Under the Toscana sun

So we pick up the tales of our travels from the Sunday we left Firenze, piling into the fully extended boot of Luigi (have I mentioned how we secured this delight of a vehicle? A 2 door microwave on wheels had been brought to us in the Europcar lot of Venice’s Marco Polo airport. It didn’t even take three blinks of Gary’s doe-eyes before we had talked our way into a free upgrade which could actually hold us AND all our luggage. An essential) and hitting the Italian highways to head into the heartland.

It was here that we stumbled across the five most useful syllables ever created – Agritourismo.

Mostly family owned and run B&Bs which are a combination of a historic restored (sometimes) home and a working farm, these little gems are scattered across the Italian countryside and provide a unique, memorable and authentic lodging experience for any traveller. Most Agritourismo are off the beaten track (literally, on dusty white roads over hill and dale) and produce many of their own local goods which are on sale to the guests (everything from honey and marmalade to cheeses, milk, fresh fruit and veg and even limoncello).

Our first foray into the Agritourismo world was in Greve-in-Chianti, a gorgeous Tuscana town in the Florence surrounds. From here we planned to find two or three spots in the country to stay at for at least a few nights each, the first one being in Tuscany of course, before our deadline of handing the hire car back in Rome a few weeks later. Granted our first day of ‘slow living’ got off to a slightly stressed start as the sun began to set on Sunday afternoon and we still hadn’t found a place to stay. Leaving the town square armed with the lengthy list of farmhouses in the area, but with no idea of their availability, we veered off into the hills and fortuitously found the wonderful farm of Cecilia with her two cute dogs Rocky and Luna.

This farm was everything from a Hollywood produced movie on Tuscany and more. Creaky old gates covered in ivy set against crumbling stone walls. The warm sun illuminating views of tumbling hills and vineyards as far as the eye could see. The smell of the garden’s ripe tomatoes wafting into the beautiful cottage where we were to stay, with lace lined windows and worn shutters. Overstuffed and embroidered bed linen on an enormous wrought iron framed bed and a vintage chest of drawers beside it. A gorgeous fireplace and even homemade sherry by the bed. Cecilia welcomed us with open arms and a kiss, introducing us to the dogs and showing us to our rooms after inviting us to help ourselves to the veggies in her garden. Stunning!

After putting our things down we headed down the little valley to the hilltop village across from Cecilia’s farm – an entirely walled stone hamlet that seemed to me to be a time travelling portal into the early parts of last century. Drinks overlooking the fiery sun casting dusty hues on the horizon were the perfect end to a wonderful day.