Italy Trip Report Part II: Siena and Tuscany
Jun 3rd, 2005, 11:30 AM
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Italy Trip Report Part II: Siena and Tuscany
Here is Part II of our trip report – it’s long, but I hope you find it interesting and useful.
Day 5 – Friday 5/20 – This morning we were all set to take a cab to the Termini to get our train to Orvieto where we were going to rent a car from Auto Europe. We got a minivan cab with another couple from our hotel that were going to the airport. As we got close to the train station, the cab driver mentioned that there might be a strike. He put on the news radio and sure enough, there was a strike of ALL public transportation. So, he took us with the other couple to the airport instead (60 EUR for two couples). We figured it would be much easier to change our car rental to the airport instead of trying to find a rental location in Rome (and then have to drive out of the city with all the traffic).
When we got to the airport, a guy at the Europcar let me use their phone to call the 800 number for AutoEurope. I got a nice guy in Maine who changed our reservation from Hertz to Europcar for pickup at the Rome airport. It was about $25 more due to the airport taxes, but I didn’t care at that point since we were able to leave Rome. There were no problems in changing the reservation location and it was very easy to contact Auto Europe. We packed up our little 2 door Fiat Punto and hit the road for our drive to Siena.
My husband chickened out in driving the car since it was stick, so I was the one who got to drive the whole time in Tuscany (which I actually enjoyed). Leaving Rome airport was a breeze – all the signs on the road were clearly marked and we had no problems finding where we need to go. The only problem we encountered was our tiny little car had no pick-up! Italians drive fast and love to pass people, especially little cars like ours!
We had a 3:45 tour scheduled at Castello Banfi in Montalcino and tried our best to make it there. We were surprised in how long it took to get from one town to the next. We got to Banfi around 4:00 and missed the tour, but did taste a few glasses of wine and some balsamic. We bought a bottle of their balsamic (30 EUR) and she didn’t charge us for the wine tasting. We really would have loved to do their 5 course dinner at their restaurant, but wanted to make it to Siena before it got dark.
We made it to our hotel in Siena, Palazzo Rivezza without any problems. This is a very nice hotel set in an old palace within the walls of Siena. They have plenty of parking behind the hotel and you just walk up about 60 steps (that’s what they told us) to the hotel. Our room was nice – nothing super fancy – but the garden outside the hotel was great. It had such pretty views of the Tuscan countryside. Breakfast had eggs, bacon, cheeses, breads with nutella, cereal, yogurt, etc. It was a little too chilly to eat outside, so we ate in their dining room. We paid 180 EUR here per night and it was well worth it. Great hotel, great location and great service by the staff!
Once we got to Siena, we decided to walk around and see the Duomo and the Campo and to look in the shops. We loved the look and feel of Siena! It was such a change from Rome… it was busy, but nothing like Rome!
For dinner we headed to a recommendation that my husband had gotten off Fodor’s – a trattoria in the Piazza de Mercato behind the Campo. My husband had great homemade pasta and I enjoyed the Tuscan soup with bread. We thought we were going to get some desert at Nannini’s afterwards, but were disappointed that they were closed!
Day 6 – Saturday 5/21 – After breakfast, we headed out on our day of driving around Tuscany with Montelpulciano being our first stop. My husband had a trip report from someone on Fodor’s that actually gave sights to look for on the drive we were doing. The first time we pulled over to take pictures was when we got close to Pienza (I think) and there was a group of cypress trees with yellow and red flowers all around. If you’ve seen Tuscany postcards, I can guarantee that you’ve seen these trees.
Now, funny story (well, funny now – it wasn’t so funny then). My husband is taking pictures of me in the flowers... I’m squatting down in different places, etc. We are just about to leave and I realize that our car key was no longer in my pocket. Somehow, in taking the pictures, it fell out of my pocket! I began to freak out… here we are on this road in Tuscany, the car is locked and all we have on us is our camera. No phone numbers, no money, NOTHING… it was all in the car! There were only a few other people around and one of the couples spoke English, so I asked them to help us look for the key. I was really scared – I was close to hyperventilating and felt like I was going to throw up. The flowers were a couple feet tall and it was literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. Thirty minutes of searching later, my husband comes to the rescue and finds the key! From that point on, anytime we got out of the car, the key was his responsibility.
