The rolling hills of Tuscany…an area known for invoking thoughts of good living, fine eating, and a certain slowness to life. We took a morning train out of Rome (where my dad became fast friends with an older Italian couple, who fed him lunch) and headed north to enjoy one of the famous agriturismo’s atop a small Italian village.
An agriturismo is a relatively recent concept in the vacation dictionary. Set in remote (i.e. not accessible by public transportation) areas, they are essentially working farms that produce e
verything from fresh eggs to homemade wine. Ours also had a pool that overlooked a huge valley, so needless to say it was pretty awesome. They even had peacocks! Although after being subjected to their annoying calls for a week, I’m fairly certain that I will never own one of those things myself.From here we were able to visit all sorts of Italian hillside towns. Siena, Montepuliciano, Montalcino, and a couple of other ones beginning with “mon” and ending with “ino” (hard to keep track of them after awhile.) Once in a hillside town, you pretty much just walk around and look at things. It’s fun, but there’s not too much to describe other than that. Get a gelato, find a cool shop, walk down narrow alleys, try and see a vista overlooking the countryside, get another gelato…good stuff. Of course, different people find different shops interesting. For example – my parents enjoyed the pottery shops, my sister the purse shops, and Soph enjoyed any shop where they sold hot peppers. My niece enjoyed the town where one of those an
noying teenage vampire movies was filmed, so her highlight was finding a map that showed the various locations of different scenes and going to them (while it was kind of cool they had a map for this, it was even cooler realizing that my day-to-day life is completely devoid of hearing about things such as teenage vampire movies.)
noying teenage vampire movies was filmed, so her highlight was finding a map that showed the various locations of different scenes and going to them (while it was kind of cool they had a map for this, it was even cooler realizing that my day-to-day life is completely devoid of hearing about things such as teenage vampire movies.)Of course, no trip to Tuscany would be complete without a wine tour – so we made sure to do a couple, just in case. The first was at the Caprili vineyards in Montalcino, home of the famous Brunello’s. We were guided by one of the sons who works there, who was really nice and hooked us up by letting us taste some of their better bottles, which was probably a good move considering we bought quite a few between the 4 of us that were tasting. After a quick tour of the facilities and a nice tasting, we also discovered they make their own olive oil, which I would argue is the best oil of any kind I’ve ever had. Also was able to get some good vineyard pictures, which will fit nicely into my growing vineyard picture collection. The second tour was an all-day affair throughout the Chianti region, where we again bought more ridiculously 
good olive oil, as well as some nice wines. Of note was a beet ravioli dish we had for lunch, which was surprisingly good, and went with the red stains on our teeth the wine had already made.
good olive oil, as well as some nice wines. Of note was a beet ravioli dish we had for lunch, which was surprisingly good, and went with the red stains on our teeth the wine had already made.On the topic of food, this trip defined “gluttony”. On multiple occasions you would find Sophia and myself eating way too much food, at least in the sense that it was more than any two humans need to consume in order to survive. Of course, part of this is the agriturismo’s fault, as they served us great meal after great meal of extremely fresh and homemade ingredients. I mean, if you’re confronted with a huge platter of meat pasta that is probably the best meat pasta you’ll ever have, do you stop eating simply because you’re full? I say no to that, because sometimes you have to suck it up and get the most out of your vacation – and if that means eating until you can’t walk, then so be it!
That said – we had two dinners outside of the agriturismo which were also excellent. The first was pizza – plain and simple pizza. Again, probably one of the
best pizzas we’ll ever have. Something about it was just better…was it the sweetness of the ham? The oil in the dough? Hard to say, but it ruled. The second dinner was preceded by the most winding road in the history of car travel. We’re talking switchbacks upon switchbacks, non-stop, for about 40 minutes. Apparently the views were beautiful, but since I was manically clinging to the steering wheel I didn’t get the full enjoyment of them. Regardless, the dinner was again outstanding, and Soph was happy because she was able to order her 2 pound Fiorentine steak, virtually raw and entirely delicious. Also probably had the best view of any restaurant I’ve ever been to, which was an added bonus.
best pizzas we’ll ever have. Something about it was just better…was it the sweetness of the ham? The oil in the dough? Hard to say, but it ruled. The second dinner was preceded by the most winding road in the history of car travel. We’re talking switchbacks upon switchbacks, non-stop, for about 40 minutes. Apparently the views were beautiful, but since I was manically clinging to the steering wheel I didn’t get the full enjoyment of them. Regardless, the dinner was again outstanding, and Soph was happy because she was able to order her 2 pound Fiorentine steak, virtually raw and entirely delicious. Also probably had the best view of any restaurant I’ve ever been to, which was an added bonus.We ended the trip with another train ride, passing through some of the best countryside in southern Switzerland. The edge of the lakes region, the valley of the Valais, the twin castles of Sion…train rides are totally the way to go!
Next weekend: back to Gimmewald! 
