It’s been quite a few years since we have spent any time in Tuscany–thinking it’s too touristy and we are right BUT it is with good reason. It’s gorgeous here! The views of the green hills, cypress lined roads, beautifully manicured villages and the golden evening light– No wonder everyone wants to come here!
We are loving the quiet. Hearing the birds in the morning is perfect for us.
We started the day slowly and decided to go to Pienza. First thing we did was walk to Latte di Luna to reserve for lunch. We DO have priorities after all. Then we walked back into the center (this is only about 2 blocks) by way of the wall surrounding the town. We had really nice views of Mt. Amiata and flowers blooming in pots everywhere.

We went into the big church for a while, did a lot of window shopping:

You really can smell the Pecorino as you walk down the streets. Finally it was time for lunch.
Latte di Luna, written up in mnay places did not disappoint. We both had pici with cinghiale sauce. Then Ken had white beans and I had a perfect little sformatto (timbale) of zucchini, with lots of nutmeg.
Here was the view from our table:

We talked to the people at the next table who have been coming here for 6 years. Really nice folks! Of course, they wrote down restaurant recs for us. While talking to them they said–you really should go to La Foce and see the gardens. I said–oh we are, on Wednesday at 3:00 for the tour.–Wait a minute! This is Wednesday and it’s 2:00–let’s get out of here!
How we made it onto that tour was just a bit of travel magic. We really didn’t know where we were going. Somehow we found it and, just as the tour was leaving, we joined onto the tail. We didn’t even have time to sign up or pay. We did it afterwards.
La Foce is an amazing place. The gardens are beautiful and the history and architecture are fascinating.


Our tour guide was a very interesting woman who spoke many languages–she gave the tour in English but as we walked to the next place translated it into Italian. And answered a bunch of questions in German. You could tell she loved the place.
From there we drove to San Quirico; we pulled into town and it began to storm. We parked and hail stones were popping on the roof and all around us. Luckily it only lasted about 10 minutes. I mostly studied the maps while we waited. We decided we’d had enough for one day, found a COOP to do some grocery shopping and made our way home by about 5:30. We saw Agusto, the owner here at La Grancia and he invited us to see the old part of the home where, they are very proud that the Duke of Tuscany stayed in the 1700’s. He was a friend of one of the great great grandfathers of Agusto. They’ve kept the old rooms untouched–like a little museum. And he told us some of the history of La Grancia–show us historical photos, etc. Thirty minutes well spent! Afterwards I went down to the garden to pick some cherries off the huge tree and got a lemon, too.
This is really a stunningly beautiful place in an unfancy way.

By the way–I am loving all the comments! Thanks for keeping me going.