VILLA RETREATS—Villas in the countryside surrounding Florence have been favored retreats for centuries, and three that continue the tradition today—each about 5 miles from the historic center—provide an inviting level of luxury. Tucked into the cool hills of Fiesole, with a façade believed to be the design of Michelangelo, the Villa San Michele is a former monastery now devoted to worldly pleasures. Especially welcome are the distant views of Brunelleschi’s Duomo and grassy terrace with one of the world’s most beautifully situated pools. Housed in a handsomely restored 15th-century villa with 11 acres of gardens, Il Salviatino offers similarly inspiring views, but with less formality and with a boutique-hotel ambiance and less stratospheric rates. Villa La Massa, a luxuriously updated 16th-century villa on the banks of the Arno, is a sister property of Lake Como’s Villa d’Este (see p. 190) and here provides another slice of Tuscan life, aristocracy style. VILLA SAN MICHELE: Tel 39/055-567-8200; in the U.S., 800-237-1236; www.villasanmichele.orient-express.com. Cost: from $1,350. When: closed mid-Nov–Mar. VILLA IL SALVIATINO: Tel 39/055-904-1111; www.salviatino.com. Cost: from $560 (off-peak), from $850 (peak). VILLA LA MASSA: Tel 39/055-62611; in the U.S., 800-745-8883; www.villalamassa.com. Cost: from $565 (off-peak), from $700 (peak). When: closed mid-Nov–mid-Mar.
EATING & DRINKING
CAFFÈ RIVOIRE—Outdoor tables of this 19th-century fixture on Piazza della Signoria are the command post of choice for idling away the hours over a cappuccino, panino, or one of their signature sweets. When cold weather dictates a move indoors, order the house specialty, dense bittersweet hot chocolate with a de rigueur dollop of fresh whipped panna. INFO: Tel 39/055-214412; www.rivoire.it. COST: lunch $25.
CIBRÈO—Florentines don’t mind sharing their famous trattoria with visiting travelers, and all share an enthusiasm for some of the best Tuscan cooking anywhere. Just don’t expect any pasta on the menu. Waiters pull up a chair to explain classic recipes that mix delightfully with innovation, such as the velvety yellow bell-pepper soup or roasted duck stuffed with minced beef and raisins. Many of the kitchen’s acclaimed dishes are available at the less expensive Cibrèo Trattoria (better known as Cibreino) with a shorter menu, just around the corner while the cozy but refined Caffè Cibrèo is fun for lunch. Fabbio Picchi is the mastermind behind the Cibrèo name. CIBRÈO: Tel 39/055-234-1100; website for all 3: www.edizioniteatrodelsalecibreofirenze.it. Cost: dinner $70. CIBRÈO TRATTORIA: Tel 39/055-234-1100. Cost: dinner $40. CAFFÈ CIBRÈO: Tel 39/055-234-5853. Cost: lunch $65.
COCO LEZZONE—Some places are best never tampered with. Basic fare, including a hearty ribollita (bread and vegetable soup), grilled steaks, and fresh fish on Fridays, is served here in a simple, white-tiled room jammed with tables. With no menu and barely a hint of pretension, the emphasis is clearly on enjoying a simple but memorable meal on a backstreet off the tony Via Tornabuoni. INFO: Tel 39/055-287178. Cost: dinner $40.
OMERO—This atmospheric, century-old trattoria is definitely worth the 15-minute taxi ride to Acetri, on the outskirts of town. Take in the beautiful view of the countryside from the outdoor terrace, then head inside for a traditional Tuscan feast. Everyone is here for the pasta, plus just about the best and most tender bistecca alla fiorentina around and, in artichoke season, the deep-fried carciofini wedges. Portions of the perfectly executed cucina toscana are abundant, but save room for the homemade dessert. INFO: Tel 39/055-220053; www.ristoranteomero.it. Cost: dinner $50.
RISTORANTE LA GIOSTRA—A Hapsburg prince and his handsome twin sons serve treasured family dishes in an arched, 16th-century room that is always full and festive. Carpaccio of sturgeon, thin slices of baby artichokes topped with aged Parmigiano and other offerings reflect the best of simple Tuscan cooking. If it is mushroom and truffle season, you’re in for a treat. INFO: Tel 39/055-241341; www.ristorantelagiostra.com. Cost: dinner $60.
GELATERIE—Ice-cream purists may insist that Vivoli is no longer the city’s best, but don’t tell that to the crowds always loitering outside, sampling flavors that run the gamut from familiar-but-delicious vanilla to whiskey, rice, and fig. Gelateria Michelangiolo enjoys the best location in town, overlooking the city from the Piazzale Michelangiolo, whereas Gelateria Carabè serves Sicilian-style gelato, dense with the season’s best fruits (its homemade cannolis are also a treat) on the street linking the Accademia and the Duomo. VIVOLI: Tel 39/055-292334; www.vivoli.it. GELATERIA MICHELANGIOLO: Tel 39/055-234-2705. GELATERIA CARABÈ: Tel 39/055-289476; www.gelatocarabe.com.
