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Report 1531: Three Weeks in Italy

By jeannez from Massachusetts, Fall 2007

Trip Description: For our vacation we spent three glorious weeks in Tuscany at Villa il Tiano, Suvignano, Monteroni d'Arbia (SI) Italy. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, great for us although the local farmers needed rain.

Destinations: Countries - Italy; Regions/Cities - Tuscany, Umbria, Venice

Categories: Hotels/B&Bs; Vacation Rentals; Shopping; Sightseeing; Wine Trip; Independent Travel; Adults and Teens; Large Group: 10 or More

Arrival at Hotel 1000 Miglia

This is my husband's and my fifth trip to this same area and second year renting the villa for family and friends. We plan on going back to the villa in 2009.

Almost everyday began with a walk on the country roads for picture taking and seeing the farm animals, Sicilian goats, cini pigs and sheep. The men responsible for the livestock are Graziano, Adriano and Arenzo. The shepherds are all from Sardinia and live on the farm. Graziano was a delight everyday when herding the three different flocks of 700 sheep each from pasture to pasture and then to the milking barn. He always took the time to stop and chat and have his picture taken. One afternoon five of us women climbed into his little Fiat (very crowded and dusty) and he took us to the milking barn to show us the procedure of milking the sheep to produce Pecorino cheese. We returned to the barn another night to bring a kitten USA (oosa) that adopted us at the villa and leave him with lots of other barn kitties.

Thursday September 27, 2007

Louise, Manny, Frank and I go to Logan Airport in Boston to begin our journey. Nice flight on Lufthansa. Frank makes friends with flight attendant Barbara from first class and she brings us espresso and biscotti followed later with ice cream and cognac.

Friday September 28

We land in Frankfurt, Germany and change planes. Fly to Florence, Italy. Rent our car and head to Monteroni D'Arbia.

We arrive at the Hotel 1000 Miglia and are greeted by Vittorio and Aurora our friends and owners. After a coffee and a little grappa we get settled into our rooms. We take a quick trip to the villa and the guests there from Michigan had heard of us, "You must be the friends from Boston." They are sad to be leaving the next day and wish they could stay longer. Later in the day, we go to Siena and pick up Connie at the bus station. It is raining off and on. We go to dinner at Ristorante il Ponte Pizzeria, our favorite family run restaurant and Mali Profeti the chef and owner is very happy to see us.