A Day Trip to Florence, Tuscany

So we set out for Florence for the day. It was about an hour drive from Casa Cornacchi. We decided to navigate ourselves to Piazzale Michaelangelo to park and get started. I chose this location because it was not in the center of Florence, it has FREE parking, it offered amazing views of the city and it offered bus service into the historic, old center of Florence. I am not usually a fan of any type of bus tour, but since we were only going to be there for the day and my mom can't handle all the walking, we decided on a Hop On Hop Off bus tour around town. Little did I know this would be such a big hit with my son. He still talks about riding on top of the big red bus in Italy. He loved riding on top and they allowed us to bring our stroller on the bus making it easy to navigate with a child. The cost of the bus tour for the day was 20 euros per person.

Here are the amazing views from Piazzale Michaelangelo in Florence:

Once on the bus, we rode to the Tournabouni stop and then headed for Piazza Della Republica. I knew there was a carousel there that my son would love. It was a great way to start out with something I knew he would love after a car ride. Here is Piazza della Republica:

We walked from the piazza towards the Duomo. Wow...I have seen it twice before, but it is still so impressive when you see it........

After seeing the duomo, we headed for my favorite shopping spot, Mercato Centrale. We shopped for some scarves, purses, jewelry and a wallet while my little one snacked on gelato.

By now, we were getting hungry and my little one fell asleep in his stroller after a gelato snack, so we headed for lunch. We found a small restaurant and thought we would give it a try. The restaurant was called Antica Ostera Napul: Cucina Napoletana (Via Guelfa, 50129, Firenze). It offered a lunch special which consisted of a 3 course meal for only 10 euros per person! It included wine and water too in the price. What a steal for a lunch in Florence....Sounded good so we went right in with my little one sleeping in the stroller beside our table.

The meal consisted of a primi (pasta course), secondi (meat course) and a dessert course. For the primi we each tried something different: Ravioli in a Rosa Sauce, Gnocchi Bolognese and Neapolitan Risotto (risotto with peas).

We tried two things for the meat course: chicken with balsamic sauce and a veal with peppers. Both were tasty. A great lunch was followed by a nice dessert too. The staff was very nice, but did not speak much English, but that was not a problem for us as we speak some Italian. I think this was a great value for a sit down lunch in Florence and the food was very good! I recommend giving it a try.

After lunch, we got on the bus again and headed for one of our favorite piazzas, Piazza della Signoria. My little one was up and hungry, so with a slice of pizza to go, we explored the beautiful piazza and checked out the statues, gorgeous architecture and fountains. What a day!

What a way for my little one to see the art and enjoy pizza!

By now it was late afternoon and it was time to head back. We hopped back on the bus to Piazzale Michaelangelo. One at the piazzale, we enjoyed our last views of beautiful Florence and headed back to our Tuscan paradise at Casa Cornacchi for dinner.

Avignonesi Winery Tour in Tuscany

I knew we wanted to do some type of winery visit and tour, but how do I find something that would work with our 2 year old??? I searched the Internet and found wonderful reviews of Avignonesi. I looked at their website and realized they did a cellar tour followed but a sit down lunch. It sounded perfect for us. I registered online at http://www.avignonesi.it/ for the cellar tour with a 3 course lunch. They were very accommodating and provided free lunch for my son and had a highchair available for him at lunch.



Here are some views of the winery upon arrival:

We arrived at the winery and entered into the wine shop and tasting area. While waiting for the tour, we kept the little one occupied while my husband checked out all of the different wines.

We began the hour long cellar tour and visited all different areas of the cellars. We learned about the history of this ancient madre wine and how the different wines were made. The tour was insightful and the guide was knowledgeable and very willing to answer questions. Here are some various photos we took along the way:

After the nice tour, it was time for lunch. When the tour ended we were led to the terrace for the antipasti (first course) of our lunch. We snacked on antipasti overlooking the beautiful hillside while sipping on Savignon Blanc. This was the fabulous spread and scenic view....

