Everyone should probably spend at least a few days in Toscana - it's so good for the soul!
The rolling hills, the hill top towns, the dusty lanes, the olives, the vineyards - and where we are staying (in a spacious room of the family villa of the Pantini family - Kristina is from Sydney, she came to Tuscany 14 years ago for a holiday, she never returned home) in the countryside between Cortona and Castiglion Fiorentino the view of the surrounding hills is beautiful, and from the top of the hill towns the view of the plain is equally beautiful.
At night here in the countryside the stars blaze (though it is slightly strange to look up and not see the Southern Cross or the Milky Way) and the full moon actually silhouettes the nearby hilltop towns and the slim cypress pines. Here too, just like Moneglia, the fireflies dance around the olive trees at night.
It's the annual Medieval Festival when we arrive in Castiglion Fiorentino and the old castle was alive with music, food, dancing and locals in period costume. They like to party in these parts!
We spend the days taking day trips to other hilltop towns - Siena, Cortona, Montepulciano, Perugia - and poke around the alleyways and cobbled streets. All beautiful, but one of my favourite things is just driving along the white dusty roads between villages.
Cortona has a lovely Etruscan museum. There is also a exhibition at present of Etruscan antiquities from the Louvre. The large terracotta bust of Ariana - apparently one of the finest examples of Etruscan terracotta sculpture from the Hellenistic period (BC) - the bust is the upper part of a monumental statue that lay unidentified in a Louvre storage room until just 10 years ago!
The rolling hills, the hill top towns, the dusty lanes, the olives, the vineyards - and where we are staying (in a spacious room of the family villa of the Pantini family - Kristina is from Sydney, she came to Tuscany 14 years ago for a holiday, she never returned home) in the countryside between Cortona and Castiglion Fiorentino the view of the surrounding hills is beautiful, and from the top of the hill towns the view of the plain is equally beautiful.
At night here in the countryside the stars blaze (though it is slightly strange to look up and not see the Southern Cross or the Milky Way) and the full moon actually silhouettes the nearby hilltop towns and the slim cypress pines. Here too, just like Moneglia, the fireflies dance around the olive trees at night.
It's the annual Medieval Festival when we arrive in Castiglion Fiorentino and the old castle was alive with music, food, dancing and locals in period costume. They like to party in these parts!
We spend the days taking day trips to other hilltop towns - Siena, Cortona, Montepulciano, Perugia - and poke around the alleyways and cobbled streets. All beautiful, but one of my favourite things is just driving along the white dusty roads between villages.
Cortona has a lovely Etruscan museum. There is also a exhibition at present of Etruscan antiquities from the Louvre. The large terracotta bust of Ariana - apparently one of the finest examples of Etruscan terracotta sculpture from the Hellenistic period (BC) - the bust is the upper part of a monumental statue that lay unidentified in a Louvre storage room until just 10 years ago!
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| The Tuscan country lanes. |
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| The iconic pines |
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| Cortona town square |
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| From Cortona over the Chiana Valley to Lake Trasimeno |
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| Piazza della Repubblica (with bride) and the 13th century town hall and clock tower. This photo was taken at lunch time, however last Saturday, just after we arrived in Tuscany a summer storm hit, lightening hit the clock town....at precisely 4.05pm! |
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| Beautiful Cortona and its Etruscan treasures |
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| The view from the Pantini's family villa |
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| Montepulciano early morning mist |
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| Ah Bramsole! |
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| Driving along the dusty, unnamed lanes |
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