Last Trip to Tuscany

Since the first weekend trip we took when we arrived to Italy was to Tuscany, we think it's very fitting that our last trip during our time here was also to this region. This was our fifth trip to Tuscany so we decided to hit a favorite city of ours first, Florence, and then move on to towns that we hadn't seen before - Pienza, Montepulciano, & Montalcino.

The drive to Florence took us just over four hours. Since we have been to this city many times in the past we decided to stay a little outside the city center in a more residential area. We really just wanted to take in the atmosphere of Florence, enjoy the food, and shop at the leather market. We did some damage at the market and we each ended up getting a leather coat... among other things :)

The next morning after breakfast we drove to a very small town outside of Greve in Chianti called Montefioralle (maybe 45 minutes from Florence). There is a small winery here owned by a lovely family. We sat outside in the shade with Fernando, a grandfatherly type, while he poured us tastings from some of his bottles.

After that we drove down to Montalcino and visited San Polo, a winery just outside of the town. The estate prides itself on not only having very good wine, but also because it is very eco-friendly. They are the second winery in the world that has received the CasaClima certification for ecological, environmental, and economic sustainability. The winery is both impressive in design and attention to its surroundings.

Montalcino

Wind tunnels for the cellar below

The natural humidity chamber.

We then drove to Pienza where our agriturismo was located. The agriturismo was situated in such a picturesque setting. High up on a hill with cyprus trees lining the dirt road, we were able to see the countryside for miles and miles. Breakfast was served each morning outside our room, with fresh eggs taken right from the chickens in the coop! It was simply gorgeous and it was the perfect place to end our time here.

View of Pienza from the agriturismo

Our breakfast area

The next day we went to Montepulciano. Montepulciano is a medieval and Renaissance hill town that sits about 2000 feet up. The area is very well-known for its wine and for its regional cuisines including "pici" pasta, lentils, honey, and pork. We walked through the town, climbed the steep hills, and window shopped.

Inside an underground old wine cellar

A sleeping cat

After lunch we went back to the area of Montalcino and went to one more winery. This was a pretty interesting experience as the one who was giving us the tour was giving us tastings directly from the barrels and barriques in order for us to taste different years in the aging process. Another reason we were tasting from the different barrels and barriques is that we were also tasting the differences between the Slovenian oak and the French oak. Even though I wasn't able to taste as much wine as I would have liked (Jon is now drinking for three) I was still able to taste the differences. It was pretty cool!

Pouring directly from the barrel!

Getting samples from the barriques.

We left Pienza around 11am on Sunday morning and started the drive back down to Naples. On the way down we decided to stop in a city named Tivoli, about 18 miles outside of Rome. Just outside the  city is a complex of ancient buildings built in he 2nd century by the Roman emperor Hadrian. Villa Adriana, or Hadrian's villa, consisted of over 30 buildings covering about 250 acres. We were amazed at just how large this complex is - we definitely didn't expect it when we decided to stop by. As impressive as they were, we were done after about 20-30 minutes... after two years of seeing many many many Roman ruins they really all start to look the same and start becoming less spectacular. With a shrug of the shoulders and the words, "Eh, it's more ruins" we called it quits. We hope we haven't become too jaded in our thinking...

Teatro Marittimo

Salla dei Filosofi (Philosopher's Room)

Heliocaminus (Baths)

We could not think of a more serene setting to spend our last weekend in Italy. We tried to take in as much as we could from gobbling on Tuscan specialties like ribollita, pici pasta, and wild boar, drinking the famed wines of the region - Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and driving through the rolling hills and winding roads of the region. We could not have asked for a better end to our time here.

Florence and Venice with Mom and Dad

After we saw Jon off on a train to Naples, my parents and I took advantage of the last hour and a half of daylight left in Florence. We walked to the Duomo, known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The Duomo stands tall over the city with a striking Renaissance dome. The outside of the church is decorated in a mix of pink, white, and green marble and is stunning to look at. Compared to the outside of the cathedral, the inside isn't as decorative, but is nicely adorned with mosaic pavements and large frescoes painted in the dome.

