can easily eat the whole plate. No problem.

The real deal.
Pasta, sweet tomatoes, garlic, a touch of red pepper flakes. Good olive oil and parmesan….basta.

Johnny loves the gnocchi.
Yes.

Some of our very favorite grilled veggies are here.
The oil has a wonderful mix of herbs, garlic, and spice. Mmmm.

For some crazy reason, we also ordered stewed white beans.
We ate it all, too. So simple, so good…!

  So, after rolling ourselves out of Dardano, we needed a good walk, or nap? Walk, nap? Nap, walk…? We walked. Uphill. Always a good way to wake up after a large lunch.

A perfect antidote for a large, carb filled lunch.
Walk up, up, up!

The view is well worth the hike uphill.
Hi, Lago Trasimeno!

  Besides the walk, we also wanted to see if the tiny church of San Niccolo was open. There is artwork to be seen here, including a dual-sided piece by Luca Signorelli, which Johnny has wanted to see.

  We have tried to visit this place many, many times, and it's always been at times when it was closed. This year, we did it!

Finally, we made it through the front gates!
Woo-Hoo!

  The church was beautiful, and we enjoyed the young man who was the docent for the day. He let us linger for as long as we wanted, and was there to answer any questions we had. We had the place to ourselves, which was so cool.

  Afterwards, Johnny had himself a little "set down", which soon became a full blown nap. Me? I took a stroll for more photo ops.

PS…Note the incline (in the photo below) of that there path? 

  

I didn't have the heart (read: guts) to take a shot of him actually asleep…
Bless his lil' heart…..he would've killed me.

While my beloved takes a snooze, I take photographs….

  Later, as we left town for the day, we strolled through the Giardino Pubblico, the public gardens, which were on the way back down to the car.

A favorite fountain.

Another bench for another nap, on another visit….

  See you next time, Cortona.