After that huge meal at Il Tinello we decided we needed a little bit of exercice. Despite the weather being quite menacing, as is often the case in the fall in Tuscany, we thought it would be a good idea to go mushroom hunting.

So we took a little path up the mountains, and soon started to climb up the slopes, in the woods, as good hunter gatherers do.

And mushrooms we found. Lots of them. Invariably inedible ones. After an hour and a half our catch totalled 3 small ones and, and that's what made it all worth it, a huge one (see pictures), found by our friend Luigi, a.k.a. Pupino. I came back with an empty basket, prompting endless taunts of "Loo-oo-ser!" from my son. The problem was probably that we went to a place that had already been searched by mushroom pros (or people who had had a shorter lunch than us!), as this is a very popular fall activity in the region.

It was fun though: we had a good hike in the woods, and we lost some of the extra pounds generated by the feast we had just had. So we will come back

A word of caution: if you want to go mushroom hunting, you need a license, that you can buy for a small fee at the post office. Italians usually get only one for a whole party, and have the holder carry the mushrooms when they get back to the cars, where the police might be waiting (at least theoretically).

posted by michel, 2005-10-06