Last Day in Tuscany

Today is our final day in Tuscany and we had a full schedule planned. We got up early and took the train to Florence. Some of our group were dead tired, having arisen at 3:00AM to watch the Presidential Candidates Debate from the U.S..

We toured the famous Duomo in the center of town, then picked up our tickets to visit the Uffizi Gallery. Lots of famous "bible art" from the 13th-15th centuries. Many artists seemed to get commisions to paint "Madonna Con Bambino".

This is one of the most famous art museums in Italy, but it is a pain to visit. They only allow a certain number of people thru every 15 minutes, you have to climb to the third floor where most of the art is located, and the lighting/air circulation systems are ancient. They are working on a new wing and renovations, but in Italy that could take another century.

We walked around a lot of Florence, shopping, eating, and of course, sampling the local gelato. Then we picked up our tickets for the Academmia where Michelangelo's famous statue of David is located. You know, the tall male nude with the big hands that little kids run up to and giggle at because the genitals are sculpted in such fine detail.

Back on the train to make our dinner reservation in Chiusi. Our last dinner in Tuscany. Ristorante Zaira was fantastic. They have an underground wine cellar with over 20,000 bottles. We chose a Morellino di Scansano and a Brunello to go with dinner. The wine list must have been 30 pages long.

Breaking News: Alitalia was saved!. The unions voted to agree with the bankruptcy, bailout, takeover plans, so the airline's operating license was not revoked. Looks like our flight back to the U.S. will take off. I hope they have enough cash/credit to pay for fuel the entire way back to LA.

An American Winery in Tuscany

Back to the Montalcino area to visit Castello Banfi today. It's located in a valley south of Montalcino and north of the Maremma region, separated by a range of tall hills, but still able to get coastal breezes. Kind of like the way the Alexander Valley and Sonoma Valley areas are separated from the coast plain in NoCal.

This is an enormous property - by Italian standards. It was created in the 1970s by the Mariani family from Long Island, New York. Today, it is a global wine company with multiple vineyards throughout Italy and relationships with wineries in Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand.

We booked the entire day here. First to visit their famous wine and glass museum. Then to have lunch in the La Taverna restaurant with their five course tasting menu. And we finished off the day with a winery tour.

OMG - what a meal! And a different wine with each course. I kept a copy of the menu, scanned it, and embedded it in this blog posting. Definitely going to eat a light dinner after this gastronomic feast.



















Breaking News: Today is Alitalia's last chance to be rescued. We'll see if there is a news release tonight. Otherwise, we may have to book the house for another week. My American Express Platinum Card should be able to pay our way a while longer.

Where Do You Park in Siena?

We drove to Siena today for a guided tour, some sightseeing, some shopping, and some wine and food. Caren and I have been there a couple of times before. A great place to visit and lots of photo ops.

I dropped everyone off a few hundred yards from the walled city and started to look for a parking space. I drove around the entire city. Nothing. Dozens of other cars wandering around like me looking for an empty space.

Finally, I gave up, parked in a lot near the highway, and took a cab into town. Come Friday, we are taking the train to Florence. No more of this B.S. trying to park in crowded Italian cities.

The Duomo in Siena is magnificent on the inside. This is the one month of the year they take the covering off the floow so people can view the mosaic artwork underneath.

The Piazza del Campo is a stunning public plaza. To think that they hold a huge horse race around this plaza twice a year, packing thousands of people into the center while the horses race around the inside perimeter. The 17 contradas (or districts) each race horses for bragging rights in the city. Bryan bought a piece of artwork of the Il Palio race.

Of course, we had to make a gelato stop. It has become a once a day tradition (sometimes twice a day).

Breaking News: Still no agreement on Alitalia's future. End of the road for them after tomorrow? A lot of people think it would be a good thing. I called Expedia today and told them to start looking for alternate flights back to the U.S..

Altesino Winery

Today, we drove to just outside of Montalcino (about an hour and a half northwest of our rental house) to visit Altesino Winery. I'm getting pretty good at driving around the windy roads of Italy in our Ford Transit van with its manual transmission.

This is the heart of Brunello country in Tuscany. We've arrived in the midst of harvest season.

We started with the usual tour of the winemaking facilities and the cellars. Then we went to the tasting room. Our guide was very liberal pouring every wine they offered (and large glasses of each one). Sitting atop a hill overlooking the vineyards surrounding the hillside town of Montalcino, this was a hard place not to fall in love with. Erin and Bryan started to really enjoy the practice of wine tasting.

