Our AirBnB hosts Alessio and Katia met us at the boat dock and gave us a tour on the way to our stay. They’re so friendly and their home is stunning. Marble floors and walls, flowers set on top of all the linens, beautifully modern furniture and kitchen. They bought this place a few years ago when it was previously a bakery 30 years ago and it sat empty. Looking at the abandoned buildings it’s the last thing I expected- empty abandoned spaces in one of the most visited places on earth.

We went to the Sky Lounge at the Hilton for an aperitivo- dinner isn’t until after 8 in Italy so typically Italians have gelato or a snack around 4, an aperitivo around 6 (usually of the boozy variety) that might come with some small snacks (our drinks were served with a basket of crisps.) I had an Aperol Spritz and Khrystyan had a Bellini and they were both delizioso!

We then walked around a little bit, went home to shower and change and by then it was after 8 and we were ready for dinner. All along the water at Giudecca are small osterias and restaurants with tables sitting under umbrellas with warm lighting. Alessio and Katia gave us a few dinner recommendations on the island, so we went to Ae Botti. We had a tremendous shared first plate of whipped cod and crackers in a “millefeuille” type of tower. Absolutely phenomenal, the words “whipped” and “cod” aren’t something I think of that go together, but this was so delicious! I ordered the braised guancale (veal cheek) and polenta, Khrystyan ordered the tuna tataki. This along with a bottle of pinot nero the waiter recommended, was one hell of a first dinner in Italy. Funny- no pasta, or anything “traditional” but some phenomenal food!

We booked a guided tour of the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basilica and headed to St Mark’s Square to begin. Both of these places are quite remarkable in their size and the dramatic beauty of what’s inside. In the Doge’s Palace, we found some unbelievable artwork from the masters. Fun fact, some of the pieces here got their color from ground precious stones (like Lapis for the blues).

St Mark’s Square is the seat of the Venetian government and republic, a UNESCO Heritage site it’s an incredibly beautiful (and very crowded) space. The Basilica has to be one of the greatest and most beautiful churches in Europe. The entire building is made of marble from Constantinople and inside the entire ceiling and walls (and most of the floors) are covered in the most beautifully ornate mosaic depictions of scenes from the Bible. The gold in the photos below are mosaic pieces covered in 24k gold flake. It’s impossible to capture how massive and how incredibly detailed and ornate the mosaic tiles are. Unbelievably beautiful!

St Mark’s Square

Basilica San Marco and the Campanile belltower

Basilica San Marco

The famous “Bridge of Sighs”. Given it’s name as prisoners being sentenced and moved from the Doge’s Palace to jail/execution looked through the bridge and sighed at the beauty of Venice one last time.

The “Quattro Cavalli” were stolen from Constantinople as well and brought back during the Crusades.

View of the Clocktower from the Basilica

Old covered private gondola from one of the old Doge’s

Artwork inside the Doge’s Palace

Bridge of Sighs from inside the Doge’s Palace near the jail

Old graffiti from the prisoners

After our tour of San Marco, we wandered around Venice a bit more to find an aperitivo and gelato before our next guided walking tour of Venice.

Our guide Valentina was a lot of fun, and took us around Venice showing us some fun and interesting places many walk past or miss.

Work by the infamous “Banksy”

After our tour was over, we continued exploring Venice, walking around, getting more gelato etc. We visited Ponte dei Conzafelzi (a beautiful old iron bridge), Libreria Acqua Alta (an old bookstore, occasionally flooded, with an entire gondola full of books inside and many kitties who call it home. Yes- they accept love and attention, and we happily paid.) Last visit was Calle Varisco, one of the skinniest alleys in Venice.

Aperitivo- Spritz Aperol and Spritz Limoncello

In front of the Basilica

Libreria Acqua Alta

One of the kitties at the Libreria

Calle Varisco- yes we went through.

Later at Burano we got some delicious gelato and aperitivo while exploring the colorful streets.

Cool display in front of the gelateria

Ale took us to the oldest Osteria in Venice, which had to prove by supplying 3 pieces of written evidence it had started business in 1462! We had some delicious cichetti and wine.