The rest of the drive to Montelpulciano had some great views and we took pictures at different points along the way. When we got to Montelpulciano, we had no trouble finding parking and headed into the town. We found a little shop that was giving samples of their oil and wine that turned out to be really good. We bought a few bottles of oil and balsamic and two bottles of Brunello from there.
After Montelpulciano we headed to Pienza – another lovely town. Here we walked around for a little bit and grabbed some sandwiches to take with us.
We decided that we would do lunch at the Abbey of Sant’Antimo outside of Montalcino. This was a gorgeous church with a gorgeous view. We sat inside the church for a little bit to hear the monks chanting – something new for us.
After leaving the Abbey, we did a quick tour of Montalcino and it’s fortress before driving back to Siena.
On our drive back to Siena – around 5pm – we decided what the heck, might as well do San Gimignano now too so we could do Chianti the next day. I know many fodorites would say that we didn’t spend enough time in each town, but our take was that we’d rather see more of the towns then spend a lot of time in one.
We got to San Gimignano a little after 6pm and it was nice, because I think it would have been a lot more crowded had we gone during the day. There were great views from here, but we found the town to be very “touristy”. I know some people may like that, but we didn’t care for all the stores with postcards, ceramic pieces, etc. We did however find a good store near the church that photographs. We bought a nice photograph of San Gimignano (22 EUR) and now wish we would have bought more while we were there since photographs of Venice and Florence could not be found anywhere in those towns!
When we got back to the hotel, we found a bottle of champagne and fruit platter in our room that my sister had sent. We took it outside into the garden and again enjoyed the lovely views.
For dinner the hotel recommended Due Porto. Since it was a Saturday night, they were full outside (reservations only), so we ate dinner inside. We were not very impressed with this meal, although it was one of our cheaper meals in Italy. I think we had a salad (split), each had a pizza and a “litro” of vino for about 30 EUR. For desert we got some gelato and walked around the Campo.
Day 7 – Sunday 5/22 – Today we had a wine tour scheduled at 11:00 at Volpaia. Volpaia was a tiny little town near Radda in Chianti. There are only 40 people that live in this little town (and most are related to each other). The girl who gave the tour at Volpaia was quite interesting – she wasn’t too friendly and was very brief on what she talked about, especially compared to the wine tours we had done in Napa. I think the oil and wine tour lasted about 25 minutes and then we went into their tasting room. We tried one white and 3 reds – I don’t really remember much about them since I was the designated driver, I didn’t do too much tasting!
Friends of ours had gone to Castello de Verrazzano last year and loved their olive oil, but couldn’t buy it because they were out. So, we decided to go to Verrazzano and try to buy some oil. Unfortunately, we drove all the way up to the castle to learn that they were closed. However, they had a little information shop at the bottom of the hill where they sold wine, oil, etc. Although the guy spoke no English, we were able to tell him that we wanted 4 bottles of oil (12 EUR each).
When we got back to Siena, we walked around the town a little more since we hadn’t really explored it yet. We were disappointed though because it was Sunday and a lot of the shops were closed. We picked up some Sienese pastries to bring home with us and a book with pictures of Tuscany.
Tonight’s dinner was a little risky on our part. We decided to try La Torre in Siena – right near the Campo. Our hotel made reservations for us (although I don’t think we really needed them). This is a place where they speak NO English and there is NO menu!! When we got there, the chef/owner was standing outside at the door just watching people walk by. When we sat down the waiter brought us some wine (easiest thing we ordered all night). Since I don’t eat red meat, I told him “non carne” and that was about the only thing I “ordered” all evening. He brought me a spinach and ricotta tortellini with a butter sauce that was excellent. My husband got some ravioli with meat sauce. For the entrée I got chicken – I was able to communicate that chicken was okay. I was too scared to go for the fish because I really didn’t want to look at a fish head! My husband got a pork dish and really liked it. We each also got a side of asparagus. For desert, we each got some type of lemon pie. We would have preferred chocolate, but since we didn’t have a menu and couldn’t communicate real well, we took what we got. The most fascinating part of the meal though was watching the chef come in from outside, go to a freezer, take out a huge hunk of meat, go to the kitchen and using his huge butcher knife, just started hacking at it! We just sat there in amazement watching him! When we left, my husband even got a picture with him! I think our bill for this dinner was 62 EUR.
