Italia! (Toscana: Siena e' Firenze)

The highlight of our trip to Italy was the 2 days spent in the Tuscany region. If, I mean WHEN, we go back to Italy someday that is where we want to spend much more time. Jon and I both loved Siena and we only got to spend about 4 hours or so there. It was the place we always pictured when we dreamed of Italy - windy little cobblestone streets full of shops and cafes, a great town square, interesting history etc. Probably the most interesting thing we learned about was the story of the Pallio races, the annual horse race between the 17 contradas (parishes) that starts in the square each summer. We also saw Siena’s Duomo, which was started in the 12th century and was finished in 1339.

Also while in Tuscany we had the most amazing meal ever! It was this little restaurant out in the middle of nowhere - Al Chiaro di Luna - that we went for lunch one day. I can't even describe how good that meal was!

We also stayed in the most amazing place I have ever stayed in. A 14th century villa - Villa il Poggiale in the remote town of San Casciano (pop. 4000 and birthplace of Machiavelli). It was a beautiful place that these pictures cannot even capture!










The 2 nights that we spent at Villa il Poggiale, we also ate there and had some fun times with the entire group. We would gather in the great room after dinner and play games, talk etc.







Our second day in Tuscany was spent in Florence. The group had a bicycle tour of the city planned. That was Jon's favorite thing he did on the trip. They rode bikes with electronic radios in their ears to hear the tour guide, both for information about Florence and about how to “safely” navigate the streets. The tour took them to the famous Duomo, the world’s fourth biggest Cathedral, and the Bell Tower. They crossed the Arno River and saw the market, with open sides and top, then rubbed the bronze pig’s nose. The Piazza Della Signoria from the end of the 1200’s held the old government palace and there they saw where the fake David was (being cleaned), and lots of statues commissioned by the Medicis. They saw the church where Michaelangelo and Gallileo are buried and then headed to a great lunch at Osteria dell Olio.

I, along with the coach's wife Donna and her sister Dionne decided to blow off the bike tour and go shopping all morning! We had so much fun in San Lorenzo market and stopping to take cappuccinos and then we met up with the group for another amazing meal.

We finished the day with a stop at the Verrazano family estate, Castello di Verrazzano. If the name is familiar, it’s because this family gave stones to help build New York’s Verrazano Bridge. There we heard about the Chianti wine that this region is famous for and that this family has produced since 1170. Our host Geno was quite the philosopher and taught us all a lot about wine and life. I would love to come back in the summer when everything is green and beautiful. It was such a beautiful place even though everything wasn't in bloom.

Geno, the philosopher

Our next stops were Venice and Milan which I will write about in my next post.