After the antipasti, we were taken inside to the dining room. We were served a Chianti Classico wine and a delicious pasta with an artichoke sauce. Wow, was that tasty! It was served family style with a huge platter of pasta (way more than the 4 of us could possibly eat). After the pasta it was time for dessert. We were served a dessert wine along with a dessert with a liquor. They planned ahead for my little one and served him a tasty gelato cake with chocolate chips in it (liquor free of course) that he devoured. After stuffing ourselves, we returned to the wine shop and ordered some wines to be sent to our home.

Here is my little one with our wine boxes out in front of the winery:

This gives you an idea of just how tall those cypress trees really are...

Casa Cornacchi in Tuscany

After spending a few wonderful days in Venice, it was time to head for Tuscany! We picked up our rental car and headed out for our new home for the next 4 nights, Casa Cornacchi. Casa Cornacchi is located in a perfect spot in Tuscany. It is near a small town called Bucine and is about 25 minutes from Siena. It was a great home base for us to take quick, easy day trips to many surrounding towns and villages. The website is http://www.cornacchi.com/ if you want more information.

Here are some photos of the main building where the dining room is located:



Views of the lovely pool and countryside with stunning Tuscan hills!



We selected this property because they were family friendly. They offered a very nice crib for my son with nice bedding along with highchairs in the dining room. They were extremely accommodating to us traveling with a child. If we needed milk or a snack for my little one, they would go to the kitchen and get whatever we needed. They even would serve your dinner in your apartment or on your patio in case you wanted to put your little one down to bed and eat in peace in your room. They even set our table with a nice table cloth for dinner in our room. We loved the staff. Giacomo attended to our every need. Barbara provided extra assistance to us when our son fell and cut his face and had to go to the hospital for treatment. Barbara went with us to the hospital in Siena and helped us navigate the language. She even returned to the hospital with us a few days later so the physician could recheck our son's injury. Both Mama Daria and Olga in the kitchen were so kind and welcoming. Olga chatted in Italian with our son every day and played cars with him. Mama Daria was an excellent cook and we simply loved our cooking class with her. It was one of the highlights on our 16 day trip! I can't speak highly enough of Casa Cornacchi and we plan to return again soon!



This is one of my favorite photos from the trip taken right by the pool at Casa Cornacchi. It doesn't get any better than this!


They actually had REAL lemon trees all over. So incredible!

Here is my son, taking a break on the patio overlooking Tuscan hills.....

I loved the simply tasty Tuscan breakfast in the dining room each morning:

This is the view of the building across from our apartment.

Views of our apartment:

Jayden had a blast playing soccer for the first time in Italy at Casa Cornacchi:

The beautiful hillside is endless and stunning..........

More views of our beautiful apartment:

Even the bathrooms were gorgeous with beamed ceilings, stone walls and skylights.

We had a beautiful 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment. Here is one of the spacious bedrooms:

While staying there, we took advantage of them having dinner available on site a few nights. All I can say is WOW - what great food! I am 100% Italian and am a bit picky about Italian food because I like the real deal, but boy did we get the real deal. Dinners at Casa Cornacchi started with Prosecco being served on the patio and the back yard area with the other guests. We met some delightful guests staying there - some with children too. The kids played soccer on the lawn overlooking the most scenic Tuscan hillside views while we sipped on prosecco. We were then taken into the dining room for dinner. The first night we had the following menu:
Antipasti: Bruschetta (3 types) pomodoro, carmelized onions and salami.
Primi (pasta): Spinach and Cheese Ravioli in butter sauce
Secondi (meat): Chicken Cacciatore, cold potato salad with olive oil and fresh basil
Dolce (dessert): Tiramisu
Dinner the second night was:
Antipasti: Bruschetta (2 types) pomodoro and tuscan beans, served with fried eggplant slices
Primi: pasta bolognese
Secondi: BBQ sausage, ribs and pork roast with roasted potatoes with rosemary
Dolce: Tiramisu
Dinner our last night there (the night we made dinner in the cooking class) was:
Antipasti: fried potato balls, mushroom bruschetta
Primi: Pasta bolognese
Secondi: Herbed Pork Tenderloin baked in a pastry, Tuscan green beans and panzanella salad
Dolce: Pineapple upside down cake with strawberry drizzle
The hearty, tasty dinners cost about 30 euros per person and were served family style (you can have as much as you want). Wine was additional and my little one ate dinner free.