Overall, we LOVED Tuscany. My husband and I say that we would love to buy a house over there when we retire (unfortunately we have about 35 years to go!). It is just so peaceful and beautiful.
Word of advice on driving – be prepared to pass slow drivers – solid line, dotted line, and even around corners! Also, I honestly had no idea what the speed limit was in Tuscany – I just kept up with the other cars (and there were no cops around anywhere!). My husband kept telling me to slow down, but it was actually fun driving like that!
The next morning we leave for Florence… trip report to follow.
Day 5 – Friday 5/20 – This morning we were all set to take a cab to the Termini to get our train to Orvieto where we were going to rent a car from Auto Europe. We got a minivan cab with another couple from our hotel that were going to the airport. As we got close to the train station, the cab driver mentioned that there might be a strike. He put on the news radio and sure enough, there was a strike of ALL public transportation. So, he took us with the other couple to the airport instead (60 EUR for two couples). We figured it would be much easier to change our car rental to the airport instead of trying to find a rental location in Rome (and then have to drive out of the city with all the traffic).
When we got to the airport, a guy at the Europcar let me use their phone to call the 800 number for AutoEurope. I got a nice guy in Maine who changed our reservation from Hertz to Europcar for pickup at the Rome airport. It was about $25 more due to the airport taxes, but I didn’t care at that point since we were able to leave Rome. There were no problems in changing the reservation location and it was very easy to contact Auto Europe. We packed up our little 2 door Fiat Punto and hit the road for our drive to Siena.
My husband chickened out in driving the car since it was stick, so I was the one who got to drive the whole time in Tuscany (which I actually enjoyed). Leaving Rome airport was a breeze – all the signs on the road were clearly marked and we had no problems finding where we need to go. The only problem we encountered was our tiny little car had no pick-up! Italians drive fast and love to pass people, especially little cars like ours!
We had a 3:45 tour scheduled at Castello Banfi in Montalcino and tried our best to make it there. We were surprised in how long it took to get from one town to the next. We got to Banfi around 4:00 and missed the tour, but did taste a few glasses of wine and some balsamic. We bought a bottle of their balsamic (30 EUR) and she didn’t charge us for the wine tasting. We really would have loved to do their 5 course dinner at their restaurant, but wanted to make it to Siena before it got dark.
We made it to our hotel in Siena, Palazzo Rivezza without any problems. This is a very nice hotel set in an old palace within the walls of Siena. They have plenty of parking behind the hotel and you just walk up about 60 steps (that’s what they told us) to the hotel. Our room was nice – nothing super fancy – but the garden outside the hotel was great. It had such pretty views of the Tuscan countryside. Breakfast had eggs, bacon, cheeses, breads with nutella, cereal, yogurt, etc. It was a little too chilly to eat outside, so we ate in their dining room. We paid 180 EUR here per night and it was well worth it. Great hotel, great location and great service by the staff!
Once we got to Siena, we decided to walk around and see the Duomo and the Campo and to look in the shops. We loved the look and feel of Siena! It was such a change from Rome… it was busy, but nothing like Rome!
For dinner we headed to a recommendation that my husband had gotten off Fodor’s – a trattoria in the Piazza de Mercato behind the Campo. My husband had great homemade pasta and I enjoyed the Tuscan soup with bread. We thought we were going to get some desert at Nannini’s afterwards, but were disappointed that they were closed!
Day 6 – Saturday 5/21 – After breakfast, we headed out on our day of driving around Tuscany with Montelpulciano being our first stop. My husband had a trip report from someone on Fodor’s that actually gave sights to look for on the drive we were doing. The first time we pulled over to take pictures was when we got close to Pienza (I think) and there was a group of cypress trees with yellow and red flowers all around. If you’ve seen Tuscany postcards, I can guarantee that you’ve seen these trees.