WINE BARS—The handsome Osteria del Caffè Italiano, housed in a landmark early-Renaissance palazzo near Piazza Santa Croce, is the best place in town for a self-styled degustazione by the glass, accompanied by artisanal salami and cheeses and simple meals of seasonal ingredients. There’s also a pizzeria and a softly lit tablecloth restaurant attached. At Pitti Gola, an excellent selection of wines by the glass is served by the incredibly knowledgeable and friendly owners. A few daily simple pastas are available in casual and intimate surroundings across from the Pitti Palace. Frescobaldi pours 40-plus wines from the proprietor’s 700-year-old vineyards, along with other Tuscan vintages, and accompanies them with simple but excellent Tuscan fare. OSTERIA DEL CAFFÈ ITALIANO: Tel 39/055-289368; www.caffeitaliano.it. PITTI GOLA: Tel 39/055-212704. FRESCOBALDI: Tel 39/055-284724; www.frescobaldi.it.
Connecting the Dots in a Postcard-Perfect Landscape
THE HILL TOWNS OF TUSCANY
Tuscany, Italy
Few travel experiences in Italy are more exhilarating than winding along a country road and coming upon the silhouette of yet another Tuscan hilltown on a cypress-lined crest. You will discover countless enchanting vignettes when you drive south for about 120 miles from Florence (see p. 203) to the wine town of Montepulciano.
The Chianti region unfolds just beyond Florence, by many accounts the most beautiful wine region in Italy. For a lazy vineyard-hopping drive with serendipitous wine-tasting stops, follow the old Via Chiantigiana (Chianti Road) from Florence to Siena (see p. 212) through a landscape of rolling hills, medieval castles, and stone farmhouses. Spend the night at the family-owned Castello di Volpaia wine estate, where guests stay in a restored centuries-old hamlet.
The busy wine hub of Greve in Chianti is surrounded by vineyards that produce some of the finest Tuscan reds. Outlying Villa Le Barone is a former 16th-century wine estate, with 30 lovely rooms, that retains the feel of a private manor. Plan a day trip to San Gimignano, called a “Medieval Manhattan” for its distinctive skyline bristling with towers that date back to the 12th century. Linger over lunch at the rustic dining room of the Bel Soggiorno, where a delicious meal of wild game shares the spotlight with the glorious views.
The small, sleepy, but well-to-do hill town of Montalcino overlooks vineyards yielding the sangiovese grosso grapes used for brunello wine, and its lighter-weight cousin rosso di Montalcino. Hike up to the 14th-century Fortezza that moonlights as the town enoteca for a wine tasting or sit for hours in the Piazza del Popolo’s 19th-century Caffè Fiaschetteria Italiana. Dinner at the very respected Osteria Leccio just outside town, in Sant’Angelo in Colle, puts you in the company of in-the-know local wine-industry folks.
Pienza, just 15 miles east of Montalcino, is the fulfillment of the dream of 15th-century Pope Pius II to create an ideal High Renaissance city as a papal retreat—today’s “Pearl of the Renaissance.” Walk behind the cathedral for views of the Val d’Orcia, where green, cypress-clad hills rise and fall below Monte Amiata. The countryside will probably look familiar—it was the inspiration of Renaissance masters and appears as background in countless religious paintings. Set amid the same hills is La Bandita, a stylishly restored farmhouse where eight bright suites overlook the picture-perfect valley.
Nearby Montepulciano is the loftiest hill town of them all, set 2,000 feet above the Val di Chiana and famous for its hearty vino nobile. Views from Montepulciano extend east across the valley to medieval Cortona, another hill town appearing like a floating mirage. But you might
want to unpack here in one of the six antiques-filled rooms at Follonico, which enjoy views of the countryside and the beautiful Tempio di San Bagio church, a gem of High Renaissance architecture.
From Pienza you can see the cultivated hills and charming farmhouses of Val d’Orcia, a classic Tuscan landscape.
WHERE: San Gimignano is 35 miles/56 km southwest of Florence. CASTELLO DI VOLPAIA: Tel 39/0577-738066; www.volpaia.com. Cost: double-occupancy villas from $525 (off-peak), from $850 (peak). VILLA LE BARONE: Tel 39/055-852621; www.villalebarone.com. Cost: from $265 (off-peak), from $350 (peak). When: closed Nov–mid-Apr. BEL SOGGIORNO: Tel 39/0577-943149. Cost: dinner $40. OSTERIA LECCIO: Tel 39/0577-844175. Cost: dinner $40. LA BANDITA: Tel 39/333-404-6704; www.la-bandita.com. Cost: from $340 (off-peak), from $425 (peak). When: closed Jan–Feb. FOLLONICO: Tel 39/0577-669773; www.follonico.com. Cost: from $175. BEST TIMES: May for wildflowers; Jul for sunflowers; Oct for grape and olive harvests.
