This morning was an early morning for us because we were heading home. ☹️
We were very fortunate that when the owners of Torraccia di Chiusi found out we had to leave before breakfast time, they set up food in the sitting room of the building where we stayed. It was very kind of them.
One of the young ladies, Karol, who served breakfast each morning left a note for us. She was from Peru but working at the villa. Her English was very limited but she communicated with us using her phone to translate. Her note meant the world to us.
After breakfast we packed our bags and headed for the Florence airport where we had to turn in the rental cars. Then we took an airport shuttle to board our plane that would take us from Florence to the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. Today was going to be a long day with three flights! (Florence, Italy ➡️ Paris, France, then Paris, France ➡️ Detroit, Michigan and from Detroit, Michigan ➡️ Columbus, Ohio)
Our shuttle ride to our plane that was in the background.
We changed planes in Paris for our second flight which would take us to the Detroit airport. We flew Air France. The boarding for Detroit went smoothly but we sat on the plane with no air conditioning or any air flow. After about half an hour the captain announced that the air wasn’t working (duh) and the mechanics would do a fix that wouldn’t work until the engines were started. We sat in misery for a very long time and it was the worst airline experience we’ve ever had.
We landed in Detroit, went through customs and then boarded our flight for Columbus. It was a long day but we made it home on time!
Our Italy adventures were many and new memories were made by all of us. Cheers to a great vacation!
After breakfast the owner gave us a tour of his property, Torraccia di Chiusi where we had been enjoying our stay. He and his wife have renovated the agriturismo (farmhouse) and the buildings on the property into their personal home, a hotel with rooms and suites, restaurant, a small spa, and also made their own organic wines.
The owner talking to us on our tour of his property.
Below was one of the buildings on the estate that wasn’t renovated. The owner told us that the building below demonstrated what all of the buildings on the estate looked like when he and his wife purchased it in 2002!
The building on the estate that our group stayed in was about 500 years old. They did an excellent job with the renovations.
Our rooms in the 500 year old building.
The side of the estate.
Another view of some of the property.
The Tower was over 1,200 years old and the home of the owners. Our tour included their home.
The tower that was over 1200 years old.
At the top of the tower you could look out over the countryside and see anyone who approached along the Via Francigena, the route from Canterbury to Rome and onto the seaside city of Apulia, Italy.
Views from the Tower
From the tower I was able to take a great picture of San Gimignano!
San Gimignano
Stefano, the owner spent a lot of time showing us around and explaining the history here. When they were doing repairs to a sewage treatment plant on their property his wife saw something and had the workers stop and she dug and found an Etruscan bronze statue that dated from the 3rd century B.C.! It was speculated that an Etruscan temple was once here. The statue was now in a museum as well as the other items that they have found. Below is Donatella, the wife of Stefano, and a picture of the poster with her and the statue.
Etruscan Bronze statue with Donatella
There also was a chapel on the property.
Outside the ChapelInside the Chapel
Stefano took us to the ancient wine cellar that he accidentally found. It was covered by layers of soil.
The entrance to the cellar.
After our tour we wanted one more chance to visit San Gimignano. It also had been nicknamed “the Manhattan of the Middle Ages” because of its many towers!
Walking into San Gimignano
Today we explored other areas of the city and past the main square, Piazza del Duomo.
Piazza del Duomo
Along the border of San Gimignano there were some fantastic views that looked out over the countryside.
On our walk we found a local woman sitting outside her home just relaxing.
One of the quiet side streets.
When we left San Gimignano we stopped at a winery for one last tasting. Pietraserena Winery was the fourth generation of winemaking by the Arrigoni family.
The wine tasting patio had wonderful views of the vineyards and the surrounding Tuscan countryside.
When we got back to the villa we enjoyed some time at the pool.
Beautiful poolYou couldn’t beat the views from the pool!
At dinner we had the sparkling wine because we were told by our chef at our cooking class how Torracccia di Chiusi was known for their sparkling wine and how delicious it tasted. Julia opened the Goccia D’Pro Spumante Classic Method.
Julia opening the spumante or sparkling wine.
None of our group were champagne drinkers but we all enjoyed this sparkling wine.
It was our last dinner at the villa and Bruno, the chef, came out to serve us our last shot of Grappa after our delicious meal that he had prepared! Grappa was an alcoholic pomace brandy from Italy that had a high alcoholic content. It was served to help with digestion after heavy meals.
Cheers to our amazing meals and time together!
We will miss the hospitality, delicious meals, outstanding staff, and owners at Torraccia di Chiusi!
