Tuscany: Living La Vita Buona

Article first published on www.igougo.com under my pen name of "Bear in Britain".

For many tourists Tuscany is a manic dash from one monumental sight to another. Uffizi; Ponte Vecchio; Leaning Tower … check. The pace misses the essence of the place. Italians embody gracious living. In my travels there, I've attempted to capture their knack for mixing work and play into a soul-soothing “good life”.


Let's start with the highlights. Any trip must include several days in Florence. Culture hounds die and enter heaven here, in the official womb of the renaissance. The Feast of San Giovanni in late June is a remarkable spectacle and worth fighting the crowds to see.

San Gimignano is a magical, fairy tale stage set of a town rich in things to do, fabulous views and great shops. Another favourite hill town is Volterra. MUCH less visited by tourists, it has all the same Renaissance charms of its sister towns, but adds some remarkable Roman ruins and the source of some of the best Alabaster in Europe.

Montelupo is another great discovery. Most of the typical painted dishes and pots of Tuscany are made around here. In town you’ll find lots of artisans selling their works direct, at a much higher quality and for better prices than in the bigger towns. The ceramics festival in June is delightfully local, but should be more broadly known.



Quick Tips & Suggestions

• Watch “Tea with Mussolini” before you go to San Gimignano to get in the mood.
• Take a long walk through an olive grove or a field of sunflowers.
• Rent a place with a kitchen and cook with fine local ingredients.
• Book in advance for the Uffizi.
• Don’t count on anything going according to plan; strikes often muck up the day.
• Drink lots of wine; especially the Brunello and "Super Tuscans", less known but generally better (if a bit more expensive) than the Chiantis.
• Eat in restaurants where nobody speaks English.
• Go to mass, even if you don’t understand Italian, to feel the pagan-like ceremony of it all.
• Try water colouring or sketching something, it will sharpen your appreciation of what you see.
• Climb at least one bell tower.
• Consume massive amounts of ice cream … especially pistachio.
• Attempt to speak Italian.
• Barter and buy a knockoff designer handbag from the African guys on the street corner.
• Use the money you saved to buy gold jewellery on the Ponte Vecchio.
• Take Ross King’s “Brunelleschi’s Dome” along for holiday reading; history rarely makes this good a story.
• Bring bug spray!

Best Way to Get Around
It is completely possible to survive without a car if you stay at the Villa Pandolfini (see below). A 15-minute walk takes you across the Arno to Signa; the train takes 20 minutes into Florence. From there, you can get trains back out to most major Tuscan towns.

I recommend a car, however. This will give you the freedom to get out into the countryside; some of the smaller sites I write about would be tough to reach on public transport. You’ll also save time. Besides going directly to Florence, getting to most locations by train and bus would take much longer than hopping in your car and going direct.

A word of warning. The Italians are fast, aggressive drivers. If this makes you nervous, consider your options carefully.

Where to Stay: Villa Pandolfini, Lastra a Signa
Pandolfini was built in the Renaissance as a hunting lodge for nobles who wanted a quick escape from Florence. These days, at just 12 miles out of town, it’s practically suburban. Yet once you cross through the gates you’ll feel like you’re in another world.

The villa is the centre of an agricultural estate that stretches across the hills above the Arno here. There are grapevines and olives (you can sample the estate-bottled produce of both) and several rental properties scattered throughout. We stay at the main villa, which is subdivided to provide one rental apartment, one condominium and the home of the owners of the estate, the Broggi family.

The guest accommodation comprises two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a sitting room. You actually enter through the back of the main building, where a loggia runs along the ground floor and everything looks out over a formal garden.

All the rooms are generously sized and palatially decorated. Every ceiling (hovering at least 16 feet above the floor) is painted; 19th century frescos designed to evoke the original renaissance feel of the place. The main bedroom has a king-sized bed, a fireplace, arm chairs, a massive museum-quality baroque mirror and French doors that lead out onto the veranda that runs across the front of the of the villa. The second bedroom has a double bed and a twin.

The kitchen is big enough to fit a table that comfortably seats eight and has all the modern conveniences. In addition, there’s a massive fireplace and an old marble sink to give an old world feel.

The sitting room is dominated by a towering mirror and a portrait of the Prat family, French aristocrats who escaped here after the revolution. (Napoleon was later a visitor.) The furniture is both comfortable and grand. The best feature of this room, however, is the tall pair of French doors that lead out to the loggia and garden.

The loggia has well-cushioned wrought iron furniture for lounging or dining (we eat by candlelight here most nights). The gardens you look over are shared by the occupants of the adjacent lemon house (another holiday rental) and the family that owns the condominium, yet we rarely see anyone but the gardener. We frequently play games of bocce across the gravel here, and make lemonade from the ripe fruit that falls from the potted trees that ring the fountain.

Pandolfini’s pool is a 10-minute walk up the hill behind the villa. (If you’re not fit, you can drive.) It sits in an idyllic position in the olive grove, overlooking the city of Florence and the roofs and towers of neighbouring villas. Though the pool is also shared by occupants of other rental properties, it’s rare to run into other guests. You’re more likely to come across the famiglia Broggi in the late afternoon, taking a quick dip before dinner.

At $1,500 per week for a property that sleeps up to 5, this is about the best luxury value for money I’ve ever found.

For more details, see www.villapandolfini.com