Adventures in Italy: Tuscany
Yes I am a wino so Tuscany has been high on my list of places to visit. I was even more determined to find a place in Tuscany to get out of the cities and enjoy the beautiful countryside so that is exactly what we did. I could spend weeks in Tuscany and keep finding things to try and beautiful landscapes.
Day 5: Hilary and I met Jenny at the Rome train station (after some confusion about finding Jenny in the large station) and had just enough time to jump on our train to Florence. It was about an hour and a half train ride where we updated Jenny on everything we did in Rome. We went right to Hertz to grab our rental to put our luggage in and then went to explore Florence. We were all very hungry so we went right to Mercado Centrale to grab lunch. Mercado Centrale was a fun place with markets on the bottom floor and an assortment of food options on the second floor. We were overwhelmed by options so we decided to just hit one of the restaurants on the third floor so we could sit down, relax, and give Jenny a good first meal in Italy. We all enjoyed our pasta and wine and were ready to explore Florence to discover that it was raining. I did not come prepared so I just enjoyed the rain (if that is possible when carrying a nice camera). We walked to the Duomo to explore that area. The outside of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is stunning while the inside was very plain for an Italian church. We bought tickets to climb the Duomo, bell tower, and museum. The museum was situated under the church floor and had some original stonework they uncovered when renovating the church. We then discovered a nice long line to climb the Duomo (still raining) and I politely asked the lady at the back of the line how long it would take to get to the front. She told us about 30 minutes but we could do reserve a time which gets you to the front of the line. That idea sounded way better than 30 minutes in the rain, so we made a reservation for the current time and walked to the front of the line. Make sure you do this anytime you visit to save a lot of time. Another gelato stop followed and then we decided instead of walking in the rain, we would just drive out to our Airbnb house and get some rest.
Jenny was incredible by taking on the driving responsibilities for the trip. Getting from Florence to our place in the Chianti Classico area was not fun. The roads are windy and narrow and slightly nerve wracking. At spots it becomes a one lane road and we didn't know how to deal with that. We had to reverse to let a few cars through and the older Italian man took the time to roll down his window and yell at us (we still have no idea what he said). We also took two wrong turn at the end and definitely found the wrong place. Luckily, we were only a few minutes away from our place and one wrong turn found us the restaurant for dinner. The house was adorable. It was a nice little guest cottage with 3 beds (finally we all got our own bed!). Best of all though, it was on a vineyard. Vines were right out the back door and were all around. The sight was beautiful! We also had a hot tub that Hilary and I enjoyed each night to rest our tired legs (always with wine as well). Our host was very nice and gave us suggestions for the 2 days and even called to make us a reservation at the restaurant that was located on the winery. The restaurant was Castello di Verrazzano and again, we enjoyed some wonderful food and wine.
Day 6: Exploring Tuscany
So we had grand plans of hitting San Gimignano, Sienna, and a few wineries and we quickly realized things weren't as close as they seemed. So we decided to go explore San Gimignano since it was a unique town in Tuscany. It is a small walled medieval hill town in Tuscany and known for its medieval architecture. It is as unique as they describe and we enjoyed walking around seeing how modern life was built into such old buildings. We had enjoyed some pastries from Florence for breakfast but coffee was still needed so we found a nice café to sit outside and enjoy the weather. I had my only hot chocolate there and it was delicious. Italians don't seem to drink hot chocolate, but at least that saved me money. As soon as we finished our drinks, the skies opened up and started to rain. We were able to jump in and out of stores and bakeries until the rain let up. It was a beautiful town I recommend visiting.
Once the rain picked up, we decided to move on and find a winery to try. I pulled up Yelp to see what was around there and found a winery about 15 minutes away that allowed guests to visit with no reservations. We were met by the owner in the parking lot who instantly explained the winery and how long his family has been there. He handed us off to another family member who took us to the tasting room. They sat us down and explained that we would get ten wines with several plates of food. It was incredible. We loved the wines, platter of cheese and meats, grandmas soup and lasagna. You were able to try ten wines with significant pours. They walked you through how to correctly smell wine and get the best taste. Now we always have to say "Gira, Gira, Gira" as we spin our wine to release the scent. Service was wonderful and humorous. I highly recommend visiting for the lunch tasting.
