Stage 6: Too many choices!

So great to be out of Amsterdam. Not only does today's stage look glorious, but tomorrow's promises so many choices of food and drink, I'm getting dizzy!

Oh, and one more thing about Novi Ligure, the finishing town of today's stage. It was where Fausto Coppi, legendary Italian cyclist, was working as a butcher's assistant when he went pro. He won the Giro several times, and was also the epitome of Italian heroism and style. When Lance was planning to come back to the sport and do the Giro for the first time last year, he looked at pictures of Coppi to see how to comport himself in Italy. There's a museum in Novi Ligure--Il Museo di Campionissimi--that commemorates his exploits and those of other great Italian cyclists. How could I not love a land that adores its cyclists so? Magical place.

Tomorrow, the race winds its way from Fidenza village, over rolling hills to the sea and Marina di Carrara. From this marina must have sailed the ships carrying massive blocks of white stone hand-selected by Michelangelo for his slaves, for the David, for the massive tomb of Pope Julius II, which was never completed on the original planned scale because Michelangelo was forced to take a side job he felt ill-suited his gifts--the painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. On the roads near Carrara white marble dust covers everything, and I think it was 2 years ago the Giro went directly through there and the riders finished looking like they'd ridden through a flour mill.

Fizenza Village is very near Parma, where they make some of the best cured ham and cheese in the world. You can buy real pieces of parmigiano reggiano at Costco, which is a pretty good deal, and they have some pre-sliced prosciutto di parma by Citerio, which is also the real stuff. Anything else is not really the prosciutto you want to be eating. It's divine wrapped around little balls of honeydew melon, and I bet it will pair very nicely with this slightly fizzy red from Parma. They grow wine grapes in the hills around the city, the Colli di Parma. Parma is part of the Emilia Romagna, which is the food capital state of Italy. The wines from this area taste like nothing else you've tried. I'm still in love with a Lambrusco from Medici Ermite they stock at Silver Lake Wine--the Concerto. So good, and I can taste it now.

Marina di Carrara is fairly close to the Cinque Terre, Porto Venere and the Gulf of the Poets, so loved by Lord Byron and friends. I went jetskiing with my mom once there, a decidedly unpoetic moment, but loads of fun. The Cinque Terre is 5 adorable ancient villages, each with its own dialect where they fish and make wine. Wine from there was found in the ruins of Pompeii. The pesto there is fantastic, being so close to Genoa, where it was invented. You can hike and take trains between all the villages, and there is a ferry that covers the area as well, which gives you great views of the gorgeous cliffs.

Above: Top to bottom, Fausto Coppi, Vino di Colli di Parma, Proscuitto di Parma, Porto Venere, Marina di Carrara