The morning of good Friday got off to an early start as we caught one of the first flights out of Heathrow to Milan. The plan was to rent a car at the airport and spend the day driving down the A1 through Parma and Modena and end up in Florence for dinner that night. We were a little worried about the "super economy" car we'd rented, thinking we'd end up with something like this....
To our surprise out car happened to be parked next to this one and was actually a nice four-door. While the car exceeded our expectations, our driving/navigation skills were a little rusty. After Sloane nearly blew the transmition leaving the airport parking lot (the tiptronic was in manual mode not automatic), I directed us about an hour in the wrong direction on the A1. We managed to pull ourselved together, started out in the correct direction and stopped at the Fidenza outlets just in time for a quick snack. I'd heard that the Lindt store there has the best ice cream in the world and after testing it out I'd have to wholeheardtly agree...it was amazing!
On our way back to the highway we found a deli store and stocked up on a few goodies for the next few days. We bought Cutallo di Parma and Coppa Artigianale meats, Carnia Altobut Dolce and Parmseano Reggiano cheeses and Lambrusco wine.
We got back on the highway (going the right direction this time) and made a quick stop in Parma.
Back on the road (our longest day of driving) we made our way to Modena. I'd booked a tour with a Balsamic vinegar producer, Acetaia Villa San Domino. This was one of our favorite stops of the trip. Our host Davide gave us a tour of his villa where scenes from the movie 1900 were filmed, the collection of paintings and frescoes were beautiful.
We were then taken to the barn where we learned about he process by which traditional balsamic vinegar is made (it's a 12 year process!).
The villa was beautiful and the tour informative, but the highlight was the tasting. It was just the two of us on the two and we felt very spoiled. We tasted different "vintages" of balsamic vinegar (aged 12 and 25 years) on parmesan cheese and breads, balsamic vinegar jam with ricotta cheese (my favorite) and even balsamic vinegar with ice cream (surprisingly good!). If that wasn't enough we washed it all down with some of the Lambrusco wine that they make on their farm.
We hit massive amounts of trafic on the road from Modena to Florence, but ended up making it into the city in time for a late dinner at Golden View Open Bar (Mike's recommendation). We had a very nice dinner seated at window table with a live Jazz band and perfect view of the Pontevecchio. The view was nearly eclipsed by the ravioli served in a truffle cream sauce...to die for!
Saturday morning we set out to explore the city. Our hotel was right around the corner from the Duomo, which is probably the most spectacular buildings I've ever seen.
We spent the morning walking around the city following a walking tour we downloaded before we left. Here Sloane's standing in front of a replica of Michaelangelo's David in the Piazza Della Signoria.
After working up an appetite walking through the city we grabbed lunch at the restaurant where Mike worked when he was in Florence, Buca Del'Orafo.
We stopped along the Arno river for a few pictures...
...Sloane in front of the the Ponte Vecchio
We waited in the endlessly long line to get into the Uffizi Gallery, and unfortnatly didn't have time to see the Accademia Gallery.
But we took a minute to rest in the cafe on the top of the Uffizi for a pre-dinner glass of wine.
We spent a bit more time walking around the city before dinner at Il Latini (another of Mikes recommendations). The line was insane (luckily we had reservations!) and when the opened the door people there was a mad rush to get in. It sounds a little crazy but I'd throw a few elbows for food like Il Latini's any day!
We both agreed that this was the best meal of the trip. They sat us family style in a big room with meats hanging from the ceiling, and the food just kept coming. There's no menu, the waiter comes over gives you a few choices (antipasta or salad, rabbit, veal, pork or beef, ect.). We started with antipasta which consisted of parma ham, crostini, and stuffed peppers. Then came the pasta, wild boar tagliolini for me. We washed down our main courses with Chianti. I ordered rabbit and Sloane had pork, both amazing. They then brought us vin santo and cantucci (another favorite of mine) and we shared an almond tart for desert which was served with a glass of muscatto. So good!