Puccini’s Hometown and a Leaning Tower
LUCCA AND PISA
Tuscany, Italy
Blessedly bypassed by mass tourism and protected within its perfectly preserved Renaissance walls, Lucca is a quiet though refined town where you can rent a bike to explore its timeless cobblestone streets. Visit the ancient palazzos that today house handsome antiques shops and food stores or any of its medieval churches, such as the elaborate San Michele in Foro, begun in 1143, and the even older Duomo, both masterpieces of intricate Romanesque stone carving. Follow the 3-mile oak-shaded path atop the city’s ramparts for a bird’s-eye view of the ancient olive groves that unfold beyond the town: The Lucchesia area gives the world its finest olio di oliva.
Enjoy a gelato in the atmospheric Antico Caffè Simo, a favored respite for Giacomo Puccini, Lucca’s most famous son. For lunch, join locals at the unpretentious Da Giulio in pelleria, an airy trattoria beloved for its time-honored Tuscan specialties. Or up the ante at Buca di Sant’Antonio, near Piazza San Michele, a fixture in the Lucca dining scene since the 18th century whose fine cuisine refines and updates ancient tradition.
Stay within the city walls at the restored 12th-century Palazzo Alexander, a palace that’s now a regal small hotel filled with marble, brocade, timbered ceilings, and the kind of old-world décor that seems operatic—in fact, many of the rooms are named after the works of Puccini. But if you’ve always dreamed of renting a Tuscan villa, this is the place to do it—the Lucca-based company Salogi is a specialist in quality rentals throughout the region (and beyond) and can help you find the perfect spot.
The workaday neighboring city of Pisa deserves to be seen for its Leaning Tower alone. The tilt of the tower is the result of unstable foundations—after completion, it leaned a fraction of an inch more each year, until a 1990s restoration arrested the tilt at a (hopefully) permanent 14 feet off the perpendicular. Begun in 1174, the tower was designed as a free-standing bell tower for the Duomo, the spectacular cathedral begun even earlier, in 1063, and offset by the baptistery, with its filigree exterior and astonishing acoustics (be sure to sing a few notes inside).
Almost 300 steps lead to the top of Pisa’s leaning tower.
WHERE: Lucca is 45 miles/72 km west of Florence. DA GIULIO IN PELLERIA: Tel 39/0583-55948. Cost: dinner $35. BUCA DI SANT’ANTONIO: Tel 39/0583-55881; www.bucadisantantonio.it. Cost: dinner $55. HOTEL PALAZZO ALEXANDER: Tel 39/0583-583571; www.hotelpalazzoalexander.it. Cost: from $145 (off-peak), from $210 (peak). SALOGI: Tel 39/0583-48717; www.salogi.com. Cost: 2-bedroom villas from $1,735 per week (off-peak), from $2,220 per week (peak). BEST TIMES: May–Jun and Sep–Oct for nicest weather; mid-Jul–mid-Aug for Puccini Opera Festival in Torre del Lago; Sep 13 for Luminara di Santa Croce candlelight procession in Lucca; 3rd Sun of every month for outdoor antiques market.
Etruscans and Cowboys in the Far Reaches of Tuscany
MAREMMA
Tuscany, Italy
The southwest stretches of Tuscany are far removed, in distance and landscape, from the rolling vineyards and art-filled cities travelers usually associate with the region. Here, sun-burnt hills and wide open space are covered in golden wheat and grazing lands where a dying breed of butteri (cowboys) tend the region’s white, long-horned maremmano cattle. Maremma’s acclaimed beaches extend along Italy’s longest stretch of unspoiled coastline, much of it protected by the Parco Nazionale della Maremma. Enjoy grilled bistecca and wild boar in simple trattorias, accompanied by excellent local wines such as sassicaia, a hearty red.
The Etruscans, who settled in this region as early as 700 B.C., left behind elaborate tombs and vie cave (sunken passageways linking necropoli and sanctuaries) in and around the village of Sovana. Their Roman successors built elaborate baths at Saturnia, where sulfurous, 98°F springs bubble into naturally terraced pools. Modern-day bathers luxuriate at the stylish Terme di Saturnia, with seven thermal pools, spa treatments based on the mineral-rich waters, and an 18-hole golf course.
