Louis Armstrong…What a Wonderful World

Tuscana! Just the name evokes images of rolling hills painted shades of browns, yellows, oranges, greens and more. The sky is filled with colors of pinks, reds and purples and the mountains span the horizon in pure green all creating a patchwork of beauty-nature’s quilt.



On each hilltop you find a town surrounded by a medieval fortress and the homes are built on the slopes with charming door fronts and window boxes. Each town similar in many ways yet having a very distinctive flavor of its own. We visited Montepulciano, known for its very flavorful wines of Nobile and Brunello; both of which are hard to find in the States but we are going to look for them for sure. We traveled to Chuisi, Pienza, Radda, Gaiole, Castelini and many more small and picture perfect towns.



Castelini was a favorite of ours because in is the epicenter of Tuscana Chianti Wine. Located in northern Tuscany (the Chianti region), we noticed a difference in the topography right away. The mountains are filled with trees unlike the rolling hills of most of Tuscana. This area is rich with grapes that make the Chiantis that we both love so much. We found a wine shop/villa that makes Chianti Reserva and many other boutique Chiantis that we were able to taste and enjoy. We purchased several bottles but are unsure of how we will get them home as our bags are already overweight and overfilled. We discovered a new after dinner drink that we would love to share with Andrew…it will replace his Amaretto in a heartbeat!



 We also traveled to Siena where we were experienced its huge population, and rather dirty, commercial setting. It was very odd to see storefronts of Gucci and Versace conducting their business in the medieval setting. After seeing many of the smaller, charming and cleaner towns, we were somewhat disenchanted with Siena. There was a Cathedral there that was incredibly beautiful with marble details inside and out. We ate dinner in the square surrounded by churches and apartments that is transformed twice a year into a track for the “Paleao” race (horse race that packs in over 20 thousand local spectators) which was very difficult to imagine. Also, we were lucky enough to experience a parade of polo teams, riding their horses around the same square that reminded us of San Marco Piazza in Venezia.



The villa that we stayed was a beautiful old home transformed into a wonderful, comfortable abode for visitors. The vista from its perch was magnificent overlooking the rolling hills and far away towns. The Villa Poggione was family owned as their daughter Stefania was the keeper of the facilities. Stefania is a forty something, tall, beautiful, well educated, Italian, woman, unmarried and pretty much set in her ways. We knew there had to be a fault and learned what it was in due time. She was mostly very kind but there were times that she would snap and we wondered what would set her off. One evening we met other couples from Ohio, and California. They invited us to the sitting room for a night cap-to drink Grappa and Brandy supplied by the Villa and enjoy each other’s company. We managed to drink all of the Grappa and most of the Brandy and had a wonderful evening chatting with our new friends, who were departing the next morning.  Strike One. We had to ask Stefania to fix our room safe that wasn’t work correctly and she pretty much told me with her eyes that I was stupid. But she  soon realized that I was correct and the safe was not working properly because it needed a new battery…no apology though. Strike Two.



She did stay with us at our private cooking lesson which was fabulous! We learned to make homemade pasta and tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes, mushroom chicken, potato flan, chicken liver and tomato bruschetta and tiramisu. After, the chef served us the meal that we helped prepare. We ate outside overlooking the hills of Tuscana, with fine china, candlelight and all the vino that we could drink.  We shared the tiramisu with Chef, Asunta and Stefania. It was great! We will be making the pasta again for sure!



The last night was most interesting though as we met up with a couple from Fl (Mark and Patty) and another woman (Julie) from Texas. We celebrated Mark’s recent sale of his company and retirement (age 54) with the local vino, commencing at 6pm on a terrace overlooking the Tuscana sunset. We put out a spread of mortadella, proscuitto, cheese, bread, tomatoes, pizza and olive oil that we were saving for dinner and shared an evening eating, drinking and chatting with them until midnight. Another couple from Roma sat with us for a while as well but left before it got too crazy. At midnight, we shared the secret of the sitting room and after dinner drinks with the Mark and Patty. Suddenly, as we were about to settle in, a ghost like character came busting out of a secret  room from behind the sitting area scowling and scolding us for our behavior. Stefania told us to go to our rooms, we were too loud and rambunctious. Seriously, we felt like teenagers getting caught drinking and being sent to our rooms for bad behavior. Strike Three! She looked so much like Cruella DeVille from 101 Dalmatians-it was quite comical. We are good listeners and scurried to our rooms, jumping into bed and suddenly realizing what just happened. We had a good laugh and actually got an apology from her the next morning.  You can’t make this stuff up!



All said, Tuscana is a magical place, although we prefer the northern part of Tuscana, it is a beautiful, peaceful place and hopes of a return linger in our minds as we leave by train for the Amalfi Coast!