Florence & Tuscany

Today we got up earlyish and headed to the Uffizi gallery. It wasn’t too crowded but there were several tour groups. We saw Venus, of course, and wandered most of the galleries. So many paintings, so much gold, so many Jesus-es. We stopped at an exhibit towards the end that focused on the restoration of The Adoration of the Magi. I very old DaVinci painting that was so dark it was unreadable. The restoration is great and we got to see a video about the process. Art restoration is so fascinating to me but would make me so nervous. 

After the museum, we went around the neighborhood a little bit before returning to the hotel. Around noon, we met our driver, Stefano, at the hotel. We had hired Stefano to take us through Tuscany and asked for his help in setting up a plan. Stefano brought us to a vineyard first outside San Giminiano: Tentua Torciano. The vineyard has been in the family for centuries and is still run by the family. Stefano suggested we stop at the vineyard first so we could have a light lunch. After a brief orientation, we were whisked away to a private room upstairs where the table was set with ALL the wine glasses and a small plate. Our instructions were to try all the wine with the different combinations of food. I haven’t been drinking red wine for the last several years so it was a little bit of a shock to the system for me. I did like some of the medium bodied wines but the heavier ones were too strong for me. After some time, they came in with bread and poured out some oil & balsamic. The balsamic was “only aged” 30 years. It was amazing. After even more time, they brought us Tuscan soup and Grandma’s lasagna. Also amazing. After stuffing ourselves we got back in Stefano’s car and made our way to San Giminiano. 

San Giminiano is noticeable from the countryside because of the many towers that make up the town. We walked through the center of town, shopped a little and stopped at a gelateria famous for being a world champion. It was so good, I think we ruined our lives. I had ricotta blueberry, raspberry rosemary and dark chocolate. Mom had pink grapefruit wine, sour cherry and coconut. San Giminiano was super cute but it seems like it’s becoming very touristy.

Next, we stopped at Monteriggioni which is a VERY small Tuscan town. We did a quick lap and returned to the car to make our way to Siena.

Stefano dropped us off in the Piaza del Campo where the famous horse races are held twice a year. From there we walked to the large church but didn’t have time to go in. We wandered around, shopped a little then met Stefano again to head back to Florence. 

Tuscany is so gorgeous. Stefano told us that his Grandfather would say “God was happy the day he made Tuscany.” Even just driving around the countryside was stunning. 

Once entering Florence, Stefano pointed out to us he grew up on the street near the Boboli Gardens. It used to be more of a family neighborhood but now it has a lot of tourists.  Stefano dropped us off a Sasso di Dante where we had bruschetta, pork, risotto, tiramisu and limoncello.