Our guide Alessandro- an old-school old Italian man who doesn’t pull punches on his thoughts of today’s issues. Hilarious, and a great time!

Our small group of 7 for Ale’s tour. All Americans who found him from Rick Steve’s guide.

Ale’s tour was one of the highlights of the trip. His ability to draw others close, tell stories while also not pulling any punches- whether it’s hating on the French, or Americans, or technology- he was so much fun. We ate some great cichetti, like fried baby octopus, bruschetta, some weird boiled egg with salted meat on top, potatoes, chunks of some AMAZING parmigiano reggiano and salami and a LOT of wine. We’ve had Italian cured meats (ham, salami etc) multiple times the past couple of days and there is absolutely nothing like it back in the states. It’s so flavorful and delicious!

After our tour, we continued to walk around Venice a bit, crossed the famous Rialto bridge again for a quick photo before taking the boat back to Giudecca. Saw a tiny little egret just hanging out on the pier while we waited for the vaporetto- that was cool. Anyways, we got to Giudecca and popped into a trattoria for a couple of pizzas, a half carafe of red table wine (still so damn good at this place, different place from last night) and we even ordered a shot of espresso at the end like typical Italians. Wine drunk and espresso- can’t go wrong. 😜

Very small egret we saw while waiting for the boat.

Quick pic from Rialto Bridge

Rialto Bridge

We then spent our last few hours in Venice doing some more exploring, and crossing off another bucket list item (for me anyways)- a gondola tour!

After our gondola ride, we continued exploring and found Ponte Chiodo- one of the older bridges and the last rail-less bridge in Venice. We stopped for another cappuccino and continued slowly making our way to the train station.

Ponte Chiodo- last rail-less bridge in Venice

Today is market day- this seafood stand was one of many.

We eventually boarded our first train to Florence (“Firenze”) about a 2.5 hour ride, then because during the trip we eventually arrived nearly 15 minutes late we had to run to our next train 12 platforms over and boarded right when the doors were closing. This train is another 2.5 hours from Firenze to La Spezia, where we arrived late (again) and missed the third leg of our trip but only had to wait 10-15 mins to get the next one from La Spezia to our stay in the town of Monterosso al Mare, one of the Cinque Terre towns on the Italian Riviera. The Cinque Terre (translates to Five Lands) are five small coastal towns boasting a combined population of about 3500.

Aperitivo on the beach at Monterosso al Mare

Arrival at Monterosso al Mare

The Cinque Terre is an Italian National Park, which draws thousands of hikers every spring and summer. There’s a small regional train that connects all five towns (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore;, and most of the town shops are closed during the winter months- but during the spring and summer months Italians and travelers from around the world head over for some sun, sand (in the case of Monterosso al Mare) and relaxation. Known for creating two of our favorite dishes (focaccia and pesto), along with a chance at adding some hiking to the vacation, it’s pretty obvious why I picked this stop for a few days in our trip.

When we arrived to Monterosso al Mare, we dropped off our stuff at the AirBnB, went over to the beach for an aperitivo (Aperol Spritz and Peach Bellini with some bruschetta) and just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful views and weather.

That beautiful weather quickly came to an end. After our aperitivo we went back to the AirBnB to start some laundry and relax a bit. It immediately started raining, an hour or so later it was pouring and we were hungry and ready for dinner. Monterosso al Mare is made up of a few zig-zag’ing streets and alleys- dimly lit from neighboring shops, warm restaurant twinkle lights serving food outdoors under canopy (it’s not particularly cold, just pouring rain). We ended up walking through the rain in search of food. Most places were full inside already as everyone flocked indoors. We went up one off-street alley where we saw a sign and pushed in the door to find a mostly-empty restaurant with only one other couple eating. It smells delicious, I wiped the rain from my face and glasses and asked if they would serve us dinner. This small place is a husband and wife owned and operated restaurant, coincidentally referenced as one of the best in town in my boy Rick Steve’s guide to the Cinque Terre. Long story short, we had an amazing dinner. The husband and wife combo was both very endearing as well as comical at times (like when he was talking to us about the menu and his wife’s delicious food when she got tired of waiting for him, came up to read what he had written so far for our dinner order and yelled at him for forgetting they were out of mussels while going back to the kitchen to get started.) To close- we had a delicious dinner (photo below of the shrimp scampi, one of the largest scampis I’ve ever seen, with more chopped up inside), anchovies to start (our first time with fresh anchovies- delicious!) pear and citrus flavored cheese tortellini, a delicious local bottle of white wine and some lemon cake for dessert.

