Venice to Toscana

Saturday, September 19, 2015
Rosano, Tuscany, Italy
We got up fairly early, for us at least, feeling a bit tired from staying up so late into the morning. We had our breakfast at the hotel and ate out on the patio as it was another nice day. Although surrounded by water, the temperatures by mid-morning were reaching 20 Celsius, so quite nice. There weren't nearly as many people wandering around as the previous day, not sure if that was because we were between cruise ships. One thing that was back out in full force was the pigeons. There were hundreds of them everywhere, but there was constantly about a dozen that were walking among the tables on the patio just waiting for the patrons to get up leaving a plate behind. At the table beside a woman came to the table and put down a plate of food, having forgotten something she went back inside and within seconds after rising several pigeons jumped on the table eating what was there. A few minutes later she came back and by then the waitress had shooed them away. We suggested she may want to abandon her plate and go get another.

It had neared check out time so we went back to the room, gathered our things and checked out . Initially we were thinking to take a water taxi back to the Piazzale Roma as there would be just the two of us without the crowding but the cost was 65EU, which was a bit too much to swallow given the Vaporetto was 15EU for both of us and we could catch one directly on the water in front of the hotel. We had wanted to take the indirect route through the Grand Canal but we ended up on a platform for the direct route, which was fine as there were less stops and less jostling and pushing around by the crowd.

Within 20 minutes we were at the Piazzale Roma stop and were conveniently dropped off right behind the building that housed the only parking in Venice and was also where the car rental agencies were located. We climbed a few flights of stairs to get to street level, me doing the bag carrying and Connie providing moral support. Once I sorted out which rental agency we had pre-booked with, we had the car in a short while later. They didn’t have the Fiat 500L that we had booked so they gave us a free upgrade to an Alfa Romeo Guilletta that turned out to be a very nice little car with a gutsy 2 liter diesel and a 6 speed . While we waited for the car Connie went to find some refreshments and by the time she returned I had the car all packed up and ready to go.

Niccolo, the proprietor of the villa we had pre-booked online, emailed us the day before asking if we would mind arriving earlier than the 7 pm check-in as they had a family wedding to attend, so instead of taking the longer twisting back roads route over the mountains that lay between Venice and Florence, we took the more direct AutoStratta. This route still took us through the mountains albeit mostly through tunnels. That said, we did see some wonderful country and were surprised by mountainous country around us as we had a picture of Tuscany being lower rolling hills in our minds. All in all it took just over 2 and a half hours to get to Firenze (Florence) and we rolled up to the villa by 2:45pm. The Alfa by then had only sipped on a less than a quarter of a tank…amazing.

The final stretch from Firenze to the villa was through the town of Rosano and up a twisting road to close to the top of a hill . The villa was exactly as it showed in the pictures we saw online, a fantastic rustic ranch near the top a hill, complete with horses, an outdoor jump arena and a hillside of olive trees. I won’t do a disservice of trying to describe it, just see the pictures attached for yourselves.

We knew we had a few hours before Steve, Lori, Bubba and Tracy would arrive, so we brought our bags in, took our choice of room and then headed to the little deli store in Rosano. As the selection was limited to some excellent choices of meats and cheeses, we knew we needed more than just this, so we went into the larger town of Pontassieve where there was a large grocery store. By now we were getting texts from Tracy that they were just an hour away so we picked up what we needed for the next couple of days and then headed back to await their arrival. They had a bit of trouble finding the villa with their GPS that kept running them around in circles, but they finally made it.

With the arrival of the rest of the gang, it wasn’t long before the wine was cracked and the rejoicing began. We got all the bags settled in and then we went to the little deli store in Rosano, where after 7:30pm the store closed down and the restaurant opened up. Luckily we were able to talk the person in the shop into selling us some meats from the deli before going into the restaurant. Then we sat down for a nice Tuscan feed, which was not without its challenges as the staff couldn’t speaka da Engliso and we couldn’t speaka d’Italiano. Connie ordered a Lemon Soda, which she even pronounced with an Italian accent and added a couple of "o's" in there for good measure. In the end the server said, "Oh, you want a Lemon Soda", which he said exactly the way Connie first said it. Ugh...face palm! Finally, between hand gestures and much back and forthing we got our order in. Getting our order in didn’t equate to actually getting our food. That was another range of waiting and asking and hand gestures and pleading and then almost giving uping. After what seemed like an eternity, we got our food…well most of us. Lori’s beef dinner never made it. We had to reorder that and then she ate while we drank…more. Then all six of us piled back into the Fiat 500L, which seated 5 and one in the trunk (that would be me), and made the rip back to the villa.

Back at the villa we got back into the wine and met up with the English couple that had just arrived and were renting one of the two neighboring apartments in the villa. They were wine-less, so we invited them to join us and we continued on until 2:30am when all the wine was gone.
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Comments

wanda mcclure
2015-09-22

The villa looks really great and interesting, love the surrounding area

Janice & David
2015-09-22

Hey buds!
So very happy to hear of this new adventure for you all! You know we are with you in spirit and trust a very fulfilling vacation of amazing experiences: sights, tastes, smells, and sounds
Luv, hugs, kisses to our favorite peeps - missing you all terribly!

Herb! Can't get enough - feeling it all vicariously through this blog
My cheeks are hurting with the perma-smile stuck on my face each time I read a new entry from you, my dear friend
KEEP THEM COMING! XOXO

2025-02-08

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