On a peninsula in the southernmost reaches of the region, the craggy cliffs of Monte Argentario drop into the sea near the pretty little resort town of Porto Ercole. The secluded cottages of Il Pelicano Hotel are scattered among centuries-old pine and olive groves on the mountain’s flank, high above a tiny private cove. The atmosphere is relaxing and laid back but service is refined, and alfresco candlelit dinners with panoramic views of the sea and fresh grilled fish are superb. The amenities of gentle breezes and sea vistas can also be enjoyed at the nearby family-run Don Pedro, a simple hotel with a terrace high above Porto Ercole’s harbor with access to a private beach below.
WHERE: Porto Ercole is 74 miles/119 km north of Rome. TERME DI SATURNIA: Tel 39/0564-60011; in the U.S., 800-745-8883; www.termedisaturnia.com. Cost: from $600 (off-peak), from $800 (peak). IL PELICANO: Tel 39/0564-858111; in the U.S., 800-735-2478; www.pelicanohotel.com. Cost: from $600 (off-peak), from $845 (peak). When: closed mid-Oct–mid-Apr. DON PEDRO: Tel 39/0564-833914; www.hoteldonpedro.it. Cost: from $145 (off-peak), from $215 (peak). BEST TIMES: May–Sep to enjoy the seaside; Jan 5 for celebration the eve of Epiphany with costumed processions in Sovana and nearby towns.
Horse Races amid Medieval Monuments
SIENA
Tuscany, Italy
Built on a series of hilltops, Siena reached its zenith in the 13th century with an explosion of art and architecture (and a university founded in 1240)—then the Black Death struck in 1348. The High Renaissance largely bypassed the city, leaving its medieval monuments intact. The Duomo of Santa Maria Asunta is the city’s magnificent Gothic cathedral, with an intricate façade and interior that’s striped with black and white marble. At Siena’s heart is the scallop-shaped Piazza del Campo (il Campo), ringed with 13th- and 14th-century palazzos. Climb the 505 steps of the Palazzo Pubblico bell tower for an unforgettable view of the idyllic Tuscan countryside. Il Campo also serves as the track for the raucous Palio bareback horse race that takes place each year on July 2 and August 16. Following a procession of drummers and banner bearers comes the race: 90 seconds and three hair-raising laps around the earth-covered piazza. Obtaining tickets to the Palio is nearly impossible (ask your hotel to help way in advance). Or you can stand in the packed campo with 50,000 new best friends.
Stay at the historic Palazzo Ravizza Hotel for its homelike atmosphere, or unpack just outside the city walls at the family-owned Hotel Santa Caterina, which has comfortable rooms and a lovely garden where guests gather for breakfast.
Tuscany is noted for rustic cuisine and world-class wines, both splendidly presented at Osteria le Logge, a classic trattoria with an ample list of brunello wines. Set within 2,000-year-old Etruscan walls, Antica Osteria da Divo offers dining areas chiseled from bedrock beneath ancient arches, a highly romantic setting for such Tuscan classics as bistecca alla fiorentina. Wine lovers should not bypass the vaulted cellars of the Enoteca Italiana, housed in the 15th-century Medici fortress with vintages from surrounding Chianti vintners. For an immersion in the vineyards north of town, book a room in the Borgo Argenina, medie
val stone farmhouses transformed into a movie-set bed-and-breakfast: Beyond its riot of gardens, Merchant Ivory views unfold. More elaborate is the magically converted 13th-century hamlet at Locanda dell’Amorosa, replete with stables transformed into a well-regarded restaurant and a pool with views of vineyards and olive groves as far as the eye can see.
Il Campo’s soaring bell tower was built exactly as tall as Siena’s Duomo to indicate equality between church and state.
WHERE: 21 miles/34 km south of Florence. HOW: Canada-based Spyns offers 7-day tours for Palio races including coveted balcony seats and more. Tel 36/0566-2412; in Canada, 888-825-4720; www.spyns.com. Cost:$3,500, inclusive. Originate in Florence. When: Jul and Aug. PALAZZO RAVIZZA: Tel 39/0577-280462; www.palazzoravizza.com. Cost: from $170 (off-peak), from $240 (peak). HOTEL SANTA CATERINA: Tel 39/0577-221105; www.hscsiena.it. Cost: from $95 (off-peak), from $175 (peak). OSTERIA LE LOGGE: Tel 39/0577-48013; www.giannibrunelli.it. Cost: dinner $55. ANTICA OSTERIA DA DIVO: Tel 39/0577-286054; www.osteriadadivo.it. Cost: dinner $65. ENOTECA ITALIANA: Tel 39/0577-228811; www.enoteca-italiana.it. BORGO ARGENINA: Tel 39/0577-747117; www.borgoargenina.it. Cost: from $240. When: closed Nov–Feb. LOCANDA DELL’AMOROSA: Tel 39/0577-677211; www.amorosa.it. Cost: from $270 (off-peak), from $375 (peak). BEST TIMES: May–Jun and Sep–Oct for best weather; Jul and Aug for pre-Palio excitement.
In the Footsteps of St. Francis
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 35