Lastly- I should have mentioned earlier that this region is also a producer of lemons, oranges, tangerines, fish (Ligurian swordfish, and anchovies to name a couple) and white wines. So you see frequently references to this in their menus, decorations, and shops. Loved seeing lemon-themed stuff everywhere, really cute and plays up the uber small-town vibes.

Khrystyan posing with her capuccino

Today is market day in town! Quite a few vendors came in to sell their produce, fish, cheese, honey, clothes and jewelry. I didn’t take any other photos but it was such a cute little market. All the locals came down to do their regular shopping.

Alright- on to our hike from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza. Rick Steve’s calls it the best in the Cinque Terre- but for advanced hikers only with a bunch of slippery steps, many steps/stairs, portions along steep cliffs without any rails etc. But I already bought and paid for trail tickets (required, national park police verify tickets are purchased and walk the trails to also ensure you’re wearing the right footwear- if you’re not they’ll stop you and walk you all the way back to where you started with a fine.

Massive photo dump incoming. This was a spectacular hike, through groves of citrus trees smelling of lemons and oranges, through some vineyards, along the cliffs constantly offering some incredible views of the Ligurian Sea. It was very crowded, but it’s very easy to see why. I heard all sorts of languages on the trails from friendly hikers around the world- like France, Germany, Spain, the US and of course- Italy.

Starting our hike

Looking at Monterosso al Mare

Vineyards and lemon trees

Cute small bridge on the trail

Small waterfall on the trail

Stepped vineyards we hiked through

Looking back at Monterosso al Mare

More stepped vineyards

Our first glimpse at Vernazza in the distance

Lots of steps on this trek!

A gorgeous hike through some trees

Lots of these cool purple wildflowers on the trail- no clue what they are?

Vernazza is a gorgeous town with a small marina surrounded by stepped vineyards.

Hiking through vineyards

Once we got to Vernazza, we found a good spot serving focaccia, got some lemon sodas and waters and sat on a bench people watching in the main square. We then explored the rest of the small town.

Streets of Vernazza

DELICIOUS focaccia and lemon soda

Beautiful Vernazza

After we finished checking out Vernazza, we made our way to the train station to start visiting the other three towns of Cinque Terre. We eventually made our way through two more, skipping Corniglia because there’s 385 steps up the stairs from the train station to the town- and we were both not too excited about trying that after a strenuous hike from earlier. Pictures below are from Manarola and Riomaggiore, where we sampled gelatos, focaccia and an aperitivo at Riomaggiore that included some more delicious cured prosciutto and cheese and drinks. These towns are ridiculously cute.

We made our way back to Monterosso al Mare in time to relax a bit more before dinner. We went for a slow stroll where I ended up quickly climbing up the hillside in town to reach the ruins of an old monastery and some incredible views of Monterosso and the other four towns dotting the coastline in the distance.

Old WW2 bunker built into the cliffs remind you of the history those years played on this region in the war.

View of Monterosso al Mare

View of Monterosso al Mare

Statue of St Francis of Assissi overlooking the coast looking \240towards Monterosso al Mre

You can see the other towns on the coast in the distance

Tonight we had one of the best-tasting meals of the trip at a new restaurant.. Seafood spaghetti (remember we’re on the coast where fish here rule the day- and menus) and Ligurian Swordfish. We started with stuffed mussels and a carafe of the house white wine (only €8 a carafe!) All dishes were expertly prepared and tasted incredible. Monterosso al Mare is also home to many stray kitties (we counted five tonight alone). Khrystyan befriended one of them with spaghetti noodles and he hung out with us under her chair the entire night. The staff and locals are completely used to it, we went into one of the shops this morning and a kitty went inside the shop and hid in the back of one of the shelves and couldn’t be easily moved out so the shopkeeper just shrugged her shoulders and moved on.

