The images of Tuscany that are seen in car commercials, on calendars, on the covers of books and magazines, and on the Internet hardly do justice to the majesty that is the Tuscan landscape. Our first stop on our Tuscan tour was to La Foce, an estate turned hotel/resort that was originally built in the 15th century as a hostel for pilgrims traveling in the area. The estate was restored by in the 1920 by Iris Origo, a prolific author, and is now maintained by her daughter. The gardens, including Tuscany’s iconic road that snakes down a hillside, was designed by landscape architect Cecil Pinsent.
After La Foce, the group made its way to Pienza, an idyllic Tuscan town. Its historic center is a UNESCO world heritage site and the physical buildings and landscape are visually preserved and kept up. The group had a lot of time to wander the narrow, picturesque streets and indulge in Tuscany’s famous cuisine.
On our final leg of the trip we headed off to San Gimignano, another small Tuscan town that practically defines the word “quaint”. Our group headed over to their famous bookstore and then to a contemporary art gallery showing the works of Michelangelo Pistoletto and others. Pistoletto is scheduled to give a talk at Cornell in Rome and we are all incredibly excited to hear from a contemporary Italian artist right before the Venice Biennale. We had quite a bit of free time to explore this little town and amongst the small touristy shops were some incredible examples of Tuscan pottery and wood carving, I was personally awed by a shop selling olive tree wood bowls and utensils. During dinner we were able to taste some of the famous Tuscan Chianti and even a white Chianti made right outside of town.
Our dinner concluded with some bangs coming from outside. We realized that there was a firework show to celebrate the beginning of Lent.
