Spring Break! There is no better thing to do during spring break than to drive around Tuscany with friends and drink Chianti, Rosso di Montepulciano, and gaze at the beautiful countryside.
Take a look at the map and be sure to zoom in to see where we stopped and view our driving routes through Tuscany.
You can also watch a short video, made up from a few shaky clips 🙂
So, after we all flew into Rome, we jumped in our rental car and drove north, zigzagging through the countryside, eating some fine food and drinking some fine beverages on the way.
Our first destination was Siena, which we picked for its central location between Tuscany, Umbria and the Cinque Terre. We also thought it was as far as we would want to drive on the first day.
We arrived just before dusk, after a scenic drive, and a stop at a grocery store for essentials – coffee, beer, potato chips and a bit of cheese, and of course a giant sausage. We went out to the old town of Siena to try to find a restaurant that we ate at the last time we were here, 12 years ago! Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, we did find some excellent food.
After wandering around Siena the next morning …
… eating …
.. and taking a few photos …
… we jumped in the rental and drove to San Gimignano.
Famous for its towers …
… it is also situated in the middle of some amazing countryside.
On the way back to Siena for the night, we took the scenic route through Chianti to check out the rolling hills.
After another lovely meal and a great bottle of Chianti Classico in Siena, we made plans for our next day’s drive through the countryside …
… to Volterra.
Volterra has been a center of the region for millenia going back to the Etruscans and before. There is a well preserved Roman amphitheater at the base of the city hill.
After exploring Volterra quite thoroughly, we then proceeded north to Pisa and (of course) the leaning tower.
Although Pisa is an important center, we were on the road again very quickly en route further north to La Spezia, the gateway to the Cinque Terre National Park. La Spezia itself is not at all glamorous, but we did stay in a beautiful AirBNB.
While there are roads throughout the park, it is recommended that we take the train from La Spezia, which we did, getting off in Monterosso, the most northerly town in the park. from there, we walked back to Vernazza, a lovely 2 hour hike along precipitous mountain paths, but with spectacular views.
There are farms along the trail. One method they use to get their tools to the steep terraced farms and the harvest back out is this odd looking train …
… which goes along this monorail.
After another great meal in La Spezia, early the next morning we took off through the rain for Montepulciano and the heart of Tuscany.
We drove straight through to Montepulciano, where we stayed for two nights.
Not only did we fall in love with the Tuscan countryside again, but the wine lists in the local restaurants were beyond measure as well.
One restaurant boasted a multi-page wine list and the first three or four pages were all “Rosso di Montepulciano.’ I suspect that most of those were only available within a 50 KM radius of Montepulciano.
Also noteworthy were the cypress-lined driveways and country roads.
After a long day driving around and sampling a few fine wines, we made it back to our lovely hotel for a drink of wine on the small deck.
For our final leg of the road trip together, we drove further south to Civita di Bagnoregio.
This last stop did not disappoint either.
The next day, after dropping our road trip friends at the Orvieto train station, we drove to one of the great remnants of the old Roman Empire – the Villa Adriana, AKA Hadrian’s Villa, built between 117 and 138 CE. This has been a highlight on my Roman antiquities list of sights to see. The average tour takes 2 hours. However, after almost 4 hours, we were only halfway through and so we had to, sadly, skip some of the site to drive to the airport.
I will leave you with some awesome photos. If you want to see all the photos, please check out the gallery.
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