As I laced up my shoes and set out this morning for a five mile run over this beautiful bridge not far from my house, I thought about whether I should pack my running shoes for our Italy shoot this time. I took my running shoes with me on our last trip to the Cinque Terre. While we were there the last time, I discovered a beautiful bridge I kept eyeing as a great potential running route. But between our very tight schedule and all the wine research (yes, I said research! We are doing a film on a traditional winemaking culture, remember?), I never did go for a run. And I didn’t have to. The residents of the Cinque Terre are all in fantastic shape. One local man joked with us about how everyone who lives there has “gambe grande,” or “great legs.”
Here’s why they all have such great legs:
I like my coffee to go. So does Krista.
Consuming coffee at work, while starting the workday, has become a ritual for many Americans, and so it is with us. We’ll each order a tall latte and carry it with us to the day’s location. By the time the real work begins, we’re done and probably ready for another.
Not so in the Cinque Terre.
“I have a tomorrow.”
Nearly ten years ago, I repeated that statement over and over again in my Italian class, an intensive crash course I’d signed up for after deciding to spend a month in Florence.
Domanda. Domenica. Domani.
Question. Sunday. Tomorrow.
For the life of me I couldn’t get the three straight, and even years later I find myself stopping to think before I ask a Sunday.
Sciacchetrà (pronounced shah/keh/TRAH; try it with biscotti)
We’ve often been asked (mostly by people not familiar with obscure, hard to get, Northern Italian, non-Tuscan wines): “Ummm, where does the name of your film come from?” Or, “What’s it called? Chaka Khan?”