Now, funny story (well, funny now – it wasn’t so funny then). My husband is taking pictures of me in the flowers... I’m squatting down in different places, etc. We are just about to leave and I realize that our car key was no longer in my pocket. Somehow, in taking the pictures, it fell out of my pocket! I began to freak out… here we are on this road in Tuscany, the car is locked and all we have on us is our camera. No phone numbers, no money, NOTHING… it was all in the car! There were only a few other people around and one of the couples spoke English, so I asked them to help us look for the key. I was really scared – I was close to hyperventilating and felt like I was going to throw up. The flowers were a couple feet tall and it was literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. Thirty minutes of searching later, my husband comes to the rescue and finds the key! From that point on, anytime we got out of the car, the key was his responsibility.
The rest of the drive to Montelpulciano had some great views and we took pictures at different points along the way. When we got to Montelpulciano, we had no trouble finding parking and headed into the town. We found a little shop that was giving samples of their oil and wine that turned out to be really good. We bought a few bottles of oil and balsamic and two bottles of Brunello from there.
After Montelpulciano we headed to Pienza – another lovely town. Here we walked around for a little bit and grabbed some sandwiches to take with us.
We decided that we would do lunch at the Abbey of Sant’Antimo outside of Montalcino. This was a gorgeous church with a gorgeous view. We sat inside the church for a little bit to hear the monks chanting – something new for us.
After leaving the Abbey, we did a quick tour of Montalcino and it’s fortress before driving back to Siena.
On our drive back to Siena – around 5pm – we decided what the heck, might as well do San Gimignano now too so we could do Chianti the next day. I know many fodorites would say that we didn’t spend enough time in each town, but our take was that we’d rather see more of the towns then spend a lot of time in one.
We got to San Gimignano a little after 6pm and it was nice, because I think it would have been a lot more crowded had we gone during the day. There were great views from here, but we found the town to be very “touristy”. I know some people may like that, but we didn’t care for all the stores with postcards, ceramic pieces, etc. We did however find a good store near the church that photographs. We bought a nice photograph of San Gimignano (22 EUR) and now wish we would have bought more while we were there since photographs of Venice and Florence could not be found anywhere in those towns!
When we got back to the hotel, we found a bottle of champagne and fruit platter in our room that my sister had sent. We took it outside into the garden and again enjoyed the lovely views.
For dinner the hotel recommended Due Porto. Since it was a Saturday night, they were full outside (reservations only), so we ate dinner inside. We were not very impressed with this meal, although it was one of our cheaper meals in Italy. I think we had a salad (split), each had a pizza and a “litro” of vino for about 30 EUR. For desert we got some gelato and walked around the Campo.
Day 7 – Sunday 5/22 – Today we had a wine tour scheduled at 11:00 at Volpaia. Volpaia was a tiny little town near Radda in Chianti. There are only 40 people that live in this little town (and most are related to each other). The girl who gave the tour at Volpaia was quite interesting – she wasn’t too friendly and was very brief on what she talked about, especially compared to the wine tours we had done in Napa. I think the oil and wine tour lasted about 25 minutes and then we went into their tasting room. We tried one white and 3 reds – I don’t really remember much about them since I was the designated driver, I didn’t do too much tasting!
Friends of ours had gone to Castello de Verrazzano last year and loved their olive oil, but couldn’t buy it because they were out. So, we decided to go to Verrazzano and try to buy some oil. Unfortunately, we drove all the way up to the castle to learn that they were closed. However, they had a little information shop at the bottom of the hill where they sold wine, oil, etc. Although the guy spoke no English, we were able to tell him that we wanted 4 bottles of oil (12 EUR each).
When we got back to Siena, we walked around the town a little more since we hadn’t really explored it yet. We were disappointed though because it was Sunday and a lot of the shops were closed. We picked up some Sienese pastries to bring home with us and a book with pictures of Tuscany.
