Category: Travel

So are you ready to hear all about my trip to Italy?

I hope so, because I’m so excited to tell you about it. And because we basically split our trip into two parts (five days in Tuscany and three days in Venice) I’m going to break it down into two posts for you. This will also make it easier for you to find all my recommendations when you’re planning your next trip to either of these areas!

First off, it’s been far too long since my last Travel Diaries post. It’s been just about five months, in fact, since I brought you my Travel Diaries: Quebec City. We slowed down a bit in the New Year, after the craziness of the holidays, our wedding, and a ton of travel in between. We were also saving up vacation time for this big trip to Italy, which made it just a little bit easier to stay put knowing we had it to look forward to!

So, without further ado, here are all the deets for the Tuscany portion of our trip!

Where We STayed

For this first portion of our trip, we parked our luggage at the beautiful, historic Villa Fabbroni. Now, I may be biased, but if you are traveling anywhere in the greater Tuscany area, I highly recommend that you stay here. We found it thanks to friends of friends of friends, and the owners, Sergio and Stefano, quickly became dear friends of ours after my aunt and I first visited their property back in 2013.

Think of Villa Fabbroni as a huge step up from your average AirBnB. You can’t expect all of your average hotel amenities or daily maid service, but you CAN expect delicious meals prepared for you daily by Sergio and Stefano themselves (unless you opt to cook for yourself in your apartment’s kitchen,) as much estate wine and olive oil as you can manage, and the quiet, relaxing and friendly atmosphere of a country villa.

The villa is located just outside of Greve in Chianti, so if you are planning to do any exploring of the Tuscany area during your stay, plan on either renting a car (if you feel comfortable navigating windy country roads in a manual) or hiring Sergio and Stefano (if they’re available) to chaffeur you around for the day. Seeing as we had a group of seven and the guys had a big enough passenger van to hold all of us, we opted to have them show us around and are so glad we did. I’ll go into more detail about each of the little towns we visited below, but first I want to tell you about our cooking class!

The last time my aunt and I visited Villa Fabbroni, the group we were with had jam-packed all of our days with off-site adventures, so we really didn’t have any time at the villa. However, one night we were treated to a delicious four-course meal (as just about every dinner in Italy consists of this many courses….so much food!) prepared during a cooking class that Sergio and Stefano had hosted for another group staying on the property that day.  As soon as we found out that S&S offered cooking classes, we knew we wanted to take advantage of it the next time we visited. And take advantage we did!

When we were planning our trip this time around, we made sure to block out a day to stay at the villa so we could spend the afternoon learning all of the regional cooking methods from two legit Italians. Guys, it was amazing! So much fun and I can’t wait to recreate some of the recipes we made and share them here on the blog. We made antipasti, gnocchi, bolognese, ravioli, and THE BEST stuffed pork tenderloin. Oh, and did I mention tiramisu? We seriously learned so much from them in just a few hours. So if you stay here, DEFINITELY book a cooking class! You will not regret it one bit.

Okay, enough about the Villa (although can you tell I can’t say enough good things about it?) Let’s talk about all of the other places we got to visit during our stay!

Where We Went (and ate!)

Volpaia

This quaint hamlet was quite sleepy  and quiet when we visited, due to it being a largely agricultural-based town and it not quite being “farming season” yet. Sergio informed us that, in a few weeks, its seasonal residents would start trickling in and getting ready for the harvest season ahead, which lasts until about mid-October. We were, however, able to purchase some of the city’s famous wine which we promptly enjoyed back at the villa that afternoon.

Vertine

Another quiet little town, albeit a tad busier than Volpaia as there are more year-round residents. There’s nothing incredibly significant about this area, but it’s sheer calmness and nearly empty streets made it that much more magical, and made for lots of great photo ops!

