Tag: Tuscany

Just North of Sienna to Montecarlo

When we left our hotel Friday morning we stopped at the post office in the village so I could mail a card. There were three people ahead of me, all waiting outside for their turn to enter the post office. About 30 minutes later when I got to the front of the line the woman behind me, who was accompanied by her young daughter, about seven years old, started talking to me in rapid Italian. Although I didn’t understand a word it was clear she really wanted to go next. I said OK explained I don’t speak Italian and asked the seven year old if she speaks English. She shyly said no. I let the lady go ahead of me. There seemed to be a lot of drama relating to her transaction. Meanwhile the seven year old was pointing to random things and saying “red, orange white, blue.” A bit later she started “Monday, Tuesday Wednesday…. “ She wouldn’t make eye contact with me, but pretty soon she started showing off her ability to count in English and say “Hello, Good bye” it was pretty cute. Her mother finally finished her business twenty minutes later. And I was able to buy my stamp. The clerk was very apologetic. My transaction took two minutes. And we were on the road fifty minutes after we arrived at the post office.

As we drove north through Tuscany we continued to see beautiful fall colors.

Tuscan countryside

We visited the Florence American Cemetery. It has the graves of over 4,000 Americans who died in WWII.

Florence American Cemetery
Florence American Cemetery
Florence American Cemetery

Our dinner can be added to the best of the trip list. Casta D’Uva had wonderful ambiance, great music, great service, and excellent food. I loved that the owner seemed to know a lot of the customers. At least three times he came in and sat down to chat with the people at a table.

Casta D’Uva
The flavor combinations were sublime.. especially the tomato.
Shrimp risotto
Pork, potatoes, and fruit preserves
Fruit soup

We are staying at Borgo la Torre in the little town of Montecarlo about half way between Florence and the Italian west coast. It’s a beautiful and comfortable place. We will be here two nights. That’s nice because by the end of a two month trip I srart to get tired of packing up and moving every day. Our plan is to continue moving north and eventually fly home out of Milan in just over a week.

Borgo la Torre in Montecarlo

Orcia Valley to just north of Sienna

After another great breakfast at Villa la Palazzetta we headed north again. Not far down the road we stopped at the Castiglione d’Orcia olive press. They have a tasting room. Their olive oil was really good but the bottles were all too big to carry in my suitcase so we just bought a small jar of local honey.

The Source of the Oil
Tasting olive oil

I’ve been wanting to see someone harvesting olives. We finally saw a guy today. To harvest he spread out a net under the trees then used a kind of motorized branch shaker. You can just see him in the picture below.

Harvesting olives

We stopped in Sienna and explored a bit. We parked the car just outside the Porta Tufi. We had coffee on Il Campo, the main square where they have their Palio horse race twice each summer.

Sienna City Hall

Next we visited the Duomo, Sienna’s Cathedral. The people lifter working on the front of the building seemed to be removing vegetation.

The Duomo
Cleaning the facade

We are staying just a few miles north of Sienna. We have what I think must be called the tower room it has a 360 degree view. The toilet is down a couple of flights of stairs and the windows are a bit dirty but it is an amazing place to spend the night.

Our top floor room.
Our room is at the top.

Exploring the Orcia Valley in Tuscany

The place we are staying, Villa la Palazzetta, is in the Orcia Valley area of Tuscany. It is a wonderful place to stay. It’s way out in the country, beautiful and very peaceful. We had a great breakfast there this morning. All the baked goods were home made and delicious.

Breakfast at Villa la Palazzetta

After breakfast we went for a drive to see some of the Nearby Tuscan towns and countryside. First we stopped at Castiglione d’Orcia where we had eaten dinner Tuesday night

Castiglione d’Orcia

They are currently harvesting olives. The press in Castiglione d’Orcia looked very busy.

Olives
A box of freshly harvested olives.

Next we went to Pienza.

Pienza
Pienza

And finally Montepulciano.

Montepulciano

It was so nice to have a crisp sunny Fall day. We decided to go back to Villa la Palazzetta where we are staying and spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the sun.

Relaxing and reading

Stroncone to the Tuscan countryside near Castiglione d’Orcia

Tuesday was an easy day. We drove from Stroncone to a lovely agriturismo in the Tuscan countryside near Castiglione d’Orcia.

Villa La Palazzetta

We stopped to stretched at a commonwealth WWII cemetery we happened to pass. It was beautifully maintained and had a plaque with an excellent summary of the 1943-1945 war in Italy.

The Bolsena War Cemetery
The War in Italy 1943-1945

Then we had a picnic lunch a bit farther down the road.

Picnic lunch

For dinner we drove fifteen minutes into Castiglione d’Orcia and had an excellent dinner at a little restaurant called Il Cerchio delle Streghe. We started with carpaccio, then had homemade pasta with a spicy sauce, then lamb and ended with a molten chocolate cake. It was another wonderfully great meal.

After dinner the German couple at the next table asked where we were from. We had a nice conversation about the area, the farm they bought here, and their recent olive harvest and press.

Carpaccio
Lamb
Desert

Stroncone and Marmore Waterfall

If you are interested, over the last couple of weeks I’ve loaded several more trip videos onto my YouTube channel. I’m still about three weeks behind in editing videos but if you would like to see them here is a link to my YouTube Channel.

The owner at Hotel Porta del Tempo in Stroncone where we are staying recommended that we visit Marmore Waterfall today. It was about a thirty minute drive.

Marmore Falls is the tallest man made waterfall in the world. It was first created by the Romans in 271BC when they diverted the Velino river to drain a swampy area.

When we bought our tickets to see the falls and hike down to the bottom (10€ apiece) the man told us they would be turning off the water for hydroelectric use in about 30 minutes at one PM. Our ticket would be good all day though and they turn the water back on at three PM.

I’ve never seen a waterfall that can be turned on and off! We started the hike, and hurried to get to the bottom before one.

Marmore Waterfall
Marmore Waterfall
Marmore Waterfall.

We made it to the bottom about one. The spray was making everything wet and the noise was thunderous. Then gradually over the next half hour the flow slowed, the noise decreased and we dried out.

Marmore falls after the water was diverted to the hydroelectric plant.

We had espresso and then started the hard climb back to the top.

Espresso overlooking Marmore Waterfall
The waterfall from the same place as the first picture above.

We had been thinking that today would be a rest day, but the two kilometer hike with 150 meters of climbing was well worth it!

For dinner we had by far the best meal we have had since coming to mainland Italy. We ate right next to our hotel at Taverna La Mola. We shared pasta with sausage and truffles.

Home made Pasta with truffles and sausage

Then we shared pork fillet with truffles and roasted chicory with balsamic vinegar. It was my first time having chicory and I liked it.

Pork fillet with truffles
Roasted chicory with balsamic vinegar

For desert I had pears with walnuts and mascarpone and Duke had panna cotta with caramel sauce.

Pears with walnuts and mascarpone .
Panna cotta with caramel sauce.