The dome

Of course we had to climb the 463 steps to the top of the dome (was there any question?) On our way up we were able to see the inside of the dome up-close and admire the frescoes. We kept climbing up... and up... and up... and just when we thought that we might not be able to squeeze through another narrow staircase or climb one more step, our legs pushed through the burning because we knew what awaited us at the top. The final step had us exiting out onto the lantern of the duomo and extraordinary views of the city welcomed us at once.

Now we just had to go down...

That night at dinner we had a fantastic meal near our hotel. During dinner the owner made an announcement to the restaurant, turned on Mozart, and began playing the french horn for the table next to us. Many people were taking pictures and going up to the woman at the table kissing her hand. Confused, we asked the waitress if she was famous. As it turns out the woman who was sitting next to us was a very famous French actress (Sabina Azema) and her husband is in charge of the Florence French Film Festival every year. We struck up a conversation with her and she even posed for a picture with my parents.

The first thing we did the next day was go to the Accademia in order to see Michelangelo's David. David stands 17 feet tall and is an impressive sight to see! We admired the magnitude of it and the painstaking effort that must have gone into making this amazing piece. Even though I've seen it before, I couldn't help but marvel at the statue once again. We also spent a good deal of time looking at the many plaster molds of different statues, as well as the paintings in the museum.

Afterwards, we walked back to the Duomo complex and went to the Bell Tower, also called The Campinele, to climb it (what else?) Mom was not too happy with our decision to climb another tower (this was our third one), but she was a trooper the whole way up! Once again there were beautiful views of the city at the top as well as the duomo we climbed from the day before.

After climbing down the steps and exiting the tower we walked over the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) and towards Piazza Michelangelo to see a panoramic view of the city. We had gorgeous weather and the sun was shining down on the beautiful city.

In front of the Ponte Vecchio

Our last stop of the day was to the leather market where we made a few purchases and tried to avoid the pushy sellers attempting to unload their items. We did our best not to buy too much since we had to drag our luggage to the train station the next day and from the train station in Venice.

When we arrived in Venice the next day, my parents were enamored with the sight of the canals and small narrow streets around every corner. Our hotel was situated near the cruise port (since that is where they needed to be the next day) so we walked about 30 minutes to St. Marks Square. We were very lucky with the weather that we had as the week prior to our arrival the area saw a lot of flooding in the square. And as it turns out, two days after their cruise left Venice, the city saw the worst flooding in 20 years. We wouldn't have been able to walk around anywhere without getting soaking wet!

November 11, 2012. Taken from weather.com 

November 11, 2012. Taken from telegraph.co.uk

The famous piazza overlooks the water and is home to St. Mark's Basilica and government buildings. The basilica has a separate bell tower that Dad and I wanted to see, but Mom was not too keen on climbing. She decided to stay in the square and shop at the stores while we checked it out. It was of course, the only tower that had an elevator up to the top. We enjoyed the views of the city and even saw their cruise ship coming in from afar.

The ship they were boarding the next day, making its way into Venice.

We took a gondola ride through the quiet back canals as well as through the Grand Canal of the city. While this is a very touristy thing to do in Venice, it's one of those things that you have to do while here and I was happy to ride in one a second time (I did offer to let my parents have a romantic ride on their own). We had a relaxing time in the gondola and it was a nice way to spend the time with one another. The quiet canals provided refuge from the busy streets, and at times the only sounds heard were the gentle dip of the paddle into the canal. We passed other boats, gondolas, and even the hotel that Jon and I stayed in last year.

The next day, before my parents went on their cruise we visited the Jewish Quarter of Venice. The Ghetto Vecchio (Old Ghetto) is where all Jews were forced to live from the 16th to 18th century. It's now a very charming neighborhood where Venice's small Jewish community still lives. While looking at the buildings we were welcomed in by a rabbi who offered us cake and coffee. While my mom and I snacked, they invited my dad to put on tefillin (a set of small leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with versus from the Torah). They were very hospitable and friendly and it was nice to connect with Jews from the area.

Part of the Holocaust Memorial

The main square of the Jewish Quarter

It was soon time for my parents to board their cruise so we made our way back to the hotel, grabbed the luggage, and headed to the port. They were about to embark on a 12 day journey to Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. I was thankful for the time that we spent together before their trip and I was happy that I was going to see them at the end in Rome and then in Naples. Buon Viaggio Mom and Dad!