On Good Friday Natalie and I flew into Pisa, picked up our hire car – a cute little Fiat 500 – and drove to Florence. After negotiating the crazy streets and one-way system, we were settled in time for a stroll and afternoon gelati at local favourite, Grom (flavour notes: pear and hazelnut). I hadn’t been to Florence for 4 years so it was nice to be reminded again what a lovely city it is. For our first dinner in Italy I had pasta with mushrooms and black truffle and tiramisu for dessert.
Saturday
We spent the next morning wandering around the city centre and handbag shopping at the leather markets. My new Firenze number is a bargain compared to the Marc Jacobs bag I had my eye on in Selfridges! We had a light lunch of panini and salad at a lively place in the centre of town followed by a gelati at Perché No (flavour notes: cassata siciliana and malaga).
In the afternoon we drove east to Arezzo (where parts of Life is Beautiful was filmed) and had a coffee with Nil (Laleh’s younger sister and my recent Istanbul travel companion) and met her Uncle who has a carpet shop on the main street. Then it was on to our B&B on the outskirts of Siena.
Podere la Strega is a very nice B&B with a gorgeous view of Siena. Once we’d stopped cooing over our lovely room we drove into town for our first glimpse of Siena and it’s very large city square. Dinner in a local trattoria was a Tuscan specialty of fresh pasta with wild boar.
Easter Sunday
We woke to delicious home cooked pastries from our host Letizia, yoghurts, juice and coffee on Easter morning. Siena was busier than we were expecting on Sunday but not overcrowded and we wandered around the maze of streets within the medieval town walls. We climbed the tower of Museo Dell’ Opera for a view over the town and even caught part of the Easter service in the town’s impressive cathedral.
Thanks to our hostess we’d booked a very special lunch at Osteria Le Logge, a restaurant in a charming room that was once a pharmacy, where they have a creative take on traditional dishes. We had a great bottle of local white wine and for lunch I had a poached egg on lightly battered onion rings which was a surprisingly good combination and beautifully presented, a delicious ossobuco for main, and a really excellent dessert of finely sliced pineapple in a white chocolate and yoghurt sauce with tarragon gelati.
The rest of the afternoon was spent discovering the city and people watching in the square with a gelati (Flavour notes: fragola, chocolate, stracciatella). On our way back to the B&B we stopped at a nice deli and picked up some wine, prosciutto, salami with fennel, mortadella and pecorino for a light dinner on the terrace.
Monday
On Monday we left Podere la Strega and drove north to the small hilltop, walled village of Monteriggioni. It was market day there with a few people pottering about in the early morning sun and enjoying the views of the countryside from the top of the walls.
From here we drove to San Gimignano – a complete change of pace – it was tourist central! It took about an hour to get into town with the queue of traffic and find a park. It reminded me of a Saturday morning driving into Monteville! Ready for lunch, we walked into the first place recommended in the guide book and had the most disappointing meal of the trip. We high-tailed it out of there to see what the rest of the town had to offer. Unfortunately due to the number of people and very touristy nature of the place – I’d say not much. As I was queueing for gelati (flavour notes: hazelnut and passionfruit) it started to rain so we took cover in a nearby trattoria to have an espresso and wait it out. This particular corner of town, a little bit quieter, luckily offered some respite from the rain and the tourists.
By then it was time to head south again to find our next accommodation, Podere Salicotto, in Buonconvento. Here we were welcomed with open arms by Silvia and Paulo who recommended we go to Mario’s in town for dinner. It was a great, rustic place with a mamma overseeing things and friendly, helpful staff. My Italian isn’t good enough to say no, so I ended up ordering both Primi Piatti and Secondi Piatti! I started with a small bowl of spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce, and rabbit for main. Both excellent. I had tiramisu for dessert again. We treated ourselves to a bottle of the famous Brunello di Montalcino which was delicious and rounded off a great meal.
Podere Salicotto
The view from the B&B
Tuesday
After a breakfast of yoghurt, local meats and cheese and home-baked cake and bread sitting outside on the terrace overlooking the countryside we headed off to explore the local area.
The day ended up being an highlight with the towns we visited and the beautiful countryside we drove through in the Valley d’Orcia. The scenery in this area in early Spring is rolling hills of green, newly planted fields dotted with tall pine trees that seem perfectly planted to improve the vista. While it’s similar to other parts of Tuscany it seems more open here and perhaps more gentle and manicured.
We drove through Montalcino, to San Antimo Abbey, across to Pienza for lunch, and over to Montelpucino. On our way back we sought and found a well-known road lined with tall pines called Strada per Monticchiello for a photo opp and stopped in at San Quirico. All these towns were quiet, charming, and exactly what you’d hope to see, with the exception of Montelpucino which I wouldn’t recommend (it was dusty, felt like a ghost town and had no real appeal, even if the wine is good!).
Montalcino
San Antimo Abbey (monks still live here)
Pienza
Strada per Monticchiello
San Quirico
Our last dinner was in Buonconvento again. This time at a very quirky (not in a good way) restaurant but the food was good. I had tomato bruschetta to start and a very nice pasta with rocket and nettle sauce for main course. After nearly a week’s worth of pasta I couldn’t bring myself to have dessert!
Wednesday
This was our travel day so Nat and I had a leisurely breakfast chatting with our hosts about local life, the upcoming royal wedding and Italian politics. Before our 2 hour trip back to Pisa, we stopped in to see Buonconvento in the daylight.
Charming Buonconvento
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Notes
poderelastrega.com
poderesalicotto.com
Cantinetta dei Verrazzano, Via dei Tavolini, Firenze
Osteria Le Logge, Via del Porrione, Siena
Ristorante Mario's, Buonconvento
Re di Macchia, Via S Saloni, Buonconvento
Locanda di Sant' Agostino, Piazza Sant' Agostino, San Gimignano (looked good we should have eaten here)
Ristorante degli Archi / Il Pozzo Cafe, Via Dante Alighieri 24, San Quirico (closed Tues - recommended but didn't go)
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