Under the Tuscan Sun (and Rain)

My parents arrived right on time Wednesday, May 16th, and Ben and I met them at the airport. Ben went right to nonna and gave her a big long hug, and was happy to see grandpa, too! Tim and I went to work Wednesday and Thursday, and left my parents with Ben to catch up on sleep and explore Gallarate.

Friday, we left for Tuscany. We first drove to Pisa to check out the leaning tower. It was definitely leaning! Very strange to see, and hard to believe it is still standing. The soil in the area is unstable, and they have reinforced it several times. For now, the tower is stationary, but leaning 15 feet to the south.

Inside the church in Pisa

Of course, we had to join the line of tourists “holding up” the tower.

We continued on to our bed and breakfast. Luckily our car has GPS, or we would have never been able to navigate all those windy roads and tiny towns. But the scenery was breathtaking! The Tuscan hillsides, with rows of grape vines and olive trees, weathered stone buildings, and the occasional castle scattered about were amazing.

     My actual photos - not postcards!

The silvery trees across the bottom of the photo are olive trees, the fields with rows are grapes.

Our lodging was in a 600 year old farmhouse called Antica Fonte. It was updated, but still rustic and Tuscan with exposed beams and brick. We loved it! We had dinner at a small local restaurant, where Tim and my dad split a Florentine steak, where the minimum size you could order was 1 kg (over 2 lbs).

Our B&B

Saturday, we went to San Gimignano. It was a thriving community in the 14^th century, but the plague, lost battles, and a changing trade route were devastating. As a result, not much has changed about the town since then, so it is now a charming (though touristy) place to visit. We wandered the streets for the afternoon, and found a park and a hilltop castle with stunning views.

That evening we went to Siena, a lively, scenic town where the buildings are the color of the dirt- a color known to Crayola users as burnt sienna. We found a great restaurant and tried the local favorite wild boar. The waiter loved Ben, and brought him some chocolate sauce for dessert.

 First encounter with chocolate... loved it!

Sunday, we planned to visit countryside wineries, but it rained for most of the day, so we didn’t stop. We went to a few little castle towns, Monteriggioni and Castellina, did a little wine tasting (the local pricey but excellent Brunello) in shops there, and had another fantastic Italian dinner in Montalcino, where I had a pasta and chicken in the brunello wine sauce, and Tim again went for the wild boar and a pasta with truffle sauce.

Aging Chianti in oak barrels

 Did some wine tasting (high-end Brunello) inside this castle in Montalcino.
 

It was raining again Monday when we left for Florence. We showed my parents around to the major sights before they caught a train to Rome, and we drove home.