Stuffed mussels

Khrystyan feeding the kitty spaghetti

Our new cross-eyed friend

Lots of lemon trees in the back yards walking through Levanto.

Lemon cake and limoncino for dessert

Afterwards, we wondered a bit through town, stopped to grab a slice of focaccia with parma ham slices on top and then explored on the beach while slowly making our way back to the train station.

Small part of the beach had pretty little tiny rocks and a bunch of sea glass. We grabbed a few pretty pieces to bring home with us.

Took a little nap and rested at home for a bit before heading out to Buranco- one of the larger producers of wine, olive oil and limoncino in the region. I had booked a restaurant and wine experience, but wasn’t quite sure what it would entail. The vineyards and entire restaurant is absolutely stunning, it’s beautifully decorated with outdoor seating overlooking the lemon and orange groves below and the vineyards up above. We were very surprised to be the only ones there and enjoyed one of the best meals we’ve had in Italy. We had a starter of scampi and large scallops in a delightfully tasty buttery pesto and onion sauce while tasting our first two glasses of their white wine- the pan sauce was amazing, and the seafood cooked very well.

Lemon trees and vineyard on the walk up the hill to the winery

Vineyards and lemon groves

Scampi and scallop starter

We then ordered the seafood risotto which was also just as incredible while enjoying our next two glasses of wine (their Syrah/Cab is phenomenal and an easy favorite).

We then wandered back home to rest a bit more (all in all we had 5 glasses of wine each, some limoncino and a glass of their sciachettra- a dessert wine esclusively made in the Cinque Terre from aged grapes (tastes like a sweet raisin liqueur.) Later we went out for an aperitivo then to one of the shops to grab and bring home some focaccia, variety of cured meats and cheeses to snack on while relaxing at home.

Stray kitty at lunch

Doesn’t photo well, but this is a delicious ravioli dish with a walnut pesto sauce

This is a local specialty pasta called “trofie” that is spiraled and typically served with pesto (as it is here)

Local produce stand

Now for the fun part of the day: I booked an excursion that combines my two favorite things: hiking and wine- in this case, hiking to a winery from Vernazza. We met Luca, one of three brothers who operate their grandfather’s winery and are working on rejuvenating it back. The hike started from Vernazza (one of the Cinque Terre towns, lots of photos of it in a sec) and went straight uphill for about 30 mins until we reached the winery. The trek was absolutely stunning! In case I hadn’t previously mentioned, the Cinque Terre area is a national park as well as a UNESCO Heritage site. It’s a UNESCO site primarily because of the way the land has been manipulated for hundreds of years with terraced farming. The area was deforested, then terraced with thousands of stone retaining walls each carefully and meticulously placed. The job of building and maintaining these walls is extremely highly regarded- my boy Rick Steve’s even mentions it in his episode on the Cinque Terre. Luca was so passionate and enthusiastic about the history of the winery and restoring it to what it was even before his grandfather bought it. He explained that they’re trying to expand the land the vines are growing and while they were deforesting parts they would find some very old retaining walls covered and hidden- which for them is a very moving experience. Before modern technology, each stone had to be transported to the hills manually and built into these terraces- so the amount of love, attention, hard work and endurance is immediately evident when Luca is speaking about it. Today- they rent a helicopter to literally fly big bags of these stones up the mountain (it’s €30/minute to rent) and in some of the pictures you might notice some of the land is very brown and unused, and the rest covered with vines- or completely left with trees. An incredible story, told by a first-hand third-generation winemaker who has a passion and love for this land and the wine they produce. And the wines are delicious! Using the three primary grapes grown in this area: bosco, vermentino and albarola, they produce delicious whites that are well structured with both a nice floral honey nose and mineral and salty taste. Very delicious, crisp, bright, and a touch of minerality and brief touch of salt on the finish.

