A lot happened in 7 days. I’ll try to go day by day and hit the highlights!

Robert St. John takes travel groups to Italy about 6-8 weeks a year. We were fortunate enough to be able to go this October. One of Roberts Italian friends is AnnaGloria and her husband Enzo. Enzo is an olive-grower and wine producer. He owns 1300 olive trees which is just enough for his family for the year but if you stay there you have the opportunity to order some and have it shipped back to Mississippi. November is the time when they are harvesting the olives. The new oil is out and is delicious. They also own 2 villas in the Tuscany countryside of Tavarnelle. Our travel group (RSJ) of 25 Mississippians was divided into 2 villas. We loved getting to know these very fun new friends from all parts of Mississippi! The first day our train from Rome was late so AnnaGloria picked us up at the train station and we met the group for lunch. https://www.locandapietracupa.it/ It was the first of many 2 1/2 hour meals! We then went to villas https://www.castellaredesernigi.com/ and https://villailsanto.com/ and got settled. We had special music that night in the chapel next to villa – Opera! Dinner was prepared for us and the other villa at our villa. Steps 5,990

Day 2! Sheep farm. https://www.laricottadibastiano.com/Wonderful local family owned business. They milk 500 sheep twice a day to make pecorino cheese! Had a mid morning cheese tasting then off to lunch! We had an ice breaker type activity where we could all get to know each other better. Lunch at Caffe Degli Amici was yummy and also 2 hours. We ate in the gymnasium because it is a super small very local restaurant. Paolo is a passionate and welcoming chef. Then on to San Gimignano. It’s a old village in middle of Tuscany. We toured the Duomo di Gimignano basilica. Fascinating! Frescoes decorations were pictures drawn from the Bible and stories from the local saint, St Fina. It’s a medieval town with 14 towers. Dinner was at La vecchia Piazza. Great pizzas, great service and delicious dessert pizza! Steps 5,480

Day 3!

We did a morning walk through Semifonte with Marina. Semifonte was a city that was destroyed in 1202. We had breakfast at the chapel that was built in 1597. Next off to Panzono to visit Darios butcher shop and his restaurant. Dario is quite famous and very passionate! He quotes Dante and Shakespeare, has a Netflix special and is an 8th generation butcher. His philosophy is use every part of the animal and has a lot of respect for animals. We had a 2 1/2 hour lunch in the restaurant there. 🥩 After that we went to the Volpaia Chianti winery which was built in 1150. The town only has 50 residents and most are in same family. Dinner that night was at the other villa with a super special musician singing for us! Mac Macnally was in our group and played 3 songs! It was so fun and such a treat! He is very humble and unassuming. Steps 5,900

Day 4! Truffle hunting! Only 6 of us went. Enzo’s friend Roberto took us. It was most interesting! The dog sniffs and goes crazy when he smells them underground! We got 3 within an hour. They do this sport year around but only certain months you get certain types of truffles. We got 3 white ones! We then headed to Florence. We did a walking tour of Mercanto Centrale and had a fabulous lunch at Trattoria Mario Firenze. The lasagna was outstanding. Not sure what all was in the lasagna but it was very very good. Next we visited the Academia Museum with our guide. Here is the famous Michelangelo marble statue of David. It was finished in 1504 and is 17 feet tall. We had some free time to walk around Florence then off to a seafood dinner. Before dinner we stopped at Plaza de Michelangelo to see the city lights! la trattoria del Pesce is where we ate. Very interesting seafood (clams, mussels,etc)but best of all was the chocolate fish we had for dessert! Steps 16,400

5th day! Friday – We went to Corno Di Vino wineryhttps://tenutailcorno.com/our-products-en/ and had a tour, a light lunch and wine tasting. Then off to Florence! We stopped at the American Cemetery in Florence 🇺🇸 https://www.abmc.gov/Florenceand had a tour. It was really amazing and beautiful! 4,392 Americans buried there from WW2 with 1,400 missing. Highly recommend! Next on the agenda was the Uffizi museum! Whew! It’s huge and is one of the largest and most important museums with priceless Italian Renaissance art. The Medici family donated most of the pieces. Dinner was at a Tuscan steakhouse! Long day but great day! Steps 8,450

Last 2 days on next blogpost 🇮🇹 Ciao