I also had a lovely experience at Sant'Antimo. We arrived a bit early and sat on the lawn, eating our lunch and watching a group of nuns chatting with the monks.

After the chants, we wandered around inside the abbey. Go down a few steps to the little tiny 'chapel' under the altar, more or less; there are some faded frescoes down there, including one of the sweetest cherub ever!

Wow.... Thanks for all of the great responses. Beautiful pictures Julia1. We're lookng forward to driving the Chianti loop.

Can't wait until we leave !

We were driving from Monteriggioni to San Gimignano. Went through Colle Val d'Elsa and followed (we thought) the little signs to San Gim.

The trip went very quickly. We soon arrived at the lovely walled town. Parking was a breeze. We walked in...and walked...and walked. Couldn't find the piazza we'd read so much about. So we walked back up, then back down.

I was so baffled. This just wasn't what I expected at all. Nothing was familiar from all my research. No beautiful shops, no big piazza. We couldn't find anyone to help us in english. Finally, a visiting Italian couple stopped to let their children speak english with us. Told of our bafflement, they informed us: "Nonne San Gimignano. This is Val D'Elsa!". #-o Talk about feeling foolish!

Forever more and in all our journals and conversations the town shall be known as:

"Nonne San Gimignano"


[In fairness to the town, some of our best photos were taken there.]

This is such a great post. DH and I are off to Tuscany this summer--thanks to everyone for all the great tips!

i had an apartment in italy (perugia, the capital of umbria which is located next to tuscany) for about a month during the summer of 2006. my favorite tuscan experience was watching 'under the tuscan sun' one night... and the next day actually personally driving through the sunflower fields in nearby tuscany. it literally was seeing 'something out of a movie' and SO beautiful.