Giuliano knows alot about this forest...he did his thesis on it when he was in university. It's amazing what he knows about the forest and about the history of Petraia. Here are some crazy facts about Petraia:
- Petraia was settled 2000 years ago when the Etruscan's made a village on one of the hills. There are now ruins where their village used to be.
- The house that is still standing today was probably built in the year 1100. What!??! Is that not crazy!
- Up until 50 years ago 'peasants' still farmed Petraia and all of Italy...the system was still that the Property Owner recieved half of what the farmer made...but the farmer had to buy all of his own supplies, etc. So, the farmer was always in debt and the owner kept the books so the farmer had no idea where he stood financially. That is from the Middle Ages...but this law was only abolished in 1950!!
Giuliano told as a lot more...sadly, those were the only things I can really remember. Oh jeez, I'm getting old.
The walk through the forest was beautiful. There are many old, old chestnut trees, but this one is extra special...it's 5oo years old and has a cavity:
It was amazing. That's me standing on my tippy toes!
We talked about mushrooms, wild berries, wild boars, and wild greens...but the most talked about thing was the wild cherries. They were everywhere, and the trees were heavy with fruit. 
The only problem is the trees are really tall and so the cherries turn a rosy red and then taunt you, 'cause there is no way you're getting them with out some kind of machinary.
We found a couple on the ground and they were delicious.
Giuliano and Michael were especially angered by the taunting cherries and tried their hardest to reach some...
I told Giuliano to use his "Italian Intelligence" (his words) but it was hopeless. The birds will be very happy.
It was so neat to walk around the forest and listen to what Giuliano knew and hear the history of Petraia...it is simply unbelieveable.
Ant, I thought of you the whole time....I even had this gift picked out for you. But 200 euros was a little out of my price range!
They have a number of tasting stations where you insert a card you purchased at the front desk (for 10, 15, 20, or 25 euros) and are able to taste a ton of different wines.
We went to the enoteca with the purpose of buying biodynamic wines, they only had two, but Marco (who knows ALOT about wine) said that they were two of the best biodynamic wines he's tasted.
It was intersting to watch Marco and Samule...but it was hard because it was all in Italian and so I had no clue what was going on. 
Imagine the cork board you could make with all of those!
Growing up we had bees on the farm, but because of my lack of memory the only thing I can recall about the bees was the feeling of sucking honey out of the combs. It was delcious. They let us try some of the honey here but it wasn't the same feeling as I remember from being a kid, although it was still yummy.
She's kinda hard to see. But she's near the top corner and looks bigger than the rest of them.
It was another really fun experience. I have been able to experience such amazing things by coming to Petraia and can't wait for one more month of them! (Yes that's right, the countdown has begun!)
Then on our way to gelato (how could we not have gelato on her last day...doesn't that go against every rule?) we stopped at co-op where Tobey picked up peaches for peach cobbler (oh you thought the gelato was dessert? Oh no, no, no! That was a snack).
That's Antonio. I feel confident saying he is the World's best pizza maker. I can't even handle it. It's ridiculous. 
There were 5 pizzas and we were going to be 5 people. So, yes, that's one whole pizza each. 
