Anna In the summer of 2021, we decided to take a little roadtrip! Destination: Italy!
Our route was as follows: Pisa, Lucca, Cinque Terre, San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena, San Quirico D’Orcia, Montepulciano, Monticchiello, Perugia, Lago di Trasimeno, Pienza, Bagno Vignoni and Firenze. I know, those are a lot of names, I’ll introduce them all to you!
Let’s start at the beginning. When traveling in 2021 your covid passport was still a thing. I was not vaccinated yet so I had to get tested, which turned out to be horrendous! Not the test itself but the aftermath.. I planned my covid test 2 days before our trip as you have 48 hours. However, fastforward to the day of our departure: our plane got delayed! And not just by a little but we had to wait for hours! Which brings me to my problem: the validity of my covid test. So I was kinda shitting my pants the whole day as I was afraid I’d get in trouble in Italy. When we finally landed, I had 30 minutes before my test would surpass its 48 hours. So I told my boyfriend that when we got off the plane, I would run to the nearest person who could scan my QR code. I ran around the airport like a crazy person but no-one even batted an eye. No-one checked my QR code.. I was pissed and relieved at the same time! Relieved that everything turned out alright. Pissed because I had been so stressed for nothing! Well, we were in Italy. So I was a happy kid regardless.
Pisa
Our first stop was Pisa. I had been to Pisa many years before with my parents and my boyfriend. I didn’t like it back then as it was way too hot and way too crowded. So, I didn’t really have any expectations of Pisa. However, Pisa really surprised me! It wasn’t crowded at all, which was probably due to covid. But it was wonderful! I loved wandering around its streets and of course we visited the leaning tower of Pisa. We didn’t make a cliché photo though, haha! We also enjoyed some good food here! Two of my favorite restaurants were: Vasari, where I had a wonderful truffle pasta and Antica Bottega di Pisa, where I had an amazing pizza! We also stayed at a great hotel near the train station, so very central. The rooms were nice and spacious and you could enjoy a good breakfast on their terrace.
Lucca
We did a day trip to Lucca, a smaller town near Pisa. We went here by train as it was easy and closeby. It was really hot in Lucca so we took it slow. Unlike some other tourists.. We saw an arguing family plodding up a hill on a family bike. The dad was sweating like crazy and the children were not pedaling at all. Didn’t look like they had any fun. When you walk into the city center of Lucca, you pass its old walls that surround the whole city. We wandered around the city and enjoyed a very tasty lunch at Caffè Manon Lescaut. Furthermore, we visited the Palazzo Pfanner and Duomo di Lucca. We finished our afternoon with some nice cocktails at the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro.
Cinque terre
A bit off route, but I really wanted to visit Cinque terre and I think there wouldn’t be a better opportunity than now as it would be a little less crowded due to covid. I must say, it was still pretty crowded. Don’t even want to imagine what it normally would be like. Traveling from Pisa to Cinque terre was quite easy. We took a train to La Spezia and from there you can take the the Cinque Terre Express train. You can also walk between the 5 villages. There is a path connecting them all. It is a total of 12 kilometers long. It is definitely recommended to walk parts of this path. You walk along the coastline and you can enjoy a beautiful view of the villages, the mountains and the sea. It’ll cost you 7,50 per person. We walked a bit of the path between Manarola and Vernazza. It was so gorgeous! If you want to see the breathtaking viewpoints you see on Pinterest and Instagram, you can find them on the trail! And you don’t even have to walk too far to get there!
San Gimignano
was time to pick up our rental car and drive to the smaller villages in Tuscany. We rented our car through Centauro. Great service and you can take an all risk insurance so you won’t get charged for any damages at all. We drove to San Gimignano where stayed in an amazing bed and breakfast. If you are staying in San Gimignano, stay here! I promise you, you’ll have one of the best views ever! The doors of your room open directly on their terrace and the breakfast is simply divine! We loved our stay here. San Gimignano was a cute little village. If you like raw meat, we had a sublime dinner at Risto Macelleria I Piaceri Della Carne. My boyfriend found this restaurant and it was exquisite! On our second day we booked a wine tasting at Tenuta Torciano. This was probably the best day of our roadtrip, haha! We tasted 8 wines and had a 3 course lunch. They give you a tour of their property and will tell you all about their wines while you are tasting them. The location was gorgeous, the wine delicious and the food amazing! However, you do have to think about how to get there.. We traveled by car, fortunately it was a 10 minute drive from our B&B but my boyfriend did drink a whole bottle of water before we left.
Volterra
We made a little stop at Volterra, where we stayed at an amazing hotel in the city center. The rooms were gorgeous and their staff was super kind and helpful! Only thing we had to be careful about was not driving into the ZTL, as you get a big ass fine if you do! ZTL means “Zona a Traffico Limitato”. Most city center areas in cities like Volterra are ZTL so no cars will enter. We wandered around the city, visited the museo Etrusco Guarnacci, where you will find all kinds of Etruscan objects and sarcophagi. Pretty cool if you like history! Volterra is a village on a hill so you’ll have a number of places on the outskirts of the city where you can admire the typical Tuscan hills, the views are sublime! There are many more impressive sights te visit, like: the Roman theatre, the Acropoli Etrusca and the Cisterna Romana. All worth a visit if you are a little history nerd like I am! In the evening we ate some very tasty pasta at il Sacco Fiorentino.