Panzano

This was a MUST visit for me as we had gone on our last trip to Villa Fabbroni and I had absolutely fallen in love with two things there: the butcher and the wine shop of course! If you’re anywhere near Panzano during your Tuscany travels, you MUST stop in at Antica Macelleria Cecchini to get a taste of a TRUE Italian butcher. Complete with a glass of house wine when you walk in, a buffet loaded with samples of their seasoned salt and house lard spread on crunchy baguette, and music blaring from the speakers, this is a super-fun stop that you will NOT want to miss.

The other must-visit in Panzano is the Accademia del Buon Gusto, where you will have a wine-tasting experience like no other. Stefano (not the same Stefano that runs Villa Fabbroni, although they are in fact good friends) is the quirky, passionate owner who will take you on a journey through all of the vineyards of Tuscany and beyond, in just his little, stuffed-to-the-gills wine shop. He relates many of the wines he tastes to stories depicted on canvas by a local artist (which he also sells,) stories that will leave you cracking up and with a hilariously memorable experience that you’ll be telling friends about for years to come.

Greve

The largest town in proximity to Villa Fabbroni, although it’s really just a huge plaza surrounded by cute artisanal shops, restaurants and, of course, another butcher! Although not as lively as Antica Macelleria Cecchini, Antica Macelleria Falorni is much larger with a huge range of offerings, from freshly butchered meats to house charcuterie to a whole cellar filled with cheese, this was a great spot for us to stop on our first day and stock up on snacks to take back to the villa with us for the rest of the week.

And for all you food bloggers/kitchenware snobs out there, this is also a great town to shop for unique, handmade wood pieces and beautiful Italian pottery. Just take a loop around the square and you’re bound to find something!

Florence

Although my parents, aunt and me had all been to Florence before, we felt it was a must-see for the newbies in our group. Before even stepping foot into the city, Sergio and Stefano took us up to San Miniato al Monte, a stunning church (where my aunt and I had actually attended a beautiful Mass on our last visit) with expansive views of the entire city. Most visitors to Florence know to go to the Piazzale Michaelangelo for these gorgeous views, but skip the massive crowds and lines of tour buses and drive a little further to the church. You’ll get the same panoramic views and less than half the crowd!

After snapping our obligatory photos of the city from above, we headed down and got dropped off right outside the city walls (you need a special permit to drive in the streets of Florence, so if you don’t have one be ready to walk!) We started out at the Sant’ Ambrogio Market which is a smaller version of the well-known Mercato Centrale. We then made our way through the city and eventually to the city center to gawk at the impressive Piazza del Duomo, where you just might end up with a huge kink in your neck from looking up at the massive, incredibly intricate architecture that looms over the city.

We’d worked up quite an appetite traversing the rather large city on foot, so we stopped into Antico Ristorante Sasso di Dante for a late lunch before making the hour and a half drive back to the villa. Be sure to order the broiled Gnocchi with Creamy Gorgonzola sauce. I guarantee you will NOT be disappointed.

Oh! And I can’t forget what began our daily love affair with an afternoon gelato stop – right outside of Florence’s city walls, be sure to stop in to Badiani for a couple of scoops of what we determined was THE best gelato of our trip (and we tried a lot of gelato.) It’s worth trying to find a parking spot on the city streets!

Montepulciano

Another area that some of us had been to before, but that we definitely wanted to revisit on this trip. Not only is this what could be considered the heart of Tuscany’s wine trade, it’s also a great city to wander around aimlessly, take in the beautiful views down the random alleyways, and pop into shops for some great souvenirs. TBH, we spent most of the day wandering and shopping, although I did stop for a Nutella crepe. We also had a delicious lunch at Caffe Poliziano (seated on an outdoor terrace overlooking the countryside outside of the city walls) and picked up some chocolate truffles at Dolce Vita to enjoy for dessert at the villa that night. On our way out of town, we stopped in for a tasting of the area’s best wines at a little Enoteca, and were sure to stock up on more bottles for the villa (and for packing in our luggage to take home!)

And, all too quickly, that sums up our time in Tuscany! What do you think, did we hit some of the best places or do you have more recommendations? Be sure to stay tuned for a recap of the rest of our trip on Travel Diaries: Venice in the near future! xo