The night was going so well that something had to go wrong. We got out of the city to head down to the villa we'd booked outside of Asciano in the Tuscan country, The Lazy Olive. We got out of Florence without any problems but once we got to the area where we should have been we realized we had no idea where we were going. It was getting close to midnight and after heading down several dirt roads in the wrong direction (I blame google maps and not my shortcomings as a navigator) our gas was getting dangerously low and we started worrying that we may be spending the night in the car. It was so late and I hated to do it but in a final desperate attempt to get to the villa to see if they could help. Malcolm, one of the owners, came to the rescue and actually drove into the city to meet us and guide us back. As we followed him down the long winding (unmarked) dirt road to the villa we were extremely grateful, we never would have found it without his help.
When we woke up the next morning (Easter) we were treated to a breathtaking view in one of the most beautiful places we've ever been. This is the building we stayed in (a renevotaed barn)...
We had our own terrace...
Sloane quickly made friends with the locals, he and the great dane, Spark, were good friends by the end of the trip.
Pictures just don't do justice to the incredible views. (To see a video of our room and the views go to the end of the post)
On Easter Sunday we headed but up towards Florence to Panzano in Chianti to have Easter Lunch Solociccia, famous butcher Dario Checchini's resturant (another of Mike's reccomendations). Before the lunch the went into the macelleria (butcher's shop) where they served wine and a few appetizers and we watched Dario prepare some meat for the lunch.
The lunch was a real treat and consisted almost entirely of meat! We started with meat ragu on toast, batter fried meats and veggies, and sauteed marinated beef. We snacked on homemade focaccia, veggies and garbanzo beans before the brought out the main courses, roast beef, boiled beef and braised beef. They then served "Italian Military" liquers which I could have easily done without. I don't care if grappa is a good digestive...it's just plain gross! Luckily the olive oil cake and coffee were a perfect end to the meal and we left full and happy!We spent a little time walking around the town of Panzano before we headed back down to the Lazy Olive.
That night we enjoyed a light dinner of the meats and cheeses from Parma with a bottle of the Lambrusco wine over a game of cribbage (Sloane's slowly coming around to card games). We missed spending Easter with our families but this wasn't a bad substitute!
On Monday we headed south to Montalcino to the Frattoria dei Barbi vineyards which produce the traditional wine of the region, Brunello.
A little further down the road from the vineyard we found the Abbey of Sant'Antimo...
We decided to head up to Sienna to grab dinner and see the city. Another beautiful church, the Siena Duomo...
We did some shopping (paneforte and other baked goods) and had dinner in the Piazza del Campo (where they hold the Palio horse races twice a year).
On Tuesday we headed back north to Chianti for some more wine tasting. We started the day in Monti in Chianti at Castello di Cacchiano where our host treated us to a private tour of the estate and vinyards, a real treat!
We then headed down the street for another Monti in Chianti vineyard, Il Sodi.
It was time for lunch and we drove towards Gaiole in Chianti to the Ricasoli estate where we had lunch and sampled a few of the Barone Ricasoli wines. After lunch we too a walk up to the castle to admire the view.
The next stop was another castle (I didn't realize just how many castles there were in Tuscany!), Castello di Meleto.
Sloane was fine (which was a good thing since he was driving) but I'd had about as much chianti as I could stand for the day. We headed home and made pasta for dinner, enjoyed a bottle of wine, and spent a cozy last night in our villa.
We were flying out of Rome on Wednesday night and our original plan had been to wake up early drive so that we'd reach Rome in the late morning and see as much of the city as we could before we had to leave. However, on Tuesday night we decided we'd had such a nice relaxing time in the country we didn't want to end the trip rushing around a city. We decided we'd go back to see Rome on a seperate trip later in the year when we could devote more than just a few hours to it and instead casually drove down to Rome, stopping in Montepulciano.
We tasted the vino nobile di Montepulciano at a few of the local shops and stopped for a nice lunch before embarking on the last leg of the trip.
It was a little depressing to realize that our amazing trip had come to an end as we flew back into rainy London, but we managed to take some of the better parts of Italy with us and cheered ourselves up by unpacking our collection of goodies.
Next up...back to Paris for Anso and Pauls wedding!
