My family and I spent October 2011 in Italy and would like to pass on the information on our favourite people and places. The reason for our overseas trip was to celebrate my 50th Birthday and our 10th wedding anniversary.
We spent 3 weeks in Tuscany staying in a 15th century agriturismo property called Podere Il Sodo in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, just 35 km from Florence. Il Sodo is owned and run by Roberto Gigli. This is a wonderfully quiet and relaxing place to stay if you're looking to get away from noise, TV and the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Il Sodo has three apartments, which have been created in this old farmhouse and adjoining buildings. They are basically furnished but comfortable and really have everything you require. For us it was wonderful not to have a TV to waste time watching. This gave us all the opportunity to read books and actually take the time to talk to each other, which was a great joy! There is a swimming pool and many fruits, such as apples, figs, peaches, apricots, vegetables and herbs grown, all of which you are encouraged to pick and enjoy. Roberto is incredibly helpful if you have any questions. He even gave us a bottle of olive oil that he produced himself from the olives he grows on his property. There is free WIFI, though it can be a little sporadic at times. We discovered that internet access is free in Italy.
Roberto and his family have 4 dogs and many cats to play with. Most mornings we'd wake up and out the window of our bedroom you'd see hot air balloons gliding over the vineyards with the sun rising - very beautiful! In the winter period (October - March) Roberto offers his apartments for long period stays (2 weeks or more) for €150.00 PER WEEK!!!!!!!
For my birthday I booked a gourmet food and wine tour with Enzo Minopoli who owns Chianti Inside Out. This was a wonderful day visiting the towns of San Donato and Panzano where we had lunch at a beautiful restaurant called Oltre Il Giardino where the food was fabulous. There is an old butcher shop in Panzano where you're given a glass of wine and food to sample before you make your purchases, just fantastic!
Enzo took us to two wineries for tastings, my favourite being Le Filigare whose Chianti Classico and Gemoglio wines are very good. Sadly they are not available in Australia. However, they wouldn't taste as good in Australia if they did come here because of the over-regulation of foods and wine by our government that requires all wines to have sulphites added to them, which give you a headache. You see, you don't get headaches from drinking wine in Italy because their wines do not contain sulphites so you can drink a good amount without feeling lousy the next day, not that we did that very often! Enzo is a wonderful guide and now a friend of ours, together with his wife Sally and their beautiful children.
We also had Enzo take us on a tour to Siena a few days before we left Tuscany. Siena was magical and I think I really liked it more than Florence. It has a different feel to Florence and there weren't such the huge crowds of tourists there. After being taken to see the Siena Duomo, which is far more spectacular than the Duomo in Florence, Enzo took us Dievole, a huge winery dating back to the 11th century. Here we got to taste some of their wines before being taken to a private room set up for a three course lunch, which was wonderful.
Enzo is also a great chef and regularly cooks for people holidaying in the Chianti region in their holiday accommodation.
I highly recommend taking private tours with Enzo Minopoli of Chianti Inside Out if you're a food and wine lover and want to explore the Chianti region in a relaxed and unhurried way.
We did hire a car whilst in Tuscany but found it much easier to take a bus to Florence every few days as the traffic is heavy and impossible to find somewhere to park. The bus takes about 40 minutes to get you to the centre of Florence. Once there it's easy to stroll threw the city visiting all the historical wonders there. When not visiting Florence we'd drive around the countryside discovering medieval villages such as San Gimignano, Monterrigioni, Montespertoli, wineries and olive groves and admire the beautiful Italian farmhouses and villas that are dotted across the landscape. San Gimignano is a medieval town of towers high up on a hill with 360 degree views of the countryside. The church there is so beautiful with frescoes all over the walls and ceilings inside.
You have to pre-purchase tickets for all the most popular museums in Florence and if you really want to learn about what you're seeing a semi-private tour is highly recommended. If you don't pre-purchase your tickets you stand in a line for hours and hours before getting inside any of these places. We booked a tour of the Galleria dell'Accademia where Michelangelo's statue of David is with Presto Tours. Our guide was incredibly knowledgable and took us to various sites around Florence before we entered the Accademia. She even took us to see the workshop where all the statuary are marbles on the outside of the Duomo have always been and still are made by the same business! She is studying art and sculpture in Florence and was able to explain so much to us that we would never have figured out for ourselves without the tour.
The other guided tour we went on in Florence was to visit the Uffizi where so many works of art are on display. This tour was with Dark Rome Tours, which I can highly recommend for their professionalism and the vast knowledge of their guides. On this tour our guide was actually an art teacher in Florence and she showed us the most important artworks in the Uffizi.
It is free to go inside the Duomo in Florence but unless you get there by 9 am and start to queue before it opens you will be in for a bit of a wait. If you want to climb the dome of the Duomo then there is a charge to do this and a queue!
I would happily live out my days in Tuscany. The people, the food, the wine are all divine. I look forward to having the opportunity to return there one day.
The last week of our holiday was spent in Rome. This was a quite a shock to the senses after the calm and quiet of Tuscany. We stayed in an apartment about 10 minutes walk from the Vatican Museum and owned by Silvio Spicacci Minervini. The apartment was very well equipped, clean and comfortable.
We did a night tour of the Vatican Museum and Cistine Chapel with Dark Rome Tours. Our guide was funny, knowledgable and was able to answer any question you put to her.
