Tuscany

Of the parts of Italy, we saw on our Italian Adventure, Tuscany was my favorite. This region is just beautiful. You have Florence right there with more culture and art and university students than you know what to do with. Drive about 30 minutes south, and you are in vineyards. What more could you want?

We stayed in a small village outside Florence, and we had 3 of our meals at Bellavista in Impruneta. We weren't the only ones repeating here either. Their homemade ravioli with truffle sauce was to.die.for. I am getting hungry just thinking about it! The Florentine vegetable soup was out of this world. The three of us that made it to Easter Lunch enjoyed eating a "blessed egg," which is in fact a hard boiled egg that has been blessed by the local priest. Confused? Intrigued? We were, too, but as they say, "When in Impruneta..."But the best part is that by the end of it, we felt like family with the owners. (And you can see them on their website or visit their blog!) So, if you are in Florence, it is worth your time to go to Impruneta and eat at Bellavista. You will not be disappointed!

In our free time, we enjoyed walking down this hill between olive trees and towards vineyards collecting sticks and going on adventures. Twice we happened upon pheasants who swished out of the brush or tree and flew away. When it happened when I was there, it was literally in a tree a foot away from us. Wil, the hunter, was of course drooling over those birds.

We sampled a local wine (and ordered a lot of it) at their winery which is housed in what we might call a castle. Dreamy.

View from said castle. Can you imagine washing dishes and looking at that everyday?

Wil was perhaps happiest amongst all the wines in the cellar. Red wine galore here, friends. And good. We often just had the table wine at the restaurants as we read that it is often really good if not better than your pricier options. If you even remotely enjoy wine, this area is for you.

And that is how the Griswolds do Tuscany.