Monteriggioni e Siena

In Monteriggioni

Our first full day in Toscana began with a lovely breakfast at home. Then Benny joined us for a road trip to Siena via the very small town of Monteriggioni. Monteriggioni was a Sienese fortress in the 13th century, and its fourteen tours (which I didn't manage to take any pictures of) were immortalized in Dante's Inferno. The three of us enjoyed a hike up into the town, bottles of water, and a leisurely stroll, before heading to Siena.

We had a lovely lunch of pizza and insalata at one of the restaurants overlooking Siena's famed Il Campo, arguably the most famous piazza in Italy. The city is making preparations for Il Palio di Siena on August 16; as was expected for August, there were mobs and mobs of people in town.

We found respite from the mobs inside Siena's spectacular cathedral...

Arriviamo!

The view from our castle courtyard.

Shira with prosciutto.

After an uneventful flight through Frankfurt, we were greeted in Firenze by our friends and drove through the beautiful Tuscan countryside to Shira's stunning home. Check out that view!! We had lunch at Paolo's, a local favorite spot with a courtyard situated under a fig tree and overlooking vineyards and olive groves. Then we had a short nap, followed by a trip to the local "Coop" grocery store for provisions, and we had a lovely meal of prosciutto e melone and tomate e burrata. And vino, of course.

Bella Toscana

We arrived in Tuscany on August 7 to join our friends Benny and Shira at Shira's family's home in Panzano, in the Chianti region. The home is part of a former castle, situated high atop the very highest hill in the town. We're staying in Panzano for dieci giorni, and we're using the lovely little village as the launching point for many adventures in bella Toscana!