Friday we trekked across Florence trying to find the place where we had booked our hire car for the weekend. Once we found it we were pleasantly surprised to find a new Fiat 500 waiting for us! Luckily for Anna it was an automatic, which meant I could also drive this time haha.
We set out east, travelling right beside the arno river for about an hour, before we turned right and up a steep road to the town of Poppi. We toured the main sight there which is the Castello di Poppi, the backdrop for the battle of Campaldino, between Arezzo and Florence. Dante Aligheri was said to be part of this battle after he was exhiled from Florence.
We then headed south for about 30 minutes until we reached our B&B, about 3km north of Arezzo. We unpacked, freshened up and then hit the wide cobble-stoned streets of the historical part of town for a look around and a few beers.
Lonely Planet put us onto a great restaurant, the food was excellent and the fact that they forgot to charge us for the bottle of wine and coffee was even better!
The next morning we were amazingly out the door by 9:30am (pretty early for Anna on a Saturday!). We stopped off at a little hill town called Castiglion Fiorentino, which was ok, but nothing special.
We then headed further south to Cortona, which was where the movie Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. Prior to entering the town itself, we stopped off at 'Eremo Le Celle', an old Francescan Monastery. A babbling stream, old stone bridge and terraces of olive trees all contributed to the fairy-tale feel of this picturesque place.
Cortona was great spot to have lunch, lots of nice little shops, an oddly shaped main piazza and a fortress (built by Cosimo I de'Medici during the 16th century) at the top of the hill that looked out over the Val di Chiana and Lake Trasimene.
We then went back to Arezzo for a bit of a shop, a further look around and some afternoon tea and a laugh at the fat Americans eating their food and their poor attempts at Italian haha. We both agreed that this town was a welcome change from many other places we had been to with its really wide streets and many cool piazza's.
That night, Lonely planet came through with the goods again. Dinner was at Ristorante Buca di San Francesco which was situated in the basement of an ancient building dating back to the 1300's. All the walls were covered in frescoes which added to the ancient feel of the place. The owner was really nice as well and gave us free coffee and chocolates at the end. It's really handy having someone who speaks Italian!! (nice work Anna)
The next morning we headed south-west to Montepulciano, and what an awesome place it was! Kind of similar to San Gimignano, but without the towers. It sits 605m above sea level on a limestone ridge and is renowned around Italy for its pork, cheese, 'pici' pasta and honey and is well known worldwide for its 'Vino Nobile' which is considered one of Italy's best wines.
The town was a constant bone of contention between Florence and Siena, however Florence eventually won the day and in 1404 the Marzocco (Lion of Florence) came to replace the she-wolf of Siena as the city's symbol.
The main street climbs uphill from the bottom of town and goes right up the middle to Piazza Grande, the town's highest point and the location for a scene in the movie Twilight: New Moon.
It was a pretty tough walk, so we took it nice and slowly, making sure we made plenty of fun of all the weird looking people along the way, which we have become accustomed to doing!
The main street was littered with food and wine stores, and many of them were offering free samples. It was hard not to try too many things though, as we had a big lunch ahead of us, but we managed to try some awesome "crema di chingale" and bought some to take home with us.
Walking up the main street, every side street to the left looked out onto the valley below, it was a pretty amazing place.
For the third time in as many days, Lonely Planet came through with another top suggestion, but this one topped them all. Although they were supposedly fully booked, Anna did an amazing job on the phone on the way there to secure us a table. Arriving at the restaurant, there were plenty of people waiting outside, so we knew it must be good.
Osteria Acquacheta was the name of the restaurant and it is supposedly famous all over Tuscany for specialising in bistecca all a fiorentina (chargrilled t-bone steak). I know I have mentioned this type of food before in an earlier post, but oh my dio (oh my god) this place was good.
We asked for as much meat as the owner (and man who cuts the meat!) thought we could handle as well as some potato and salad sides. Oh and I ordered a 750ml jug of wine!
Our table was right next to the kitchen, so we were able to watch the meat guru take to a huge piece of meat with a clever and come back to us with what he said was about a 1.2-1.3kg T-bone. We were well and truly happy with that, so he sent the meat back to the kitchen and we waited with anticipation for it to arrive on our plates!
Luckily Anna and I both like our meat rare as it is the only way they know how to cook it - don't even dare ask for it to be cooked any other way!
Easily the best lunch we have had here and it will be hard not to try and go back before we leave Florence.
By this stage, it was about 4pm and we were both full of food and me full of wine! Anna used my not so alert state to her advantage and off to the girly shops we went.
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| Anna is always happy after a successful purchase! |
Walking back down the main street to our car, we stumbled upon Cafe Poliziano, the town's favourite cafe....and I can understand why looking at the sweets they had on offer. My sweet tooth overpowered my full stomach and coffee and chocolates it was!
We finally hopped in the car to head back to Florence. Although I probably shouldn't have driven, the roads back to Florence were really windy and Anna's crazy driving was sure to make me sick, so I took the wheel. I was desperate to get a photo from the bottom of the hill looking up at the town, so we pulled into a farm so I could snap away.
Hopping back into the car, I managed to put the front of the car into a parked tractor and it was from there that we decided Anna would drive home!
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