After this experience we tried to find another winery on the way back to the house but didn't really find it so instead we went to the winery next to our house. We tried about 8 wines and enjoyed most of them. I was excited to get a few bottles to take home that was created from the vines near my house (imagine my disappointment when I found one of the bottles I brought home on my local grocery store shelf). Next was another nap and then dinner in Greve in Chianti. We enjoyed local pizza and were even more excited for the Nutella calzone. Then off to the hot tub and bed.
Day 7: Cooking Class in Florence
Hilary was very excited for this day since she loves cooking. I was excited to try to make some pasta and hopefully learn some new recipes. We had an early morning to drive back into Florence (we found interstates this time, no one lane roads). We met at WalkaboutFlorence to meet our guides for our 7 hour cooking day. We spent the first two hours walking around Florence, getting some history of the town and their food, and buying fresh ingredients to make the meal. Our group during this part was around 12 people so we had no problem hearing him. I tried my only espresso on the tour and it was the kind that parents give kids to get them started on coffee so it was mostly milk with a little espresso. We learned that Florence doesn't use salt in their bread because Pisa would stop the salt before it could get to Florence so they had to adapt and are still using those recipes today. I enjoyed getting small tidbits while walking around Florence in the sun. Once we had all of our ingredients, it was off to the bus to drive us to the country home to cook. Sadly we met another group of 12 for this and suddenly the rest of the day was a cooking class for 24 which meant we didn't get much hands on time. It was still a fun class once we accepted it wasn't the small class we expected (their website has changed since we booked the class). We made bruschetta, meat pasta sauce, pork and potatoes, pasta, pizza, gelato, and tiramisu. I mostly watched others cooking but we all got to make our own pasta using only flour and egg. It was a lot of fun to mix it correctly, roll it out, and cut it into strips. We also got to make our own tiramisu, so I was able to limit the espresso flavor and actually enjoyed it. We didn't make the pizza dough, but Jenny rolled the dough out, Hilary tossed it, and I added toppings. It was ready in 90 seconds in the wood burning stove and we ate it while enjoying the view of the countryside. It was a great class, maybe a little too big and too long, but we had fun. We were tired from being on our feet all day so it was back to the house to enjoy the sunset from the hot tub.
I will definitely be returning to Tuscany. It is a beautiful area with so many small towns to explore and so many wineries to try. I need to spend more time walking around Florence as well since so many people love this city, but we mostly only saw it in the rain. Next up...Venice.
Day 5: Hilary and I met Jenny at the Rome train station (after some confusion about finding Jenny in the large station) and had just enough time to jump on our train to Florence. It was about an hour and a half train ride where we updated Jenny on everything we did in Rome. We went right to Hertz to grab our rental to put our luggage in and then went to explore Florence. We were all very hungry so we went right to Mercado Centrale to grab lunch. Mercado Centrale was a fun place with markets on the bottom floor and an assortment of food options on the second floor. We were overwhelmed by options so we decided to just hit one of the restaurants on the third floor so we could sit down, relax, and give Jenny a good first meal in Italy. We all enjoyed our pasta and wine and were ready to explore Florence to discover that it was raining. I did not come prepared so I just enjoyed the rain (if that is possible when carrying a nice camera). We walked to the Duomo to explore that area. The outside of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is stunning while the inside was very plain for an Italian church. We bought tickets to climb the Duomo, bell tower, and museum. The museum was situated under the church floor and had some original stonework they uncovered when renovating the church. We then discovered a nice long line to climb the Duomo (still raining) and I politely asked the lady at the back of the line how long it would take to get to the front. She told us about 30 minutes but we could do reserve a time which gets you to the front of the line. That idea sounded way better than 30 minutes in the rain, so we made a reservation for the current time and walked to the front of the line. Make sure you do this anytime you visit to save a lot of time. Another gelato stop followed and then we decided instead of walking in the rain, we would just drive out to our Airbnb house and get some rest.
Jenny was incredible by taking on the driving responsibilities for the trip. Getting from Florence to our place in the Chianti Classico area was not fun. The roads are windy and narrow and slightly nerve wracking. At spots it becomes a one lane road and we didn't know how to deal with that. We had to reverse to let a few cars through and the older Italian man took the time to roll down his window and yell at us (we still have no idea what he said). We also took two wrong turn at the end and definitely found the wrong place. Luckily, we were only a few minutes away from our place and one wrong turn found us the restaurant for dinner. The house was adorable. It was a nice little guest cottage with 3 beds (finally we all got our own bed!). Best of all though, it was on a vineyard. Vines were right out the back door and were all around. The sight was beautiful! We also had a hot tub that Hilary and I enjoyed each night to rest our tired legs (always with wine as well). Our host was very nice and gave us suggestions for the 2 days and even called to make us a reservation at the restaurant that was located on the winery. The restaurant was Castello di Verrazzano and again, we enjoyed some wonderful food and wine.
