Final days in Tuscany

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Tuscany for 2 1/2 weeks and leave here in two days. We’ve traveled a lot of beautiful country and those winding Chianti roads have been challenging. We’ve visited many little towns in the Chianti region with names like Gaiole, Radda, Greve, and Volpaia. They are all part of a region they are all in an area classified as “Chianti Classico,” meaning that wines produced here can have that designation on the bottle. What we’ve enjoyed most, however, are the lovely buildings, churches, and of course, the little restaurants, which all seem to serve wonderful food. We visited also visited two larger cities, Siena and Arezzo, located on opposite sides of Tuscany, west and east. Siena is one of our favorite cities in Italy and we love the beautiful Campo with its tall tower.

Vineyards on the road to Siena

We like to chuckle about the campo because the first time we stayed in Tuscany our little house didn’t have a washer so one afternoon found us traversing the lovely campo with large bags of laundry over our shoulders as we make our way to Siena’s self-service launderia. We also purchased Vicki’s wedding ring in Siena in 2004 when we had our wedding in Montalcino.

Campo - Siena

Duomo - Siena

On our trip last week we visited the gorgeous cathedral and also the picture gallery Pinacoteca Nazionale where we could practically touch our noses to some stunning work by Duccio, Simone Martini, and the brothers Lorenzetti. We also made a return trip to Arezzo where we saw the amazing Piero della Francesco Legend of the True Cross in San Francesco and the mysterious Mary Magdalene in the cathedral.

Vicki made a nice dinner of pici, a Tuscan pasta,
breadcrumbs, and marinated vegetables.

In Raddia in Chianti we found these amazing porcini mushrooms

Prosciutto on the hoof outside a macelleria (butcher shop) in Greve in Chianti

Our entire experience here has been fantastic and certainly enhanced greatly by the hospitality of our hosts, Bob and Ally. They have gone well beyond what we expected and we’ve enjoyed our dinners with them, great talks, and all the other things they’ve provided. This place, Podere La Rota, is a little piece of heaven.

Yesterday morning, fog rolled into the hills to the west