Vernazza

Terraced vineyards

Vineyards among the hills

Hiking to the winery

View of Vernazza through the vineyard

Vineyard

Our snack of focaccia, olive tapenade, tomatoes and Luca’s mom’s pesto while tasting the wine

View of Vernazza from the winery

A VERY good boy Archie that belonged to another couple- so well behaved- and really cute!

Luca telling us about one of the wines he’s about to pour

The trail to the winery

What flower is this? They’re everywhere in the Cinque Terre area.

After we returned, we dipped our feet in the Ligurian Sea and walked through the water on the beaxh. We then got an aperitivo then over to dinner where I tried rabbit for the first time- really yummy!

View of old town Monterosso from the beach

Pano of old Monterosso and the beach

The rabbit dish I had for dinner- guess this doesn’t photo well also, but it was very good

Goodbye Monterosso!

Hello Pisa!

We then hopped on our train to Florence (“Firenze”), quickly figured out their public tram system and met up with the owner Michele of our AirBnB to show us the house. A beautiful flat on the ground floor of the bldg with its own little fenced-in garden and everything. Love the place and would absolutely recommend.

Michele recommended a few of his favorite places to eat, so we chose the one he said serves the best florentine-style steaks (“bistecca alla fiorentina”). It just so happens that the florentine steak was born here in front of the Trattoria we were eating. For the uninitiated, the steak is a tbone cut from a cow unique to Tuscany (Chianina) and must be 2-3 fingers thick and weigh a minimum of 1.2kg (over 2.5lbs). They season with salt and pepper and sear it only for a few minutes on each side as it should only be cooked rare. It was delicious!!

Our bistecca

A delicious and unique apple pie for dessert

Tuscany

Town of Greve

Flower shop in Greve

Main square in Greve

Main square in Greve

After Greve, we went back through the hillsides a different way over to Diadema Winery which also operates the Relais Villa Olmo (the one pic below I stole from Google.)

Gorgeous winery and relais (beautiful upscale resort-style hotel)

We did a tour of the winery and some tasting and loved the wine! They also make their own olive oil and one of the only ones left that makes it the old-fashioned slower way of using granite stones to crush the olives- it was very delicious! We tasted a white, rose and their Super Tuscan red and loved all of them. They also age one of their best reds in big terracotta pots (pics below) to impart a unique flavor. The Etruscans and Romans aged wine in terracotta ages ago and it’s starting to become a bit of a trend recently. We ended up getting 6 bottles and getting them shipped back to the states was pretty affordable and fair. These guys are too small for distribution so this would be the only way to have more. Their bottle prices are also very affordable (like a lot of Italian wines around here I’ve noticed- it’s freakin awesome!)

Winery we stopped at just for a quick picture

Quick picture at this beautiful winery

Photo op

Diadema winery

They partner with Swarovsky to basically bedazzle some of their bottles.

Barrels aging

Terracotta pots for aging

Terracotta pots for aging

The view from Diadema Winery

Afterwards we still had a little over an hour to kill until our tours started, so we went to the Laurentian Medici Library. This is a 16th century library designed by Michaelangelo and is said to hold over 11k of the Medici’s manuscripts. We saw some incredibly beautiful old stained glass windows, some 14th century manuscripts and had a great time.

Courtyard in Library

View of il duomo from library

Afterwards, we started our two guided tours- first at the Uffizi, second at Accademia. Here’s some photos of beautiful art at Uffizi:

The famous “Birth of Venus” painting

After our 90ish min tour at the Uffizi, we all walked 10-15 mins over to Accademia

View of the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi

And lastly- we got to see the statue of David. How mind-blowing and stunning that was. I knew it was big, I was not expecting it to be that big! Michaelangelo is an absolute master and the level of detail he places in his sculptures are just insane.

