The Italian trip

Last night I had the best time. Dinner at Grano with a group organized by the inimitable Roberto Martello (recent winnter of the Jane Jacobs Award for his contributions to our city). This group heavy on people who had or will be speaking at the Centro Siena-Toronto which is run by Laura Ferri.She is a wonderful, amazing, sophisticated woman who has developed an extraordinary program introducing Canadian writers to the people of Siena. Jane Urquhart read from a book of her poetry which has been translated into Italian by Laura and read by Laura. It was an extremely moving peformance.I am going to be leading a tour group to Italy and we’ll have that information posted as soon as possible. The plans are just about finalized to leave here May 26th and return on June 5th. I’m hoping to give an illustrated talk about Canadian gardens while we’re in Siena.If it’s anything like the brio of the atmosphere last night, I can’t wait. I hope we have a great group of people to go with. Tuscany in spring I can taste the olive oil, the wonderful red wine, the food. Oh right and the gardens of course.