Right below the town of Cortona, lies Camucia. You can shop for food in Cortona if you have a little grumble of hunger, but if you wwant to get serious, you need Camucia, and there is no better place to find fresh wiggling fish, or parmesan that practically moos to you, than in the open market on Thursday mornings.
We bought beans and cheese and even flowers and underpants, and then our car broke down. Thank goodness in Camucia, people come to the market just because they love the market, with nothing in particular to do. There happened to be guy doing just that, standing and chatting and doing the market thing, who in the flash of an eye, when he saw us stranded, started making phone calls. It could have all gone very wrong, and we could have waved to our car for the last time as it drove away on he back of a truck of someone we had never met, but lo and behold, he was just a nice guy. He stayed with the car, and us until it was fixed many hours later, driving us here there and every where in his own car, and accepted no thanks in cash. The repair costs were miniscual. So tonight, he at least agreed to come to dinner with his lovely wife, and we are going to cook the feast that a true nice guy deserves.