Our first stop today was the medieval village of Radda in Chianti. It had been inhabited since the 9th century. It was built as a fortified town to protect Florence from its enemies. The last invasion was in 1478 and much of the town was destroyed including its castle. And of course Radda was famous for its wine!!!
The black rooster was a symbol of the Chianti region. The rooster was adopted as an official emblem by the League of Chianti (an anti-Siena political/military pact the united a league of rural towns. Radda in Chianti was on of them) in 1384 and was officially adopted by the Chianti Classic Wine Consortium in 2005! We saw the rooster symbol all over town.
The government building, the Palazzo del Podestà was destroyed in 1478 but was rebuilt. It was the town’s seat of power and was decorated with the family crests of the once-ruling nobles.
The Propositura di San Niccolò church had origins to at least the 1200’s. It was seriously damaged during WWII. The bell tower was reconstructed in the 1950’s and they used one of the ancient castle towers as its base. Its last renovation was 1969 and today it was being renovated but the entrance was still opened to visitors. This church was the main place of Catholic worship in Radda.
Propositura di San Niccolò church
Late morning the rain cut loose and several went down into the medieval tunnel area of Radda. Of course we found a wine bar, Casa Poriciatti Enoteca, that was opened and we had a glass of Chianti while we waited for the rain to stop.
Walking around town and enjoying the narrow cobblestone streets. On a rainy day there weren’t many locals or tourists around.
Radda like all the other villages in Tuscany sat on a hill so the views looking out were beautiful, even on a cloudy, rainy day.
As we left the town of Radda the rain really cut loose! We even pulled over and waited for the rain to slow down.
When the rain let up we headed to the small town of Castellina. It was located on the main tourist route through Chianti. Our first stop was to find a restaurant for a late lunch. We found the Il Cantuccio Wine Bar. We enjoyed a good meal with Chianti wine from the region.
Boar meat was popular in the Chianti region. You would find Boar was a popular dish on many menus.
Boar
Castellina had a historic center and one main street. The Church of San Salvatore was located in Castellina. It was medieval and rebuilt in the Romanesque Revival style because it was heavily damaged in WWII.
Church of San Salvatore
In the central piazza of Castellina was a 14th century fortress and tower.
Rocca di Castellina
The vaulted alley was called the Via della Volte and it was once part of the city walls.
Via della Volte
After the rain stopped we walked around the town.
After visiting Radda and Castellina we headed back to Torraccia di Chiusi, our B&B, for the evening. Dinner was inside because of the wet weather.
Even though it rained off and on it didn’t stop us from having a wonderful day in Tuscany.
Today we visited Monteriggioni that was a walled castle with only about 50 people living in the historic castle complex.
Looking at the countryside from the main entrance into Monteriggioni.
We walked around the town and a highlight was walking along the castle walls. The village sits on the hill Monte Ala and looks over the Chianti countryside.
The medieval city walls and its 14 defense towers are well preserved from 1213 when the fortress was built. It was built as a base against Florence for the Republic of Siena. The walls are up to 6 1/2 feet thick.
Entrance into Monteriggioni.You can see how thick the wall is.An entrance into the village from the other side of town.A view from outside the walls and defense towers.
One of the best things to do was to walk on the medieval walls. You can’t walk the entire loop but there were two sections. The longer section was near the main entrance into town.
Front wallFront wallFront wallBack part of the wall
The views from the walls of the Chianti countryside were beautiful. Below were some of the pictures we took from the wall.
We also took pictures of the village of Monteriggioni as we stood on the wall.
The Piazza Roma was the center square of the town. On the square was the small church of Santa Maria Assunta which was from the 13th century. This church was built the same time as the foundation of the castle.
Church of Santa Maria AssuntaInside the church
The famous Italian poet, writer, and philosopher Dante Alighieri even referenced the town in his Divine Comedy.
Our walk around town didn’t take long because the town wasn’t that large and it wasn’t crowded at all!
The Monte Chiaro wine shop and tasting laboratory was located on the town square of the castle. One of our traveling group found this little gem. We did a wine tasting here. The wine was certified organic and our guide to the wines was very knowledgeable. The wine tasting began at the outside covered patio but it started raining and so we went into the tasting room downstairs.
After we finished our time in Monteriggioni we drove to a newer winery Casale dello Spaviero in Castellina. Castellina had about 2,800 inhabitants. At Casale dello Spaviero we had another wine tasting. The estate sat on a beautiful setting in the countryside.
Casale dello SpavieroVineyards
The wine tasting was of three different red wines from the cellars.
