Thursday, April 25
We decided to go to Italy for what would be our 4th time. We love Italy and decided for this visit to to see more of the small towns in Tuscany. We prefer the redeye as then we are on the some what correct schedule when we land. We did all the pre trip things for us which are: clean the house, laundry, lock up, drop the dogs off, park at the airport park and ride. Our flight however was delayed a while however, we were in the Delta Lounge so it was decent situation. We opted for Delta One upgrades on this flight because we saw a spectacular deal that we couldn’t pass up.
Friday, April 26th
We landed in Florence, Italy around 5PM and felt pretty decently rested. We took the shuttle to the rental car center and got our ride. It was a cheap new DR, some Chinese vehicle but good enough for us. We drove to the town of Greve in the Chianti region. Next we headed up the hill to our accommodations for the week, Agriturismo Flaciani Patrizia. This will be our 3rd time staying here and we will always go back if it stays quiet, clean and the way it has been. Roberta the main contact and manager is a wonderful person and always helpful! We were super tired but wanted food and wine so around 8PM we head back into town to a restaurant we love called Ristorante Pizzeria La Cantina. We had wine, pasta (Maccherocini with boar and black truffle) and bread to end the long travel day. It was FANTASTIC as always, but something about this meal, on this day at the very end of it was just what the doctor ordered. We went back to the Agriturismo and called it a night.
Saturday, April 27th
This morning we were feeling a bit more acclimated and walked around the grounds of our place again. Little rainy but no big deal. We then drove into town and walked around the square and got some groceries at the Coop. Next we were off to Badia di Passignano for a tour of the abbey. It was a beautiful twisty drive. Well we lucked out by being the only ones there for the english speaking tour. Our guide was a practicing monk from India living here. It was a great tour! Our guide kept challenging us with questions and or statements and then pausing waiting for our response… We are not up on our biblical history unfortunately and felt a little guilty (classic Catholics) but still a really cool tour and beautiful building and grounds especially for it being over 1000 years old. At the end of our tour the monk ended the tour in a area where we were kind of at a dead end and all that was there was a donation box. We said our goodbyes and then there was a pause. I put some euros in the donation box and he then unlocked the huge steel doors that gave way to our freedom. We drove the beautiful drive back to Greve and got some lunch at .. you guessed it Ristorante Pizzeria La Cantina. We tried the pizza (they’re known for) and it was kind of a let down. Then we treated ourselves to some gelato at Gelateria Mordicrema which we’ve been to before and can verify it is still good! We walked off some of the pizza, wine and gelato by heading to a street that overlooks the city and then back to the car and back to the apartment. The rest of the day consisted of wander the grounds again looking at cool things and eating meat and cheeses for dinner and drinking wine of course!
Sunday, April 28th
We had gotten some cornetti, pistachio spread at the Coop when we arrived so this morning we had some of those and some coffee before heading out for our first stop of San Gimignano. We found a spot to park and walked up to Parco della Rocca. It was up on a hill and it was pretty cool to see the ruins and how well they were preserved. We then continued walking around San Gimignano which is just a really nice small Tuscan town to stroll around in! Our next stop was Volterra. This was a new another amazing small town to walk around and just enjoy the architecture, beautiful craftsmanship and history! Katie found a spot for lunch called Panineria Al Vicolino. They were serving up sandwiches and it was pretty busy which was a good sign! Katie ordered for us in Italian and it was fantastic! We would definitely go back again. It was the first sunny afternoon at our apartment so we spent the rest of the day in the vineyard wandering around and having snacks and wine!
Monday, April 29th
We woke up a little wiped from a couple big days and instead of driving to Lucca we decided to hang around area. We did end up going to Montefioralle early and we had the place all to our selves! We’ve been here before but it is still an amazing little town. After walking around a while we headed back to Greve and had lunch outside at La Cantina. This being our third time in three days Alessandro (the owner) came out to chat and gave us fist bumps. He’s a very gracious, kind and generous person! Highly recommend his restaurant. We got more pasta this time. The Pappardelle al Cinghiale and Cacio e Pepe. They were really good! After lunch we went to the Gelato shop and since it was a hot day we got straberry and lemon sorbet. We went back and took a little snooze for a little bit and then woke up for our 4 oclock wine tasting up the hill! Elana was our guide and gave us several different wines, meats and cheeses with some honey! We bought a bottle of the rose to go. We didn’t have enough cash to pay for the tourist tax at that time so we had to give some money to Roberta next time we saw her oopsies.
