If I thought the Cinque Terre was hot, I was in for a rude awakening when we arrived in Tuscany. This was the second stop on my family vacation/couples backpacking trip through Europe. We drove from the Cinque Terre and arrived in Castlefiorentino, Tuscany where we stayed at a beautiful Villa for 4 nights.
Villa
The Villa we stayed at was called Il Grande Prato. It was a large property that had been converted into what was like a boutique hotel. It was large enough that our group didn't take up that much of the property but small enough to get to know some of the other guests who were staying there too. One of the first things I did upon arriving was swim in the pool, which felt amazing in comparison to the hot, stagnant air.
The pool
An entry to one of the beautiful rooms we stayed in
A rainbow over the villa
One very cool thing about Il Grande Prato was that they had different activities planned each day. The first night we were there, they had a class to learn how to make pasta. An elderly Italian woman guided us as we rolled out and cut pasta dough. She didn't really speak English so a guest, who frequently stayed there during the summers, translated for everyone, although I'm pretty sure he was from Belgium, which made me feel bad about not knowing multiple languages.
Mom rolling a pasta noodle through the slicer
Nico Rolls the pasta in flour
Kyli makes sure the pasta is the right thickness
On the third night we were there, the villa was throwing a pool party. There was live music and plenty of drinks to go around. This night became known as the "Limoncello Night" because my whole family got a bit tipsy and Nico and George bonded while sipping the lemon liqueur.
The meals we ate at Il Grande Prato were wonderful as well. Every night we had the option to join in the family-style dinner. We paid a little extra on the nights we decided to dine (which ended up being every night) and enjoyed good food outside on the beautiful covered patio. There was always plenty of food and wine to go around, which, if your picking up on a theme here, meant I usually woke up with a slight headache. It was worth it though.
The patio where we ate our dinners
A glass each for red and white wine
The first night we had Italian street food for dinner
One challenge we had was battling the July heat. The rooms, unfortunately, didn't have any air conditioning. At night we turned on the ceiling fan and left all of the windows open to try to create a breeze but that air was like a wall and didn't want to move. George ended up sleeping on a reclining lawn chair outside every night. Don't let this paint a negative picture in your head because George said he liked it and slept like a baby all night long.
Overall, the villa was a fantastic place to stay. It surprisingly rained the morning we were leaving. This was a shocker because it had been so ridiculously hot every other day we were there, I didn't see how the weather could possibly change that fast.
A Day in Siena
On our first full day in Tuscany, we drove to Siena. The plan was to walk around and look at the sites and grab something to eat. As usual, we were melting in the heat. As we entered the Piazza del Campo, I remember running across the huge square to stand in the shade from the tower of the Palazzo Pubblico.
Palazzo Pubblico
Piazza del Campo
We saw other sites like the Duomo. When we went inside, they required us to cover our shoulders, which I found a bit ridiculous considering I felt on the verge of heatstroke. Didn't god create our shoulders anyway? I feel like he knows what they look like.
The Duomo
The Duomo
The front of the Duomo
Inside the Duomo
To cool down, we made a stop and got some gelato. We ate it while walking through the streets for a bit, then decided to head back to the villa and spend the rest of the afternoon in the pool.
Basilica of San Domingo
A Day in Florence
For our second day, we took the train to Florence. We pretty much spent this whole day on a very long art tour. Our tour guide was very kind and informative. She clearly knew a lot about art. We spent a good amount of time looking at the David. She would point out subtle details about sculpture that really showed why it is such a famous piece of art. We saw other works of art that I recognized, like the Birth of Venus, and many more that I was not familiar with. I must say that I have a very short attention span and begin to struggle with looking at a painting for more than 30 seconds. For me, the tour was a bit too long. For my mom and others who are better listeners, the tour was perfect.
The David
The Birth of Venus
In the afternoon we had lunch and looked at a few other sites around Florence before taking the train back to Castlefiorentino.
The Duomo di Firenze
The Duomo di Firenze
Ponte Vecchio
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