Friday, June 16, 2023
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.
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.
The Tower was over 1,200 years old and the home of the owners. Our tour included their home.
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.
From the tower I was able to take a great picture of 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.
There also was a chapel on the property.
Stefano took us to the ancient wine cellar that he accidentally found. It was covered by layers of soil.
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!
Today we explored other areas of the city and past the main square, 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.
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.
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.
We will miss the hospitality, delicious meals, outstanding staff, and owners at Torraccia di Chiusi!
