We traveled from Rome to Florence on the high speed train, rented our humongous 9-passenger party van in Florence and headed down to Tuscany. We based ourselves at the Castello di Montalto, a 1,000 year old castle most recently owned by Giovanni and Diana Coda Nunziante. Now in the eighties, Giovanni is Italian and met Diana, who is American, at Berkeley while they were both in graduate school. The castle is located in the country, about 6 miles from Sienna
Inside courtyard at Montalto
La Casa del Guardia (the Guard's House), our 3 bedroom, 2 bath villa on the grounds of the castle
The first day in Tuscany was rainy and cool, so we decided to scout the town of Sienna, where we were planning a full day visit the next day. We drove through, but soon decided to head back to Montalto. Our GPS ("Rosa") decided to get us lost through the back roads, so we stumbled on La Roverella, an olive and grape farm that has been in the same family for generations. We pulled into the open gate but nobody seemed to be around, so we were getting ready to leave when the owner came out and greeted us. He took us into his "office", a mixture of museum, photo gallery and wine cellar. Needless to say, after our visit, we were thankful Rosa got us lost.
Wood fired brick oven at La Roverella
The US Army came through La Roverella during WWII. This date carved in cement (June 29, 1944), marks a spot where shrapnel from an exploding bomb is still embedded into a limestone wall
Back in Montalto, a Tuscany sunset and Leo, Montalto's 14 year old German Shepherd, greets Linda
Worrall's won the "master suite" during the coin toss, but graciously shared their patio/balcony with the rest of us for our dinners "al fresco"
After just 2 days, we had significantly added to the wine consumption in this part of Tuscany.
Friends dining "al fresco'. Next up is our visit to Sienna. JIR
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