Two days in Tuscany

May 9, 2012 at 3:30 pm 1 comment

Two days is only enough time to get a little taste of Tuscany, but it has been a perfect start to the Italy trip. Our home base has been the Ricasoli guest house at Castello di Brolio, which is a beautiful place to be – full of both solitude and hospitality. From there we’ve toured vineyards, country roads and nearby towns, and spent all the rest of our hours on the classic Italian pastime of eating and then eating some more!

Our hosts are the inventors of Chianti wine, and today we visited their castle, a national monument that dates back to the 12th century. There is nothing like wine to make you appreciate history.

We’ve tasted some wonderful wines, of course. My favorites so far are those made with the Sangiovese grape – the fragrance of it is unmistakable when you hold the wine up to your nose.

We had a lovely lunch at the Osteria del Castello today and the drove about 30 minutes to Siena, which is full of amazing architecture and little streets and piazzas with people, shops and restaurants. The Duomo pictured below was a highlight for me.

Tomorrow I will hope for a sunny day with a bit of time in the morning to enjoy the pool at the guest house, and then it is on to Firenze (Florence) for museums, sculptures and shopping.