At the recommendation of our good friends, Simonne and Fabio, Josh, Evan and I headed to the Tuscan countryside to enjoy some R&R at Il Fonte Machievelli, Simonne and Fabio's favorite B&B, just outside of Florence. I had to go to the immigration office in the morning for fingerprinting, and Josh had to work, but Friday evening, we made our way to Tuscany, enjoying the scenic drive for the full 4 hour ride.
The township we stayed in, San Casciano, was only about 10 minutes outside of Florence, so from Naples, we simply took the Autostrada the whole way, past Rome, to Florence, and enjoyed not only the vineyards and hillsides, but also amazing, midievel walled cities that you can see perched up on cliffs as you drive through Umbria and enter into Toscana--so pretty! As you view these walled cities, dotted with various look-out towers, you can imagine life back in those mideivel times when a city's position along a cliff or bordering a river allowed for more protection from invaders. Really cool!
Anyways, we were pleasantly surprised by the light traffic---most Italians head South for their August vacations, so we were going against traffic, and we arrived in time to unpack, settle in a bit, and head to dinner at a spot 5 minutes away from the B&B. Hungry, from a day on the road, we ordered lots of food--the Crostini recommended by Simonne, came topped with a variety of things including liver--not my favorite, tomatoes, beans, and wild boar sauce, followed by homemade pasta with the special wild boar sauce of the day, then osso bucco and roasted/seasoned chicken, topped finally off with dessert of gelato for me and a great pastry/cookie type thing with the freshest cream and berries that were to die for for Josh. Evan had his cheerios and was quite content with those:)
The B&B was spectacular. We woke to a stunning view of the countryside from our window, then took in an expansive view of the countryside from the terrace where breakfast was served. It was a buffet of bacon & eggs...which we never see in Naples, ham, various whole fruits, juices, cheeses, rolls and croissants. It was buffet style but the rolls and espressos were delivered to our table. The first day at the buffet, I saw some yummy looking croissants in baskets in the buffet room. Not exactly right next to the buffet, but I thought that maybe we could have them. I grabbed one from a basket, and when I got back out to our table where Josh and Evan were, I saw that the waiter had delivered our own basket of 2 croissants...meaning I had 'stolen' someone elses. Geez..you just can't take this girl anywhere! So..it was kind of embarrassing..not too much..I mean..we did enjoy that extra croissant smothered in Nutella, but I did feel a bit bad. Well..sure enough at breakfast the next day, we had not 2 but 3 croissants in our basket. Josh and I just laughed...my little faux pas paid off for the 2nd day:) ha!
After a leisurely breakfast the first day, we spent a few hours by the pool, swimming with Evan in his new blow up float toy, and then just relaxed poolside while Evan slept in the shade of some olive trees---all sounds very Tuscan doesn't it:) After enough time by the pool and in the sun, we went to lunch in San Casciano where we found one of maybe 3 open restaurants to eat at. You see, in Italy, everyone goes on vacation in August, so it is not unusual to find whole streets of stores, shops, restaurants closed for the month, with little hand-written signs in the windows that say the date they will be back from holiday. So, we didn't have a ton of options, but we found a little place where we sat outside and enjoyed bread salad, bruscetta, pesto gnocchi, spaghetti con pomodoro and some wine. After lunch, we had enough time to head into Florence to check out Piazza Michelangelo, a piazza that offers a panaromic view of the city. We enjoyed some super cold iced-teas while we took in the view, and then headed back to San Casciano for our 5:30pm private wine-tasting appointement at Mangia Cane ("Eat Dog"...a restaurant/resort that was recommended to us). The wines were great and we learned a lot about the grapes, the wines, their process from the Sommelier who served us. After the winetasting we were able to enjoy the view from one of the terraces at Mangia Cane and the food offered as part of a hotel type 'happy hour'. So, even though we weren't staying at the hotel (where prices ranged from $350-$3000/night), we got to spend a lot of time there, and indulge in the spread of food and wines they put out, including cheeses, meats, fried mozzarella balls, wontons, prusciutto etc. A great spread, a great view, and a perfect night in Tuscany.
On our last day, we woke up to the spectacular breakfast on the terrace and then headed out towards San Gimignano and Siena for the day. Both of these towns are walled cities, so you have to park outside the walls and then walk in. In San Gimignano we stopped into an Enoteca for a winetasting. We had told the girl working there that I am learning Italian and like to practice, so she described each of the wines to us in Italian, and conversed solely in Italian for the 1/2 hour we spent with her. Josh and I were proud of ourselves for understanding so much of what she was saying, since technical wine making terms haven't necessarily been part of the Italian vocabulary that we've been learning. In any case, the wines were great, our hostess was nice and knowledgeable, and we walked out of there with a nice bottle of Chianti Classico.
After winetasting, we walked up to Piazza di Cisterna...the site of a 12th century Cistern, but also, lucky for me, the site of the "Gelato World Champion's" gelato shop. Well, the Cistern was something to see, but didn't nearly hold my attention as much as my triple cone of eggnog, chocolate and coconut gelato--now that was GOOD! With icecreams in hand, we strolled the narrow, pedestrian only streets, window shopped, people watched, and then headed on to Siena. We had been to Siena on vacation about 5 years ago, never thinking then that we would be returning a second time from our 'home' in Italy. Weird how life goes. Anyways, on our previous vacation, Siena had been one of our favorite spots, so we kind of recreated what we had done during our previous visit, which was stop in a local deli (which our first time we were totally intimidated since everyone was speaking Italian and the guy behind the counter was like the 'soup nazi from Seinfeld, but this time, with our Italian skills improved, there was little intimidation:), order parmmesan, salami, bread and drinks, and have a picnic in the main piazza. It was a little different this time, since now we had a picnic blanket filled with toys to keep Evan occupied, but otherwise, the day in Siena was reminiscent of our past visit--nice weather, huge sandwiches, great people watching, and totally relaxing.
Amazing how just a few hours drive away and we get totally different landscapes, different food choices/menu varieties, different driving abilities from the locals, and different attitudes of the people. We just love the experience we are having living in Italy and are constantly trying to take it all in, and not take it for granted. Now...where to next....???
Pictures:
-The B&B with a great pool--our room 2nd floor of the bldg behind pool
-Evan just so happy to be in his stroller touring Tuscany
-My Crostini at dinner the first night
-View from our room
-Evan happy to be on the breakfast terrace overlooking Tuscan countryside
-Evan and Josh getting refreshed in the pool
-The 3 of us at Piazza Michelangelo, overlooking Florence
-Winetasting at "Mangia Cane"
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