tuscanybound

Loved Pienza, Montalcino, Siena, Volterra, Chianti drive. Actually wasn't anything we didn't like! Passed on bringing back wine but brought back 9 bottles of olive oil. Take your translation book with you to the restaurant or be prepared for huge surprises! <BR>Any questions, fire away!

lisa

Any restaurant/sightseeing suggestions would be appreciated. We are staying in Montalcino at Vecchia Oliviera for three days at the end of this month and plan on visiting Pienza, Montepulciano, and I'm not sure where else.

tuscanybound

I'll check my diary but I recall a heavenly 2 hour lunch (with brunello) at a restaurant in Montalcino - I'll look up the name! Also on this site, someone recommended the restaurant "La Torre" in Siena. It was wonderful - grumpy owner, chain-smoking chef but full of locals and fabulous cheap food. It's the first street to the left of the tower on the campo.

aroundtuscany

I was wondering if you recall any of the driving times (approx.) from/to/between some of the Tuscan towns you mentioned? How are the "country" roads? Are there crazy drivers there too or just on the autostrata? Did you go to San Vincenzo on the coast? <BR> <BR>Thanks for your help!!!

tuscanybound

I found the restaurant name in Montalcino - it's Pizzeria San Giorgio on Via S. Saloni 10. We had a wonderful lunch - each had antipasti dish - I had bruschetta and my husband had mixed grilled vegs. We each had pasta and a 1/2 btl. of brunello and cappucinos for <BR>78,000 lira. We were so stuffed we couldn't eat dinner that nite! To aroundtuscany...even though we had been to Tuscany before either we forgot or it's worse, but it took forever to get to places! If it said something was 40 km. from us, we counted on at least an hour. We tried to take the back roads as much as possible but gave in and took the Florence-Siena highway several times because it just took so darn long the other way. After a few days, we caught on and planned our days around the long drives. We would head out at 8am to arrive somewhere by 9 or 9:30..look around, have lunch at 1pm and then drive to another spot for 4pm. The roads are very winding and narrow but my husband loved driving them. One member of our group actually grazed a pedestrian with his car mirror on one of these roads. We did go to the coast one day and originally planned on Varriego but it seemed to big and industrial so we went on to lovely Forte de Marmi where you can rent large umbrella, chaise, chairs, change cabana for $50 for the whole day. Very pretty town. Also went to the strange town of Montecatini. It was packed with cars, hotels and people when we arrived around 11am. At exactly 1pm it became a wierd kind of ghost town - still the cars lining the streets but absolutely no people - we are still trying to figure out if all those people were at the spa??

ro

you didnt have any problem bringing the oil back into the us. did you declare it. did you put it in the carry on or check in luggage? excuse all the questions.

tuscanybound

Actually, we got stopped at customs. We had put our olive oil into a box that had held chianti wine so had that marked on the front. Perhaps they thought we were bringing in too much wine. When the custom officer asked what we had in the "wine" box, we said olive oil and she didn't inquire further. We briefly thought of putting it in checked luggage but decided against it. So we carried 6 bottles in the wine box and the other 3 in carry on (along with 2 bottles of balsamic vinegar!). FYI, the Canadian customs agent asked what the most expensive thing was we bought and fortunately we had the 3 gold bracelets in our carry on so were able to show her those. She had a look at them and then let us go. Whew!!