We were up early to get on the bus for a day exploring the Tuscan countryside. Despite our “early” departure, we were caught up in the Florentine* traffic and didn’t really get out of town until about 10:15. What is the answer to this? Is there any point in doing an early start (8:30am), or might we as well have a later start when the traffic has died down? These and other philosophical questions flitted briefly through my mind, until we reached the outskirts of Florence and the driver was able to put his foot down.
We reached San Gimignano at around 1030, and walked up from the bus park to the main gate. It’s a picturesque walled town (technically a city) of 13th century vintage – although the village dates back to the 3rd century BC, the current walls weren’t built until 1261. It’s situated at the top of a hill commanding the surrounding countryside, and the town is also quite hilly. We had an hour to explore in the sunshine, and wandered around, found a model of the city, looked into some other nooks and crannies, and generally mooched.
We then headed to our lunch venue, a vineyard called Poggio Alloro (Laurel Hill) to try some of their wines. They are more than just a vineyard, with their own cattle, sheep and pigs, olives and other produce. Nearly all of what we had for lunch was either their own produce (wine, olive oil, salami) or locally sourced. We tried two whites and two reds, then had lunch. As we finished lunch a few drops of rain started to appear on the awning, so we had a hurried tasting of grappa – both plain and saffron-flavoured – and limoncello, before reboarding the bus as the heavens opened.
Well, it all turned out to be a storm in a teacup. A brief shower, but unfortunately one that stayed long enough for us to cancel our second town, Castellina…because who wants to walk around in the rain? We drove back to Florence for a relaxing afternoon before tonight’s entertainment – this time a concert of love duets from various Italian operas.
* Served with spinach
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