Tuscany, Toscana.  When I first started dreaming about this trip, this was what I imagined.  The storybook setting, wine that flows like water, rolling green hills, fresh pasta; it was everything I wanted.  I dreamed of curling up with a good book in an old farmhouse in a beautiful countryside. We loved Italy the first time we were in Europe, and for some reason my mind always came back to it when I first got the crazy idea to travel for 6 weeks.  Well, it did not disappoint. (Sorry in advance for the long post, but we were here for 2 weeks so there’s a lot to cover!)

Everything is a postcard.  Every turn you take is just as unbelievable as the last.  We decided on San Gimignano because it was a small city in between Siena and Florence, a good base to explore Tuscany.  We drove from Rome and as we crept more and more into the hills we were amazed at what we saw.  Vineyards as far as the eye can see, with rolling hills topped with beautiful Tuscan farm houses.  It was incredible.

We rented a house via airbnb in a small town just a couple miles from the center of San Gimignano called Ulignano.  The house was great- Matt had fallen in love with it online because it had a pizza oven, and for those of you who know him he has some serious pizza skills.

So besides eating, my main objective was drinking wine, duh.  It wasn’t difficult-  wine was literally cheaper than water in many places, and all the wine was so good.  Even the cheapest of wines was more than decent.  I couldn’t get enough.  On our drive from San Gimignano to our house and in the surrounding area, you would find little wineries that you could stop in and have a tasting and buy a bottle, all ridiculously cheap since you’re buying it directly from them.  I fell in love with white wine, which I never usually drink, because it was so fresh and cold on the days that it got warm (not AZ warm but warm in the sun 😉 ).  It was nothing like the white wine I’m used to drinking at home, it was sweet but not too sweet and just dry enough.  I couldn’t get enough (we might have shipped a case home.. shhhhh).

Our favorite winery had this little shop right off the road that had the most amazing views.  We stopped in on our first day and tasted a few and bought a couple bottles, but we made sure we went back for a full tasting and tour of the vineyard.

This is our drive to the vineyard-  I know it’s long but you can just skip through it (I sped it up a little to shorten it).  Seeing our drive really gives you a sense of the small size of the city and the gorgeous surroundings.  You can also see me at the end being Disapproving Debbie and disapproving of the gopro being clamped to the hood of the car, I was afraid we’d lose it.

Just down the road from our house was an amazing little restaurant, Antico Desco.  If you ever find yourself in Tuscany, you must make a trip.  We ate there like 5 times while we were in San Gimignano, and had everything on the menu, and it was all amazing, especially the homemade tiramisu.  I almost cried it was so good.

The best part of Antico Desco was that we made friends with some of the waitresses since we were there every night.  In particular Giorgia (if your reading this Girogia, thanks for everything!), who got us exceedingly drunk on our last night thanks to lots of grappa and a bottle of wine (flying to Madrid the next day was pretty brutal).  She won Matt’s heart earlier in the week when she gave him some German beer she had (Matt was a little over wine at that point).  It was great to talk to some locals and see what life is like for them in such a breathtaking place.

One day we went for a long hike (where I almost died) and came across the most amazing fruit trees.  I tried to get Matt to not take any, but of course he didn’t listen.  I’m glad he didn’t because I had the best peach and plum of my life in that little orchard.

The actual town of San Gimignano is filled with little shops and restaurants, so we headed into town every couple days to eat or just walk and enjoy the view (and buy some leather goods 😉 )

Here’s a couple other photos from San Gimignano I had to share:

I think that sums it up!  Later I will post some time lapses that Matt took while we were in Tuscany (I think that the time lapse feature on the gopro is his new hobby, he’s obsessed). And I’ll try to throw Matt under the bus now and name him guest blogger for our next post, Florence!  Stay tuned!