Gold baptistery doors that took 27 years to complete

The different colors of marble are all intentional, come from Tuscany and signify different virtues.

One of Michaelangelo’s last pieces

Cathedral and belltower

We then got to go inside the Cathedral and marvel at the beauty of the floors, the beautiful stained glass and the artwork- culminating at marvelling at the fresco painted on the ceiling of the inner dome.

Fresco on the ceiling

We then went to the baptistery where they’re doing quite a bit of restoration work so the mosaic tiled ceiling was blocked from view. It’s a beautiful place- I didn’t know that it needed to be a separate bldg from the cathedral because they only allowed you in if you were baptized.

After the baptistery we went up and climbed the belltower (414 stairs, no elevator) for some magnificent views of Florence.

One of the original bells on display

Inside the staircase to go up- very narrow and typically completely full of people both going up and back down.

We then got some lunch and said our goodbyes to Florence and made our way to the train station to catch our 90-min ride to Siena.

Siena is a smaller city (about 50,000 people) located in the heart of Tuscany. We arrived and walked to our airbnb to drop off our bags then went out to explore. An absolutely beautiful city with its old medieval brick bldgs and what my boy Rick names the best campo (city square) in Italy. He’s not wrong, this is the first place we’ve been to in Italy where I could imagine myself either staying here a long time or moving to. It’s also graduation week, and in Italy on the day you graduate it’s customary to wear a big green wreath on your head. There were a lot of kids with their families trailing behind them loudly cheering through the streets and singing. The kids loved it, some were wearing big signs around their necks with pictures, or a QR code to send them money to buy them a drink. They were paraded individually and at random times through the streets with their friends and family cheering and singing behind them- then when they got to the campo they let out some loud screams and cheers and blew off a couple fireworks and confetti. It was such a cute and heart-warming thing to watch. Everyone so proud, completely dressed up in formal wear celebrating a big accomplishment and then it felt like they were announcing it to the city.

Someone let off (or tried to let off) a firework that did nothing but let off a ton of smoke.

The campo of Siena

After we explored quite a bit and got hungry we set out to find some food. Coincidentally we walked past a nondescript restaurant where I noticed three Michelin ratings in the bottom corner of the window- so we popped in and got seated immediately. We ordered the Chef’s tasting menu and let me tell you this was the best food we’ve eaten in Italy and one of my favorite meals and dining experiences I’ve had.

First: Chianina beef carpaccio with lime mayo, porcini mushroom sand and pickled onions

Second: stuff tortellos with sheep’s milk ricotta, pecorino cheese mousse, pears and Szechuan pepper

Third: saffron risotto with pieces of Senese osso bucco stew and bone marrow

Fourth: wild duck breast, carmelized shallots, cauliflower

Duck breast course (pic #2)

Dessert: pan bisquit, coffee gelato, mascarpone cream, chocolate sand

Pre-dessert (photo out of order): panna cotta with wild berries

I forgot to take a picture of the first dish (pappa al pomodoro) but this was an amazing dinner that our waiter recommended and paired with a really yummy bottle of Chianti.

We started driving through Tuscany making our way to Montepulciano (only an hour direct drive.) However, I needed to see the Val D’Orcia and wanted to visit some smaller wineries. Val D’Orcia is a UNESCO heritage site as well for its beauty and history. When you see pictures of the typical Tuscan hillsides with the soft rolling hills, tiny hill towns and beautiful palazzos- it’s the Val D’Orcia. Let me just say- it doesn’t disappoint and was one of the most beautiful drives I’ve done in some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen.

We went around the Montalcino area, famous for their highly prized Brunello wines and stopped at a gorgeous little winery where we met the winemaker (we were the only ones there) just as he was about to go for a run around the vineyards to check the vines, but he stayed for a bit to pour us some delicious wine and talk to us about the winery.