Tonight’s dinner was a little risky on our part. We decided to try La Torre in Siena – right near the Campo. Our hotel made reservations for us (although I don’t think we really needed them). This is a place where they speak NO English and there is NO menu!! When we got there, the chef/owner was standing outside at the door just watching people walk by. When we sat down the waiter brought us some wine (easiest thing we ordered all night). Since I don’t eat red meat, I told him “non carne” and that was about the only thing I “ordered” all evening. He brought me a spinach and ricotta tortellini with a butter sauce that was excellent. My husband got some ravioli with meat sauce. For the entrée I got chicken – I was able to communicate that chicken was okay. I was too scared to go for the fish because I really didn’t want to look at a fish head! My husband got a pork dish and really liked it. We each also got a side of asparagus. For desert, we each got some type of lemon pie. We would have preferred chocolate, but since we didn’t have a menu and couldn’t communicate real well, we took what we got. The most fascinating part of the meal though was watching the chef come in from outside, go to a freezer, take out a huge hunk of meat, go to the kitchen and using his huge butcher knife, just started hacking at it! We just sat there in amazement watching him! When we left, my husband even got a picture with him! I think our bill for this dinner was 62 EUR.
Overall, we LOVED Tuscany. My husband and I say that we would love to buy a house over there when we retire (unfortunately we have about 35 years to go!). It is just so peaceful and beautiful.
Word of advice on driving – be prepared to pass slow drivers – solid line, dotted line, and even around corners! Also, I honestly had no idea what the speed limit was in Tuscany – I just kept up with the other cars (and there were no cops around anywhere!). My husband kept telling me to slow down, but it was actually fun driving like that!
The next morning we leave for Florence… trip report to follow.
Jun 3rd, 2005, 11:40 AM
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One other thing we did that was a must - have a drink at one of the bars around the Campo and enjoy the people watching. We turned on our video camera for a few mintues to tape the Campo so now at home we can sit on the couch and pretend that we are there!
Jun 3rd, 2005, 11:56 AM
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Thanks, erica. Reading your report brought back lots of fond memories.
We "discovered" Volpaia on our own and thought it very charming. Do you know if the winery owners were German? I ask because 2 years ago we were chatting with a lovely young couple at a cafe in Paris and they told us they had recently bought a vinyard in Volpaia. They couldn't believe we had been to the town, since it is so small and off the beaten track.
We "discovered" Volpaia on our own and thought it very charming. Do you know if the winery owners were German? I ask because 2 years ago we were chatting with a lovely young couple at a cafe in Paris and they told us they had recently bought a vinyard in Volpaia. They couldn't believe we had been to the town, since it is so small and off the beaten track.
Jun 3rd, 2005, 12:56 PM
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Erica,
So glad you found your car keys!
We were just on a very similar trip. I too love the feeling in Siena. To me, it's just the right size, a real mix of young and old, easy to get around, and has some of the best restaurants we ate at our entire trip.
I too found San Gimignano very touristy, but I guess sometimes a place just gets that way because it is so incredibly beautiful. I also found Pienza very touristy, but loved both of them despite this.
So glad you found your car keys!
We were just on a very similar trip. I too love the feeling in Siena. To me, it's just the right size, a real mix of young and old, easy to get around, and has some of the best restaurants we ate at our entire trip.
I too found San Gimignano very touristy, but I guess sometimes a place just gets that way because it is so incredibly beautiful. I also found Pienza very touristy, but loved both of them despite this.
Jun 3rd, 2005, 01:55 PM
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Greg,
The car was very tiny! We were able to fit our 26 inch suitcase and small bag in the trunk and the other bags went in the back seat.
There was nothing to conceal the bags in the car, but we really didn't have any plans to stop anywhere for an extended period of time before driving to the hotel. After we checked into the hotel, we never had our bags in the car again except when we dropped the car off in Siena.
The car was very tiny! We were able to fit our 26 inch suitcase and small bag in the trunk and the other bags went in the back seat.
There was nothing to conceal the bags in the car, but we really didn't have any plans to stop anywhere for an extended period of time before driving to the hotel. After we checked into the hotel, we never had our bags in the car again except when we dropped the car off in Siena.
