Most tourists are very familiar with the beautiful area known as Tuscany. It's known for the capital, Florence, the rolling green hills of the wine country and olive groves. Having been to Florence and the famous tourist sites in previous years, we decided to spend more time exploring the countryside and the wineries especially in the Brunello wine country.
Florence
Known for it's renaissance art and architecture, Florence is full of beautiful museums and churches that highlight a lot of the great artists like Michelangelo and Botticelli. We were able to walk around the streets, eat lampredotto (Florentine street food tripe sandwich), and enjoy busy tourist town even in early September. I highly suggest going to Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset where you can see a beautiful view of the city as seen below. I'd recommend taking the bus since it is a pretty steep climb up.
Ditta Artiginale
Ditta Artiginale - view from 2nd floor
Our Airbnb at Casa Podere la Casina - Rigomagno
Piazza del Campo - Siena
Duomo - Siena
Montepulciano
Montepulciano was just a 30 minute drive from our Airbnb. It was a great short day trip to see the medieval and renaissance town that sits on a high hill. Most of these Italian hill cities are very walkable and allow limited car traffic. We really enjoyed going to the different cantinas where we were able to taste some delicious vino nobile. We enjoyed a casual lunch at La casa di Edel - da Baffo where you could enjoy a simple sandwich and a glass of wine. Caffè Poliziano has a very small balcony but if you're lucky enough to score a seat, I'd highly recommend paying an extra euro for espresso to enjoy the view.
Piazza Grande
View from balcony at Caffè Poliziano
View from balcony at Caffè Poliziano
Piadine
Montalcino
Known for their Brunello wines, Montalcino is another beautiful area with some delicious wines. We had the pleasure of visiting Sesta Di Sopra where we were greeted by winemaker Ettora and his wife Enrica. We go to sit down in their dining room where Ettora poured us his delicious wines with some different crackers and also some dark chocolates. He later showed us around his cellar and shared more about his process. It was such a lovely afternoon where we enjoyed a private tour and informative tasting. We also got to visit Poggio Antico a slightly more commercial vineyard (recently famous for the wine that Obama gifted to John Boehner).
Harvest time
Biggest fig tree fresh for harvest
Love x Food Cooking Class
Just outside Florence, we had such a lovely class with our instructors Luca and Lorenzo. Passed down from their families', we learned how to make ravioli with ricotta and lemon zest, tiramisu (tuscan style), and various types of pasta. Being a handmade pasta newbie, Luca and Lorenzo were very patient and explained the fundamentals of pasta making. We all rolled our own pasta dough, folded ravioli and made spaghetti a la guittara. During our breaks, wine was plentiful and so were the fresh antipasti at the family table outside overlooking the countryside.
La Marzocco Factory
For anybody that works in the coffee industry or is an espresso drinker, taking a tour of La Marzocco factory just outside of Florence is a must. We were so warmly welcomed by Sylvia who spent a couple hours with us talking about the history of La Marzocco and showed us every step of the process of how they create their espresso machines. She spoke so passionately and proudly about the craftsmanship that goes into every part and piece of their machines. After seeing the factory, I'm personally excited to have a La Marzocco Linea Mini machine in my house in the near future.