Tuesday, April 30th
We had our coffee and cornetto and hit the road for Siena. We’ve never been there and were looking forward to it. The roads in Tuscany are very windy and if google says it takes 30 minutes its going to take 40. The other Italian drivers are obviously used to these road and rip through and round these turns and round abouts like frickin wild animals. I tried to fit in but could not. I never went fast enough or took turns quick enough someone was always trying to pass and or ride us. This coupled with google maps changing the directions every 2 seconds going through towns was super frustrating and by the time we got close I just wanted to park. but this is a university city and it was crowded as heck and there was only certain places to park if you were not a student or had certain permits. We eventually found the parking lot we marked and a space in said lot. We started by going to an overlook. It was amazing and early so the city was not yet crowded even with the amount of cars everywhere. We walked around the city for a while seeing Piazza del Campo, Piazzo Publico, Siena Duomo, and many other buildings and walk ways. We went into the duomo museum right at 930 and made our way through. We went up several floors in the museum to an overlook. It was a 360 degree view of the whole city. This was worth it for sure. After getting down from there we got in line to enter the church. We had purchased tickets already so after waiting for a minute we noticed a second line for people who had tickets already. Boom we walk right in in front of everyone! It was crowded in there but was definitely worth the crowds and cost. After this we went to the baptistry which is around the block. It was pretty as well. Next we went to see St. Catherine’s Sanctuary. It was a peaceful little spot to stand quietly for a few minutes. Unfortunately it started to get pretty crazy with dozens of tours and tour buses dropping crowds of people and also we were a little worn out from the drive and morning that we just went back to the car and slowly winded our way back to Greve but first stopped at Castellina in Chianti. Katie finally got some salad tossing utensils she’s been after for a long time. They’re made of italian olive wood and are very special. We walked around a bit more and found a butcher shop that served sandwiches. We ordered 2 prosciutto sandwiches and found a table outside. The sandwiches were garbage. old crusty bread and 2 pieces of meat… We ate half and had to throw them away in fear of breaking teeth. We left and went back to Greve. We stopped in town for some Gelato. Katie got nutella, carmel and milk chocolate. On the way back to the apartment we saw Roberta’s car at the wine tasting area so we stopped in to pay the rest of the tourist tax and chat with her for a while. We had inquired as the name of our building has changed names and she explained that there are 2 Agriturismos and they were owned by brother and sister and the sister (Roberta’s close friend and boss for many years) passed recently and the brother changed the name. We bought 2 more bottles of wine. One rose and one chilled red that I really enjoyed. We went back to the room and just sipped wine and hung out. Tonight we ate in and made gnocchi with pesto sauce. It turned out pretty good and then we just hit the hay.
Wednesday, May 1st
It was a rainy morning so we got a slow start. Katie wanted to go into town to try one of the coffee shops and so that’s what we did. It was a little busy with locals which is how you know its good. Katie ordered in Italian and we enjoyed our cappuccinos and cornneti with pistachio spread filling. We went Gallo Nero for lunch and it was dead. We were the only ones there for half the meal then another couple had come in. We’ve been here before on a previous trip and enjoyed it so we thought we’d give it another go. I had a beer and Katie had wine. We had tagliolini and pappardelle al cinghiale. They were good but not crazy good. We went back to the apartment and started slowly cleaning and packing up our stuff. Later we both were feeling that sad but happy we’re leaving so we went back into town for some gelato. Then we went and finished up all of our groceries, wine and beer for dinner and hit the hay.
Thursday, May 2nd
We drove to the rental car drop off and then moseyed to our gate with time to spare. This trip was a great Tuscan trip. We saw a good mix of our favorites we’ve already seen and a lot of new things as well. We would like to spend more time in Siena. We’ll be back again.
