Under the Tuscan Sun, Rain, and Clouds

I have been interested in Agri Tourism or a farm stay for sometime.  In Italy, it is called Agriturismo and they are everywhere.  I am not sure how I found La Falconara outside of Montepulciano.  I think it was a combination of using trip advisor and a website I found for Tuscany Agriturismo.  I wanted someplace that catered to only a few guests, had cooking facilities and fairly close to a village and of course the price had to be right.  The reviews for La  Falconara were very good and when I emailed them about a possible stay, Alex replied immediately and so with so much enthusiasm that I was charmed.  La Falconara is not fancy, but wow, what a great stay.  Alex and Ingrid are both charming and helpful, they seem to genuinely care for their guest.  The house is located on top of a hill, overlooking a valley and in the distance you can see Cortona.  It is surrounded by olive groves, vineyards and 11 kitty cats.

"Doughnut and Whiskey" in my door.  Alex gives his cats funny names.

Just outside my front door, vineyards

La Falconara farm house

Over the next week we toured the area, not straying far, but enjoying the hill towns of Tuscany.  The weather was not perfect, it was warm and muggy when we first arrived and then we had rain or clouds off and on for 2 days.  We had a personal tour of the winery that Alex is involved with, Il Conventino and sampled his fine wine.  We went to Monticchiello, a small medieval village with very little tourism.  I bought a beautiful silk and wool wrap and we had dinner at a wonderful little restaurant.  We visited the beautiful Le Foce gardens and had a very interesting guided tour about the gardens.  We visited Montepulciano, Montecino, and Pienza.   I was able to arrange for us to return to a winery we went to last year, San Polino and had a wonderful 2007 Brunello wine with the owner's son in the extra kitchen off the veranda.  We also revisited the Sant' Antimo Abbey, but once again got there as the monks were finishing their Gregorian chants.  We also had a tasting at Fanti Winery, the tasting room was beautiful and they were very gracious with their pours.
The last day we spent part of our day with Ingrid.  She took us to San Giovanni thermal pools and we soaked in the mineral baths for about 75 minutes before having a lunch together.  She was absolutely charming and a wonderful person to get to know.  Both her and Alex have an interesting history, having been born in Venezuela to part Italian and Spanish families.  Alex grew up attending an American school in Venezuela and then went to Philadelphia to study pharmacy. After he received a masters degree he moved to Italy, married, was a pharmacists, and became involved in wine making.  We are not sure if he divorced or if his wife died, but at some point he visited Venezuela.  While there he met Ingrid.  Ingrid was a librarian, had been married to a professor at University of Michigan and had a Master of Library Science from Michigan.  They have been married for about 13 years, they are in their late 70's.  So sweet.

Carol, Don and Rick sipping wine

From Monticchiello

Love this sign for a B & B Inn

La Porto, we had coffee and then came back for dinner

Church in Pienza

Pienza

Landscape from the farm

Grand Plaza, Montelpulciano

Alex giving us a wine tour

Rick, Alex, Carol, Don and me at the winery

LeFoce Villa Gardens

Rainy day at Le Foce

Tea and coffee back in Montepulciano

dinner at the the farm

At Sant' Antimo Abbey- I think I have been drinking way too much wine and eating bread, or else that shirt just does not flatter me - haha

Tasting Brunello at San Polino

Rick enjoying a walk through the vines

Our last night at La Falconara

When we returned to the farm we spent the evening enjoying the company of Alex and Ingrid and the  other guest at the farm.  We made an anti pasta plate and enjoyed many glasses of wine.  To top the evening off, Alex made a gelato run for us.  I hope we get to return in the near future.  There are so many places I did not get to see and we lost a day or two of sightseeing due to my cold and the travel problems that Carol and Don encountered. As most of you know, my sister Carol and her husband Don joined us for the La Falconara part of our trip and then again here in Slovenia.   They were to arrive on Saturday evening, the same day we were checking in.  Unfortunately, their flight out of Denver was so delayed they missed their connection in DC.  They had to overnight in DC and did not get out until Saturday evening, which meant they would get to Florence until Sunday evening.  However, what I did not know because I never received her email, was that their flight was changed to go through Frankfort instead of Brussels. The new flight was arriving at a slightly later time.  I also did not know that the Italian trains were going on strike just about the time they landed.  So between landing a little later then they were scheduled, luggage not showing up and the trains going on strike they were unable to make the train to Chiusi on Sunday evening.  They spent the night in Florence and did not arrive until Monday at noon.  In hindsight, we would have probably gone somewhere on Sunday, either Oriveto or Cortono instead of hanging around the farm and just taking a walk.  But again, I was not a 100% so maybe not.

On Saturday, we left La Falconara and headed by train to Venice to overnight. We stayed on the mainland, but went to the island that evening to wonder the streets, have a drink along the canal and pizza and wine later near the Academic Bridge.  Didn't see George Clooney, but the city was busy when we first got there.  Venice is a magical and romantic place.  If you just get off the main "drag" you can find beautiful little squares with restaurants and a lot fewer people.  Sunday we took a shuttle van to Ljubljana and arrived mid afternoon.    Will do a Ljubljana post soon.

Venice

One of the beautiful churches at night

Enjoying drinks and snacks by the Grand Canal