All you Italy lovers,
Could you help me with some suggestions for what to see/do/eat while in Tuscany for a week?
We’ll be renting a house about 1 hour south of Florence near San Giovanni Valorno and Terranuova Bracciolini. Any good restaurants near by? Suggestions for wineries to visit? If I could save up calories in advance, I would. I have a feeling I’ll be gaining some pounds on this one.
Thanks!
Link to map view if it will jog your memory:
What I liked best was to try the regional dishes in each area - like Pienza was known for Peccorino cheese and Chingiale (wild boar).
If you make it to the town of Greve, there is one of the best meat/cheese shops and nearby is Le Cantina - more than 100 Sangiovese wines to taste on the Enomatics, by the ounce (or more). Gives you a great way to know what you like in the area. About 15 minutes away is Fontodi if you can arrange a tasting. Nothing special about the tasting in their office, but you can buy the latest vintages which are not always available.
We “popped in” to Cassanova di Neri and were treated very well (their owner/manager’s English and my Italian worked); there was a wine shop in Sienna that had some of the best deals in the area. Skip the commercial outlet mall outside of Florence.
Most amazing thing to me was full bars in the gas stations along the highway!
It appears you will be no more than 10 miles from Il Borro, to the southeast; it’s well worth a visit for the wine, and much more. A beautiful 700 acre estate owned by the Ferragamo family, it has a 19th century villa that is now a Relaix & Chateaux hotel; a restored medieval village that is now a working agricultural village; vineyards; and a winery producing excellent wines. Il Borro Toscana
To the west and southwest, you have a buffet of outstanding Chianti Classico producers within easy striking distance. Some I would favor, in no particular order:
Sunset over Volpaia
Thank you both!
Wow. The hardest part may be choosing. (The places to go, then the designated drivers.)
I stayed at Il Borro a couple of time. They have beautiful properties - both in the village and outside. The family went horseback riding through a portion of the estate.
The restaurant in the village was quite good. My last visit, however, was some 10 years ago.
In Terranuova Bracciolini is the restaurant Il Canto del Maggio. Il Canto del Maggio | The Restaurant
It is highly recommended, although it has been a few years since my last visit. My children were introduced to spinach ravioli with a butter and truffle sauce and have never looked back.
Also nearby is Tenuta Sette Ponte. I am not sure they accept visitors; my daughter and I, however, did walk around the vineyards and then entered into the villa asking if we could taste their wines. No one was around. Later, we met some field workers who asked what we were doing. When we responded, in broken Italian, they shrugged and shook their heads “no.”
I see Badia a Coltibuono was identified above. I stopped for a visit and ate at the restaurant. I could have been in any wine-related vacation spot in the US. Very much an American clientele was present. [Insert comments about stereotypical loud, know-it-all American here.] That would be a pass for me.
Agree completely with Robert. If you go to Castellina, a Michelin Star restaurant, Albergaccio, was sublime. We rented a house in Radda for a week in 2010 and used that as a home base. You must visit Volpaia for lunch - rabbit with black truffles was amazing. Badia a Coltibuono is a great recommendation. And wines from Fonterutoli were widely available at reasonable costs.
The thing we learned is that the wine prices in restaurants were typically about 10 Euros more than retail and we never saw anyone try to BYOB.
If I can give you one tip - when you go into Florence, park outside the city and walk in (or take a train from your home base). Parking was a real pain in the butt in most cities. Whatever you do, don’t let them “upgrade” you to a bigger car, lest you may not fit your car in many parking spaces.
There is a really good traditional restaurant in the village of Loro Ciuffenna called il Cipresso. They have an awesome spit roast , really old school. They also have a decent list.
I’ve stayed at Castello de Spaltenna in Giaole
Also L’andana in Maremma
And Conti di San Bonifacio
Things to do:
Panzano
Caffagio - they make my go-to Chianti Classico! They also produce stunning non Sangio blends
Lunch - Osteria Panzanelle
Greve
Enoteca Falorni - fun experience
Montepulciano
Avigonesi - fun tour and tasting
Montalcino
Poggio Salvi - not well known, but definitely producers are solid Brunello!
Petra is a gorgeous, state of the art, facility and if you’re interested in heading to the Tuscan Coast - worth the trip.
One of the best dinners we ever had in Tuscany was at Poggio Rosso, the restaurant at Borgo San Felice, located in the vicinity of Castelnuovo Berardenga.
A few musts in no order (and excluding the big sites - Uffizi, etc.):
Looks like a great location! You are just east of the Chianti Classico region. So many good wines and wineries to visit there. Go to a few that are off the main roads and on the characteristic “white roads” (e.g. Buondonno). A lunch in the courtyard under a tree at Castello La Lecchia in Castellina in Chianti with a bottle of their own Chianti Classico might be nice. Nice Artisanal Gelateria also in Castellina. To the south the Val D’Orcia is a very different landscape worth driving through. Pienza is nice, if also a bit touristy, but just outside the city, a stop at Endi Binzo will get you an expansive, but not expensive, “tagliere”(charcuterie and cheese platter) if you ask the nice person behind the counter. Not really a restaurant, but they do have sit down space and they also have a great wine selection, and will sometimes have open bottle that you can order just a glass of. Not far from here, you could visit an incredible sculptor in clay, who started out making clay pots and diverged into something extraordinary - Ceramiche Sbarluzzi Pienza (go inside to see the really good stuff!). As others have mentioned the lunch with wine and tour at Avignonesi is also special. Enjoy!
A couple of additional towns worth strolling through are Volterra and Cortona.
We had a fabulous meal at Arnolfo in Colle di Val d’Elsa (between Florence and Siena).