Day 6: Exploring Tuscany
So we had grand plans of hitting San Gimignano, Sienna, and a few wineries and we quickly realized things weren't as close as they seemed. So we decided to go explore San Gimignano since it was a unique town in Tuscany. It is a small walled medieval hill town in Tuscany and known for its medieval architecture. It is as unique as they describe and we enjoyed walking around seeing how modern life was built into such old buildings. We had enjoyed some pastries from Florence for breakfast but coffee was still needed so we found a nice café to sit outside and enjoy the weather. I had my only hot chocolate there and it was delicious. Italians don't seem to drink hot chocolate, but at least that saved me money. As soon as we finished our drinks, the skies opened up and started to rain. We were able to jump in and out of stores and bakeries until the rain let up. It was a beautiful town I recommend visiting.
Once the rain picked up, we decided to move on and find a winery to try. I pulled up Yelp to see what was around there and found a winery about 15 minutes away that allowed guests to visit with no reservations. We were met by the owner in the parking lot who instantly explained the winery and how long his family has been there. He handed us off to another family member who took us to the tasting room. They sat us down and explained that we would get ten wines with several plates of food. It was incredible. We loved the wines, platter of cheese and meats, grandmas soup and lasagna. You were able to try ten wines with significant pours. They walked you through how to correctly smell wine and get the best taste. Now we always have to say "Gira, Gira, Gira" as we spin our wine to release the scent. Service was wonderful and humorous. I highly recommend visiting for the lunch tasting.
After this experience we tried to find another winery on the way back to the house but didn't really find it so instead we went to the winery next to our house. We tried about 8 wines and enjoyed most of them. I was excited to get a few bottles to take home that was created from the vines near my house (imagine my disappointment when I found one of the bottles I brought home on my local grocery store shelf). Next was another nap and then dinner in Greve in Chianti. We enjoyed local pizza and were even more excited for the Nutella calzone. Then off to the hot tub and bed.
Day 7: Cooking Class in Florence
Hilary was very excited for this day since she loves cooking. I was excited to try to make some pasta and hopefully learn some new recipes. We had an early morning to drive back into Florence (we found interstates this time, no one lane roads). We met at WalkaboutFlorence to meet our guides for our 7 hour cooking day. We spent the first two hours walking around Florence, getting some history of the town and their food, and buying fresh ingredients to make the meal. Our group during this part was around 12 people so we had no problem hearing him. I tried my only espresso on the tour and it was the kind that parents give kids to get them started on coffee so it was mostly milk with a little espresso. We learned that Florence doesn't use salt in their bread because Pisa would stop the salt before it could get to Florence so they had to adapt and are still using those recipes today. I enjoyed getting small tidbits while walking around Florence in the sun. Once we had all of our ingredients, it was off to the bus to drive us to the country home to cook. Sadly we met another group of 12 for this and suddenly the rest of the day was a cooking class for 24 which meant we didn't get much hands on time. It was still a fun class once we accepted it wasn't the small class we expected (their website has changed since we booked the class). We made bruschetta, meat pasta sauce, pork and potatoes, pasta, pizza, gelato, and tiramisu. I mostly watched others cooking but we all got to make our own pasta using only flour and egg. It was a lot of fun to mix it correctly, roll it out, and cut it into strips. We also got to make our own tiramisu, so I was able to limit the espresso flavor and actually enjoyed it. We didn't make the pizza dough, but Jenny rolled the dough out, Hilary tossed it, and I added toppings. It was ready in 90 seconds in the wood burning stove and we ate it while enjoying the view of the countryside. It was a great class, maybe a little too big and too long, but we had fun. We were tired from being on our feet all day so it was back to the house to enjoy the sunset from the hot tub.
I will definitely be returning to Tuscany. It is a beautiful area with so many small towns to explore and so many wineries to try. I need to spend more time walking around Florence as well since so many people love this city, but we mostly only saw it in the rain. Next up...Venice.