P2 Stage 21 San Miniato to Gambassi Terme – 27 km

All day we walked around in a renaissance landscape painting, replete with undulating paths lined with cypresses, Roman pines, vineyards and wheat fields. If serenity can manifest itself on the ground we walk, we can be said to have moved through the most serene and tranquil reality imaginable. Paula called it a caricature of itself, this simple but iconic landscape beauty, but not a cliche.

On our way out of San Miniato we stopped at an Alimentari that would put Dean and DeLuca to shame. A WW2 photo of the bombed street in front of the store hung on the wall. When I asked who dropped the bombs the owner shrugged and said “history is history you cannot change it, it’s only a story.” Later in the day we were at the laundromat taking care of three weeks of horse doo do smelling clothes, where we met the elderly gent that manages the place. “This is the most communist area of Italy, I am a communist, but we thank Americans for liberating us. Biden is making a big mistake not giving Ukraine what it needs to beat back those Russian mascalzoni. Putin is just a thug. Oh and Berlusconi was a great man.” The obit in Corriere Della Sera recounted how when Berlusconi met Pope JP 2 he said: “You and God are like me and AC Milan, we always win.” Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.