We then made our way to a previously booked winery tour and tasting on the other side of the valley and Montalcino area at a place called Podere Le Ripi. Absolutely phenonenal wines in a gorgeous setting. Biodynamic winery with younger vines and a small younger team of about 30. One of the coolest cellars I’ve seen that spirals downward and then completely opens up at the bottom. Lots of Brunellos here, some Montalcino reds, some blends, even an orange wine. They have their own garden for herbs and veg they grow to feed the animals that they then use for crop control and fertilizer. They keep bees to help pollinate everything and also able to jar honey (we got a jar of their hive honey and a jar of their chestnut honey to take home.) Also- since it seems illegal to have a winery and vineyard in Tuscany and not have an olive tree grove they have that as well where they make their own EVOO.

After this tasting we were starving so we drove 5 minutes up the tiny dirt road to a teeny tiny little town (like 6 bldgs small) that has a restaurant where we got some yummy pasta for lunch and enjoyed the stunning landscape and valleys below us while we ate.

Shaved truffle on top of this spaghetti

A storm then started rolling in and brought some heavy rain so we drove to Montepulciano (an hour away again as we just kept zig-zagging and sightseeing around the area.) Montepulciano is a bit bigger than I anticipated, but still very slow and calm and gorgeous. We’re staying in a very beautiful “agriturismo” farmhouse that overlooks the valley. It’s very “bougie” here, only 6 rooms, set in a gorgeous hillside surrounded by 6000 lavender plants that I would have to imagine look incredible when they bloom in a month or so. There’s a saltwater pool here as well (too bad it’s raining) and it’s as peaceful and gorgeous as possible. This is a spot we could easily spend a week in without hesitation. If you’re curious: https://www.airbnb.com/slink/cVtJsvKM

Montepulciano

Small streets lit up at night in Montepulciano after our dinner

After breakfast we left and drove through the incredibly gorgeous Tuscan countryside again over to the Mastrojanni winery just outside of Montalcino. Mastrojanni is very highly regarded as producing some of the utmost best Italian wine available. Again, we were the only visitors there which is surprising but also really cool. We were met by one of their staff who showed us around the vineyards, through the cellars, processing rooms and gave us an overview of their beliefs and desires as a winery. They’ve absolutely embraced technology and have invested heavily in some state of the art equipment that helps detect ripeness of grapes as they’re being processed and only keeps the best grapes in the clusters. It’s clear they’re on a singular mission to do anything and everything possible to produce the best wine the unique terroir can allow. That was one of the other things I enjoyed learning- why and how this appellation is able to produce such amazing wine and what really makes it so special. Here’s a few photos from our tour and tasting.

This is their wine library where they hold a case of each wine from each year they produced starting in the 70’s. If the weather is not good during the year to make for the best grapes, they do the unthinkable- not produce anything and take a huge loss for the year. So there’s a few years missing when the weather just didn’t cooperate.

We left with a few bottles from Mastrojanni, and I’ll say it might be some of the best wine I’ve had. Complex with subtle cinnamon and spice notes throughout each pour, but both velvety soft and very structured and firm, the finish lasts quite a while. They ship, but it’s an extra $110/case and after this vacation I can’t bring myself to drop another couple grand on a case of wine. However- we’ll keep these bottles for special occasions. One of the bottles we got was their Cru, so I’m sure it can be laid down for a long time.

Unfortunately, thats the end. We drove from Mastrojanni back to Siena to drop off the car, took a taxi to the train station, hopped on a train from Siena to Firenze, transferred to a train from Firenze to Venezia where I’m currently sitting as I write this. Really sad to see this whole thing come to an end. We waited over a year for this since our last trip and it feels like it blew by so quickly. But it was so much fun. Looking back there’s definitely some things I would tweak, and a few mistakes I made during the travel plans (like today I accidentally booked the train from Firenze to Venezia for tomorrow and not today- so that was a €120 oopsie.) But all things considered, we got to see and do so much. I didn’t hold back much in the way of expenses, we had some phenomenal food, fantastic wine, outstanding guides and experiences and ate a lot of gelato. BTW- after having gelato in every town we’ve been to, we both agree that the island of Burano in Venezia has the best. However- it’s pretty close with a small shop in Firenze.

Ciao bella Italia, grazie mille.