This was a burial urn (her head comes off to store the ashes). There's also lots of symbology about holding her prior deceased child on her lap...both that she wants to be reunited in the afterlife, and that women can 'claim' children, which in other cultures only men could.
They had the most amazing bronze work, pottery, and stonework! They had bronze kitchware that was every bit as advanced as mine at home!
Then we switched gear and went to a Tuscan cooking class! We prepared a feast, each course so simple, letting the ingrediants speak for themselves.
I did learn some fabulous techniques that I'll employ in my own cooking! We also learned about agro-tourism here, and that good quality olive oil is litterally 10 times more expensive to produce than wine! Why then are we not willing to pay the $18 per liter that it takes to make/bottle/transport it?
Now we're driving through amazingly beautiful Tuscany...Pavarotti playing on the bus while we enjoy our views! Somehow it's the perfect accompaniment! 
Everywhere I see very small farms with a few acres of olive oil trees, a few acres of grapes, beauful stately rows of tall spikey cyprus trees lining driveways. Wild red poppies grow everywhere...even in the fiids of wheat that are starting to turn golden. Rolls of freshly harvested hay are common. The hills here in Tuscany are gently rolling. Every once in awhile there's a beautiful town, many times high on a hill. The farmhouses are stone or clay, 2 story, usually square or close to it, all with tile roofs. The clay houses are built out of whatever the local clay is made of...most in this area are the color called Sienna...which is the town we're headed to tomorrow. We just passed a town called Brunello...guess what grapes grow here! There are many fields of baby sumflowers...this will be magnificent in August!
We're staying deep in the heart of the land of Cianti tonight...mostly Sangiovese grapes. Looking forward!
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