Florence, a second time around

Although the Budman and I had been to Florence before, we decided it was a city we wanted to visit once more. A beautiful sunny day strolling through Florence as well as tours of two fabulous museums, The Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti.

Florence’s magnificent Duomo.









Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, and Fontana di Nettuno (Neptune to you non Italian speakers).





















Ponte Vecchio.

More Chianti is a better thing

The tour of Chianti continued… in terms of both the towns in Chianti, and a small sampling of the wine along the way. The towns of Radda, Panzano, and Castellina rounded out the day.

First, Radda….







Panzano….











Castellina….















And as the day marched on, the weather began to change, and ominous skies began to give weigh to rain. After the thunder showers, the following photo was snapped….kudos to the Budman.

A little Chianti is a good thing

First, a brief remark about today’s blog post title.

One of our daytrips in Tuscany actually took us to many of the small villages in and around the region of Chianti (yes, home of the famous red wine). A leisurely and very sunny day allowed us to amble throughout the countryside from one little town to the next…picturesque to say the least.

The Chianti region is also home to the famous red wine that we associate with cheap Italian restaurant, lit candles dripping wax from straw covered wine bottles, etc. In fact, the wine of the Chianti region has a good reputation and does not have the moniker of “cheap table wine” that many of us in the US associate with this wine.

First stop, Greve.

















(yes, Greve is the home of the Italian explorer, Verrazano, for which we are ALL familiar with …if you know your NYC bridges).









And lest we forget, this is not only wine country, but groves of olive trees mean that olive oil flows freely .

Answer to Cortona triva question

In response to yesterday's trivia question, "Which recent movie was primarily filmed in and around Cortona?"

Answer: Under the Tuscan Sun

Cortona

OK, this was one of our favorite towns in Tuscany! Can’t always say why one town speaks to us and why one town doesn’t, but in the end, we were totally and utterly entranced. Cortona had loads of charm and fabulous views as the town was perched on top of a hill.

From the moment we walked up to the town’s entrance, we were enchanted by the nooks and crannies between the buildings, the small restaurants and shops, and the wonderful “small-town” Tuscan feel. We spent an entire day doing nothing but putzing about. Yes, we did have numerous “café” pit-stops for people watching as well.













































And of course, those obligatory night shots.











We’ll be back for a long weekend….I do not get my fill of this delightful town.

PS – know which recent movie was primarily filmed in and around Cortona? Answer tomorrow.