We stocked up on wine for the house to drink during the week. And I bought a bottle of their best Brunello to bring home to the U.S..

Breaking News: Alitalia to cease operations and start liquidation if no agreement on their financial bailout is reached by end of day Thursday. Looks like we are going to be swimming home.

Small Towns, Big Traffic

The house we rented is in the hamlet of Camporsevoli. The nearest town is Piazze, then Cetona, and the "big city" nearby is Chiusi. The house has five bedrooms, a huge kitchen, dining room, living room, swimming pool (too cold right now), and DSL internet service (hooray). This is especially critical for the political "junkies" in our group who need their fix of U.S. political news every waking minute.

We put our toe in the water (so to speak) and explored some of southern Tuscany. We visited the hill towns of Montepulciano and Pienza. I can't figure out why the Italians always built their towns on top of hills. It must have been to protect themselves from invaders or because their sewer systems would work well flowing downhill all the time.

Montepulciano is the heart of a wine area known for its Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a red wine that is a blend of several varietals, with the Sangiovese grape dominant. We tried two bottles at lunch and a couple more at dinner. The verdict - "good juice".

Driving our Ford Transit is an experience. I am becoming very adept at shifting its manual transmission. It actually has good pickup for a lightweight, squarish vehicle.

Winding roads are no problem for me, the driver, but I can sense that some of the passengers are getting a bit car sick at times on all the winding roads.

Traffic in and around the towns is busy. I suppose that it is still the high season for tourism. Even though a lot of Americans may be staying home, there seem to be a lot of European tourists.

We encountered a bicycle tour group when we arrived in Pienza. They were with Trek Tours on a six day trip throughout Tuscany. Some of the bicyclists looked like they could handle any of the hills, but a few people looked like they would be riding a lot in the support vehicle.

A Wet Start to our Trip

Ah, Rome, the eternal city. Oh, rain, and lots of it. We arrived in Rome on a wet Friday afternoon. Driving in from the airport, we passed lots of fender benders and one Smart Car rolled on its side. Looks like Italian drivers have as many problems with wet pavements as we do in LA.

Spending the night at Hotel Forty Seven. Really nice, small, modern boutique hotel. It's near Trastavere, the Colisseum, and the Jewish Ghetto. Caren, Barry, and Laurie quickly found the bar and started sampling Italian wines.

We trudged around in the rain, getting soaked, until we came to our senses and bought umbrellas (imported from China) from the street vendors that appeared out of nowhere. We made it to the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps before calling off our sightseeing due to rain.

Along the way, we had to stop for our first of what will be many gelato breaks. The stuff can become addictive. It is SOoooo much better than ice cream in the U.S..

Later on, the rain stopped and we had a fantastic dinner at Trattoria Giggetto al Portico d'Ottavia. The fried Jewish artichokes were a big hit - can't get them in the U.S..

Heading Off To Tuscany

Today, we take off from LAX on the new Alitalia nonstop flight to Rome. We are spending a week in Tuscany in a house we rented along with Barry and Laurie. Another Luxury Link auction deal. We may have a problem getting home as Alitalia may stop flying and enter liquidation proceedings. There are worse places to be stranded. And there is an unlimited supply of wine to drink.

Our two kids and one of their sons are coming along. This should be a fun time - sightseeing, wine tasting, wine drinking, and lots of great Italian meals.

I reserved a large minivan to carry us around. I guess that I am the designated bus driver. I'm prepared with my EuroAtlas of Italy and my Touring Club Italiano maps of Tuscany and Lazio. Add in Barry's iPhone with its GPS feature and we shouldn't get lost too many times.

Our Final, Activity-Packed Day in Italy

On Tuesday morning, we fly home to LA. We still had a full day on Sunday to see more sights in Maremma.

We had heard that the regional park had some good hiking trails and admission tickets were included in our hotel package. So we put on our hiking shoes and headed off to Parco Regionale della Maremma. The park runs along the coastline where the local river estuary flows into the sea. They have half a dozen different hiking trails laid out thru the park, each trail marked with its level of difficulty.

We headed off on Le Torri (the tower) not knowing what we'd find. It's easy at first - a kilometer of paved road. Then we started to descend a VERY steep trail to the sea. We arrived at a broad beach and then climbed back uphill to an enormous 12th century watch tower. Quite a spectacular view.

Of course, after all the exercise, we needed a good Italian meal. So we were directed to the town of Rio Tinto, north of our hotel by about 30 minutes. Another hillside town with an unbelieveably good little trattoria. This restaurant was also run by a husband and wife team - it must be a good business for a family to run. This time the wife was the chef and the husband ran things out front. They were very nice and recommended a great bottle of Morellino di Scansano from Elizabetta Geppetti's winery (also recommended in W.S.). We're going to need to go back on an intensive exercise regimen after this trip. And stock up on wine from Maremma.

