Ever since reading Under the Tuscan Sun back in the late ’90’s, I have wanted to stay in a Tuscan villa – a big stone house out in the hills of Tuscany with cypress trees leading to it and waxed stone floors and exposed beam ceilings. I’m happy to say that I have fulfilled that dream, twice! during our travels through Italy. One small oversight was the wifi – which is a little slower and not as easily accessed out in these small hill towns as it is in the more metropolitan areas. So my blog has suffered, sorry to say. Worse yet, the kids are behind in their online courses, which makes them even less willing to help me blog. So, in the next few days there should be a lot of “catch up” posts from me dating back through the last several months of our European travels.
Our apartment “Malvasia” was located in this separate villa, the Monterifrassine. It would have been nice to be up by the pool and breakfast room, but we appreciated having more space and our own kitchen.
But we were talking about Tuscany. Ah, Tuscany! It is so gorgeous – everything that I had hoped for. The first agriturismo we stayed at was near Florence, high on a hill above 3 little towns (Pontessieve, Rufina, and Sieci) in an area known for its Chianti Rufina wine. Our Agriturismo, Fattoria Lavacchio, produces Cedro wine, which is Sangiovese grapes primarily with a small amount of blend. They also have olive groves and produce and sell olive oil. A cool litte extra was that we could order milk or bread and then walk up to the main office (about a quarter mile from our farmhouse) and pick up our order in the morning. The farmhouse itself was spacious, but the kitchen was a bit dark as there were not a lot of windows. We had a fair amount of rain also while we were there, so it felt like we were inside a lot! But there was plenty to keep us occupied at the farm and in the surrounding areas.
David, Molly and I went on a great trail ride. I left the camera behind with Jon so this is the only shot I have. The view from the corral was beautiful but it got even better as we climbed into the hills. We could even see Florence at one point!
We had a LOT of rain. View from our small kitchen window as the rain splatters on the ground outside.
Fattoria Lavacchio is really a sprawling estate, with a restaurant, a main office area with a pool, breakfast room and several Bed and Breakfast rooms, a winery, the main farmhouse, and several other separate residences that they rent as apartments. In addition, they have horse stables nearby, a pottery studio, and they also have the only working windmill in Tuscany on their property. During our week at the farm (October 1st – 8th), we got to see part of the vineyard harvest, went horseback riding, took a cooking class, took a day trip into Florence and another day trip to Pisa and Lucca, and played a little volleyball, baseball and also got in a few runs. Oh, and we ventured to an outlet mall, but did not buy a single item – there were some good deals, but it was all high fashion, and we really don’t have room in our packs anyways for those blue suede Salvatore Ferragamo oxfords or Prada handbag. Next stop: heading south to Siena!