We were back at the villa (really it was a farmhouse B&B) for dinner which began at 8:00 PM and lasted until 10:00 PM. and consisted of 5 courses! Each dinner ended with being served a shot of Grappa, a grape based pomace brandy of Italian origin and contained 35-60 percent alcohol by volume. Having a shot of Grappa after dinner was supposed to help with digestion of your meal! It was definitely strong!
Bruno, our chef, having a shot with us.Bruno, our chef, having a shot with us.
What adventures would be in store for us tomorrow? We were looking forward to it.
Since we were up so early yesterday, we relaxed at our villa where breakfast was included in our stay and it was quite a spread each morning.
Chris and Dave were busy planning out our adventures. Chris did a lot of research on the medieval towns around the area.
Chris and Dave busy planning.
Late morning we left for San Gimignano which was the town we could see from our villa. The city was named after the bishop of Modena, San Gimignano who they believed saved the city from Attila the Hun.
There are 14 remaining of the 72 towers that originally existed. These were tower houses that symbolized wealth and power of the owners.
It originally was an Etruscan village and it’s location along the Via Francigena pilgrimage route allowed it to grow. The Via Francigena was an ancient road/route from Canterbury in England, through France, Switzerland, and through Italy to Rome and on to Apulia which had ports for embarkation to the Holy Land.
A view of San Gimignano from our parking spot.The outside fortification wall of the city.
San Gimignano’s historic center is a UNESCO world heritage site.
We visited the Collegiata, a Roman Cathedral.
Collegiata
The frescoes in the cathedral date from the 14th century.
Photo of the restorationRestoration behind the partition.Saint Fina ChapelSaint Fina’s resting place in the chapel.Photo of Saint Fina’s vault.1000 year old fresco
After our visit of the church, six of us climbed the Torre Grossa’s 214 steps, the tallest tower in San Gimignano. It was 177 feet tall. Its walls are a little over 6 feet thick. It was worth the climb to experience the panoramic views of the city.
San Bartolo church was anciently dedicated to St. Matthew. This church went under complete reconstruction in 1173. It was devoted to St. Bartolo who was a local saint who died in 1299.
St. Bartolo Church
It was always worth stopping in to wine shops to have a wine tasting or just to enjoy a glass!
San Gimignano was known for its Vernaccia di San Gimignano wine which was made from white wine grapes. In fact, I read that is was so famous that it was even mentioned in Dante’s Inferno.
Below were some pictures from our exploration of the town.
After a fun time spent in San Gimignano, we had purchased some wine, cheese, and salami to enjoy at the villa in the evening because we had a late lunch in the town.
This morning we had to be up early to check out of our hotel in Rome and carry our luggage over to the Metro station. We rode the Metro with our luggage to the main terminal exit.
Waiting for the subway.
From the terminal we found the track that our high-speed train would arrive on and then take us to the Firenze S.M. Novella stop.
At the Florence Airport we got off the train with our luggage and then boarded the Metro to take us to the airport!
Our 3rd mode of transportation today!
When we arrived at the airport the guys left and took the rental car shuttle to pick up our van and car. When we first planned our trip we were hoping to rent one 10-12 passenger van. When we checked with Italy’s car rental agencies we were told you had to have a special bus driver’s license to drive any vehicle that carries 10 or more passengers. Therefore we had to rent two vehicles, a nine passenger van and a five passenger car.
Our rental carOur van
After loading both vehicles with our luggage, we headed for our villa outside of San Gimignano, Torraccia Di Chiusi. It was our 4th mode of transportation!
The last two miles of our drive to the villa was gravel and because of all of the rain that they have had there were many potholes and uneven surfaces! Below are pictures from around Torraccia Di Chiusi.
Our room!
We all loved our rooms, the staff, and the grounds of the villa.
Our key to our room!
It was around 3:30 PM when we arrived at the villa. This evening we were going to eat dinner there and it was served at 8:00 PM. Since we hadn’t had anything to eat since morning, we talked to Maria, the manager, and she had the kitchen make up two meat and cheese trays with fresh bread for our group. Of course, we also had several bottles of their wine. It was the perfect “happy hour”!
The grounds were beautiful and the scenery was spectacular.
San Gimignano in the distanceSan Gimignano
Right by our villa was the Via Francigena Toscana, an ancient pilgrimage route. It was a 1300-mile long route in the Middle Ages from Canterbury through France, Switzerland and Italy before reaching Rome. We met a couple that was hiking part of the route.
After dinner some of our group played Euchre, some read, and others found that sleep was calling their name. It was a long day of subway, train, and cars so it was an early night for most!