Siena
We continued our trip to Siena, where our hotel was a little out of the city center. This would not have been a problem, were it not that our room was not ready yet at 14:00 when we should’ve been able to check in. It was super hot and we just wanted to rest for a bit. They told us our room would be ready in around an hour or so. So we decided to wait as the hotel had a nice and large garden. After an hour it became apparent that our room was far from ready. They told us to “just go into town”, which was a 30 minute walk and it was 36 degrees. So we did as we got sick of waiting around. We were pretty annoyed that we had to wait so long to check in, when check in was actually at 14:00. The garden and pool were nice though.
We really enjoyed Siena! We decided to go for a nice lunch at il Vinaio, we enjoyed some cold cuts and a good white wine. Siena is a gorgeous city with in its centre the Piazza del Campo, which is the beautiful main square. In the evening it was very lively here, with many people sitting on the square, drinking, eating and having fun with friends. When in Siena you must also visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta! This church is really breathtakingly pretty. We accidentally chose a bit more expensive restaurant but boy, that did not disappoint! The food was so good and the service was impeccable. We were offered a free aperitif to start with. That was followed by some little appetizer, which was also super tasty. And we topped it of with some delicious pasta! I think the photos speak for themselves.
Pienza, San Quirico D’Orcia, Montepulciano, Monticchiello and Bagno Vignoni
We visited all these places while staying at a wonderful agriturismo near Pienza! I definitely recommend this place as the breakfast is sublime, the garden is beautiful and very spacious and it has a little wellness! due to covid you could only use it one room at a time. I really liked that as it made me think we had a private wellness!
So from here, we visited Pienza, San Quirico D’Orcia, Montepulciano, Monticchiello and Bagno Vignoni. These are very pretty medieval little villages. If you want to get around in this area, you definitely need to rent a car, otherwise it is impossible to visit these places. We decided to visit Pienza during the sunrise for some really cool drone footage above this little town. Getting up that early was definitely worth it, it was gorgeous. We also went on the hunt for “cipressi”. These are those typical trees you see on all Tuscan photos. I really wanted a romantic photo of us with those trees! So my boyfriend was kind enough to try and find a nice street with cipressi for me. Glad to say: we succeeded! I’d like to mention that I really liked visiting Bagno Vignoni as it has these hot thermal baths in its centre! We had a nice romantic dinner at a lovely restaurant overlooking these natural thermal spring waters. A less nice experience was visiting Monticchiello, the town is absolutely beautiful and the views are to die for! However, the restaurant we had dinner at was just horrendous. The food was good not great, well, the food they had.. The service however, was horrible! They ran out of almost everything and it was only 21:00? What Italian restaurant runs out of mozzarella? They didn’t check that we had a reservation and nobody dared to serve us and actively avoided us because we spoke English. The waitress finally wanted to come talk to us when my boyfriend told her that I could speak Italian. We had to change our orders a few times, as they didn’t have anything. On top of that, they forgot my boyfriends order. So he got his food around 22:30. Not a great experience. Fortunately, on our last night in Pienza we did enjoy an amazing dinner with some good cocktails at Idyllium. They serve amazing small dishes, which you can share and they have really tasty cocktails. It’s a modern place with a beautiful view of the Tuscan landscape!
Perugia and Lago di Trasimeno
We went back to where it all began for me! In august 2015 I moved to Italy and I started this adventure in Perugia, where I did an intensive language course. My boyfriend never came to visit me here as I only stayed there for 4 weeks before moving to Milano. So I had a blast showing him around. Where I had lived, where I’d go for groceries, where we would go out, my university, etc. Perugia is a gorgeous town on a hill with some great views. The Piazza IV Novembre is Perugia’s main square and houses the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo. My old apartment used to be just behind the church! It was really nice to be back. After an afternoon in Perugia we decided we wanted to go for a swim so we drove to lago di Trasimeno, a lake close to Perugia. Definitely worth a visit if you want to relax for a bit.
Firenze
We finished our trip in Firenze, where we stayed at a b&b in the city center! This b&b was perfectly situated. It had a rooftop terrace (as the name implies) where you have the best view in town! You can see the Duomo up close. It was majestic! On the terrace you’ll find tables and chairs so that you can enjoy a drink or some food while being mesmerized by the view. We really loved Firenze. Walking along the Arno river and crossing the ponte vecchio. Another notable place to visit is the Piazza della Signoria. Here you can stroll around while you’ll be able to see the Palazzo Vecchio. Furthermore, this square is filled with gorgeous statues so there is plenty to see! Our first evening in Firenze, we made a little mistake while dining at culinaria de gustibus bistro. Don’t get me wrong, the food was impeccably good but we both ordered fish and we chose a white wine to go with it. When the waiter came back and told us that unfortantely the wine we chose was no longer available, we had to choose something else. Unaware of the fact that we ordered fish, we went with a red wine.. The waiter looked confused and said “that’s a red wine?”. We responded with “yes, we know!”. We only realised our mistake when we were already drinking the wine and the food arrived. We looked at each other and both laughed. Well, the wine and food were really good so wo cares! We found another amazing lunch spot the next day at le volpi e l’uva. We ordered some cold cuts, crostone and wine. What more could we have asked for?! Our last dinner in Firenze was wisely chosen, we were kinda sad that we had to sit inside as it had no terrace but the food totally made up for that! We had a wonderful last dinner at Coquinarius. We already reminisced about our trip and talked about future trips. I’m always a bit sad to go home again but that just means that I had a lot of fun. Onto the next adventure!
