A beautiful day today with the sun streaming in the window of the hotel. Breakfast downstairs and then off to Poggibonsi. Because we couldn’t get into Florence Museums we decided to spend a little time in some of the Tuscan Villages. The first was San Gimignano just west of Poggibonsi. San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town and is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which can be seen from several kilometres outside the town. It’s also is known for its wines (particularly its white, Vernaccia di San Gimignano). I purchased a bottle of red for dinner. (very nice it was too!!).
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| San Gimignano |
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| The view from Castellina in Chianti |
Next, it was back to Poggibonsi and east to Castellina in Chianti in the Chianti Hills. It was a lovely drive up the mountain – lots of grapevines and olive trees. Bought a tuna and fresh cheese salad and a fruit salad to share for lunch, which we ate on the steps of the church watching the passing parade. Then found a sorbet shop before returning to the car and heading towards Rome.
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| Huge clods in the cultivated land near Castellina |
Tonight we are staying with Mario, Stephania and Sebastiano (age 10) at Cave near Valmontone (not too far out of Rome). They have bees and restore antique furniture. We have a little semi-detached room out the back. Mario is pretty handy and they have built quite a bit of the house themselves. They have lots of fruit trees and also have geese, chooks, a calf, 2 dogs, a number of cats and a tortoise. – quite a menagerie.
We had a chat over dinner and then off to bed.
We had a chat over dinner and then off to bed.
