Falling in love with Tuscany...

This past weekend I went on a trip with Loyola to Tuscany.  Tuscany is a region in central Italy, with the biggest city in the area being Florence.  This trip was a tour of some of the smaller cities and towns of Tuscany, and there were about 25 students and a professor on the trip.  The region of Tuscany is what I think most people picture when they think of Italy because that's the area that is most often portrayed in movies and media: rolling hills, cypress trees, vineyards and olive trees scattered across the landscape.  Well Tuscany didn't disappoint...it was even more beautiful than I could've imagined!  I absolutely loved the whole weekend and luckily we had great weather.  The emphasis of the weekend was on experiencing the traditional food and wine of the region, which was amazing.  If you couldn't tell from the title of this post, I fell in love with Tuscany...

We left Rome on a bus Friday morning and drove about three hours to a winery for our first wine tasting.  At this winery we tasted 5 wines, one white, three red and one dessert wine.  The red wine Chianti is produced in Tuscany, so we drank several kinds of Chianti throughout the weekend.  I usually prefer white wine over red wine, but being in Italy has made me appreciate red wine a lot more.  In my Food and Wine class in Rome, we had 4 classes of wine tastings, where we only tasted red wines, so that started my appreciation for red wines.  Anyway, at the winery we tried the dessert wine last.  It was way too sweet for my taste, and I have a big sweet tooth!  You're only supposed to drink a very little bit of it, or dip biscotti in it.  I think it's definitely an acquired taste.  After the winery we went to Siena, which is a historic smaller city in Tuscany.  First we had a delicious lunch, then a walking tour of the city.  It's a charming little city with a gorgeous Duomo (Cathedral).  Then we had some free time to wander around until we went to the estate we were staying at for our two nights in Tuscany.  We arrived at the estate, called Montestigliano, and I was blown away by the picturesque views.  The estate consists of several 18th century buildings that are basically large villas which have been restored and split into multiple apartments.  It is also a working farm, with thousands of olive trees, some fig trees, and wheat, barley, and corn also growing there.  It's on a hill, so there are gorgeous views of the Tuscan countryside.  If you want to get an idea of how awesome Montestigliano is you can take a look at their website: montestigliano.it.  I know that promotional pictures on websites and such often look better than the real thing, but I assure you it was as beautiful, if not more, in person.  We got settled then had dinner in the main villa, in a nice cozy room with a fireplace.

Saturday we had breakfast at Montestigliano then took the bus to the town of San Gimignano.  San Gimignano is a small medieval town, mostly famous for its architecture.  We had some time to explore the town before heading to another winery for another wine tasting.  This winery is run by people whose family has owned it since 1720.  The men who took us through the tasting were so charasmatic and were clearly passionate about wine.  This one was much more exciting in my opinion, because we actually sat down and had an explanation of the proper protocol for tasting wine and were given plates with bread, cheese, cold cuts, and a little salad with balsalmic to eat as we tasted the different wines.  At this winery we tasted about 10 wines, all red except for one dessert wine.  We also tasted some of the olive oil, truffle oil, and balsalmic vinegar that is produced at this winery, all delicious.  After the winery we went to a pig farm that raises Cinta Senese pigs, which are unique to Tuscany and produce exceptional pork products.  This farm wasn't a tourist attraction or anything, the man who runs the farm allows Loyola students to visit since he's a friend of a professor at Loyola.  He let us go in the pen with the pigs and I got to hold a baby pig too!  After we visited the pigs for a while, he and his wife prepared a simple lunch for us: a large assortment of different pork products and parts of the pig, along with bread and bruschetta.  It was great, and I loved seeing how some of the ordinary people in the countryside of Tuscany live.  Then we headed back to Montestigliano for a cooking class with the chef of the estate!  They gave us aprons and chef hats and we got down to business.  The cook helped us make gnocchi (little potato dumplings), pesto, and beans and sausage.  A couple hours later we sat down to enjoy our hard work, which turned out to be delicious.  Italian cooking really is simple and pretty easy once you know how to do it right.  I hope to practice my Italian cuisine cooking skills once I get back home.  After dinner, some of the Italians who work at the estate set up a laptop and speaker system and we had a karaoke night, which was really fun!

Sunday after breakfast we had an olive oil tasting at Montestigliano.  The man who takes care of the crops explained to us all about the olive trees and the process of producing olive oil.  Then we went back to the villa for the tasting, which basically consisted of drinking a small amount of each of the oils, which is not very tasty.  It was very interesting because I thought most olive oils would taste exactly the same, but I really could distinguish between different ones.  After the tasting, we had our last meal in Tuscany.  Tables were set up outside so we could enjoy the beautiful weather, and we had a delicious last meal.  Then we got on our bus and headed back to Rome, wishing we didn't have to leave such a beautiful setting.

I loved my time in Tuscany, though it was short.  I didn't expect to be so struck by the cliche landscapes that I had pictured before going, but the beauty surpassed my expectations!  I seriously hope to return to Tuscany sometime in the next few years and I'd love to stay at Montestigliano again.

Lexi and I at the first winery

Siena

View from Montestigliano

Main building of Montestigliano

Second wine tasting

Cinta Sinese pigs

Baby pig!

Making gnocchi

Olive oil tasting

Tiramisu

Since I didn't make a post about my family's time in Italy, I will talk about it briefly now.  I think everyone who reads my blog has heard all about the trip from my parents or brother by now.  We had a great time!  I loved going back to Venice with them and Florence was great too.  I know they all enjoyed their trip and I was definitely ready to see them after being gone for a couple months.

My roommate Ashlee and I are going to Salzburg, Austria this weekend, which I'm very excited for.  Salzburg is where the Sound of Music was filmed and I hear from everyone who's been there that it's absolutely beautiful.  I'll update you all when I get back.  Thanks for reading!

Ciao,
Allison