Days 39 thru 42 - Tuscany, Italy

We spent the next 4 days in Tuscany, based out of Ulignano, a very small town near San Gimignano. We stayed at a small bed and breakfast where we were treated like family by the owner, Guido. Every morning Guido gladly served us tea and coffee and treated us to a unique Italian-style breakfast. Guido sure could bake a mean fruit-cake. He also was good at giving us helpful tips and recommendations before we set out for sightseeing each day. Here is the view from the patio, where we had a nice dinner of local sandwiches and wine (both from San Gimignano) on our second night.

We visited hill-towns (i.e. castles) such as Orvieto, San Gimignano, and Monteriggiano (under Guido’s recommendation). I am a huge fan of hill towns, and there are plenty to see in Tuscany (there are a list of others I’d like to visit if we come back to Tuscany). The towns are basically old castles high up on hills with huge walls and many towers, and inside are tightly packed buildings of residences and shops (the towns are pretty much entirely pedestrian).

We spent an entire day in San Gimignano, which happened to have three torture museums (I convinced Kim into two of them), as well as a world champion gelato maker. You better bet we tried his gelato, and boy was it good! Take a look at Kim's happy face!


We had high expectations for the Museum of Wine, but it was a big let-down, mainly because it seemed partially closed. Kim had her second favorite meal in Italy so far for lunch – Pappardelle con Cinghale (pasta with wild boar ragu) - which is a Tuscan specialty.


Here is a panaramic of the countryside taken from over one of the city's walls:

We spent the majority of another day visiting Siena, a large, fortified city with a huge campo (square), arena, and Duomo.

Back in Medieval times, Siena was a powerful city that battled with Florence for dominance over Italy, but Florence won out (or else Siena would have been today’s Florence). Most of the castles you see in Tuscany today were defending either Siena or Florence. Some changed sides multiple times as they got sacked by the other side. Siena’s Duomo is huge, and was to be the largest in the world at the time of construction, but there were foundation issues, lack of funds, and a plague that got in the way.

We enjoyed a full day (and a separate evening) in the Chianti region of Tuscany. We went from vineyard to vineyard, touring and sampling wine. Some places had tasting rooms out front and others allowed you to go inside and tour without reservations (such as the castles). Here’s a quick list of the towns we visited: Castellina in Chianti, Badia a Passignano, Greve in Chianti, Volpaia, Radda in Chianti, and Gaiole in Chianti (toured Castello Meleto and Castello di Brolio here). We also toured Badia Coltibuono, a monastery up on a high hill that makes wine, has a nice garden, and has great views (see the following two pictures). You can also book a room here. . . we definitely wouldn’t mind staying here the next time we visit!


Here's a photo of Badia a Passignano:

View from Castello di Brolio:

Castello Meleto:

Additional thoughts/notes:

- We have a first-hand account of carnivorous bees in Tuscany. While eating our sandwiches on the porch, an angry bee landed on my sandwich, and meticulously bit off a piece of my prosciutto (larger than himself) and carried it off - presumably to the hive. What do you do when a bee is carving off a piece of your meat for himself? You let him. He came back regularly every 5 minutes to slice off another piece, and every time he did, I sat back and patiently waited for him to take his portion. I've never seen bees that have a taste for meat (I don't think there was anything sweet on it either), but I guess there's a first for everything.