Mortodella and "Wine Spectator"

I know that the words "mortodella" and "Wine Spectator" are rarely seen together in the same sentence, but yesterday we used the words in combination.

During the day, we drove about an hour to Siena. We've been there before, but it never ceases to be an amazingly photogenic (and tourist packed) walled city. After a few hours of walking, we needed a snack. So Caren drops into this small grocery and comes out with a huge sandwich of mortodella and provolone cheese. We then proceed to do what all smart tourists do - we sat on the steps of the Duomo and ate our lunch. Doesn't everyone eat their lunch on the steps of a church?

























The weather was perfect. We climbed atop the observation balconies of the Duomo and got some great pictures of the square where they hold the famous Siena horse race every summer.










A few days before we came to Italy, Wine Spectator magazine published an article highlighting the wines, restaurants, and hotels of Maremma. I made a reservation at a teeny, tiny restaurant in Castiglione della Pescaia that was featured in the article. It was small alright - 5 tables inside and 6 outside. It is run by a husband and wife - the husband is the chef and the wife runs "out front." What a meal! And what great people they are. They had heard about the article in WS, but hadn't seen it. Jordan brought along his copy and we gave it to them. It was a nice gift for them, since we have no idea if Wine Spectator magazine ever makes it to Castiglione della Pescaia.

A Winemaker AND a Golfer!

Erik Banti leads a life many of us dream of - he owns a winery in Scansano, he travels the world to promote his wines, and he's an avid golfer. This afternoon we spent a couple of hours sampling his wines and talking about travel and golf. He specializes in Morellino di Scansano - in the U.S., we call this wine Sangiovese. He produces about 50,000 cases a year (a midsize winery here in Italy), but not very much of it reaches the U.S.. He's negotiating to sign a new distributor in California, so maybe we can load up on his wine when we get home.

Scansano is another one of those "picture postcard" hillside towns in Tuscany. The views go on seemingly forever, the town square has all the little shops you need to survive, and the small trattorias offer wonderful snacks, wine, and meals. Call Al D'Amico. Where's the Keller Williams real estate agent? I want to look at villas for sale.

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Burning off the calories before adding more

After a leisurely breakfast on the patio by the pool, we took a fun ride thru the L'Andana estate this morning. They have several mountain bikes that the guests can use. We rode thru the vineyards and orchards of the estate to burn off some of our food and wine intake. The scenery here is gorgeous and there is only a handful of tourists around the hotel.

This afternoon we're heading off into the hills to Scansano to visit a winery and see the local sights.

Italy's Wild West - Maremma

Today we arrived in Maremma - the southwestern region of Tuscany along the Mediterrranean coast. We are staying at a fabulous hotel, L'Andana, outside the seaside town of Castiglione della Pescaia.

Several months ago we purchased a four night stay on Luxury Link, knowing that we'd want to spend some time elsewhere in Italy after our bicycle trip. Check out the hotel's website to see details about this place - L'Andana. We figure this is the fifteenth travel package we have purchased at auction on Luxury Link in the past six years.

We have appointments to visit several of the local wineries. No bus tours stopping at the wineries here like they do on Highway 29 in Napa. Here it's by appointment only.

We also plan on spending a day in the nearby Natural Park of Maremma and renting bicycles to tour the countryside (we haven't had enough bicycling yet?). And of course, we plan on having some great Italian meals and sampling the local wine output.

On our way from Rome, we ventured off the main highway and drove up to the small town of Pitigliano. This is an amazing town - you read about places like this and doubt you'll ever see one in person. It was built in the 10th century atop tufa stone - volcanic rock. The street are unbelievably narrow.

Located in Pitigliano is one of the oldest synagogues in Italy - founded in 1598. It was destroyed during WW II and restored during the 1990s. There are no longer enough Jewish people in the area to sustain a congregation, so it's primarily used as a museum and meeting place. There's Jordan wearing a yamulke to take a picture of the sanctuary.

This is a picture of the congregation from 1936.

We ate lunch at a fantastic restaurant in this town - Il Tufo Allegro. The wild mushroom soup was to die for. And Caren had gnocchi made out of cheese, no pasta. A good meal in Italy is not cheap, but it can be a great gastronomic experience.

Now we can't wait to try out more small trattoria throughout the Maremma region.