Lubertadventure: Santa Fiora - The Whole Family!

Miss here, guest blogging for Dad about our adventures at the farmhouse in Santa Fiora, Italy. Not totally sure what I was expecting when I thought about us going to a farmhouse in Tuscany, but for some reason I was not fully expecting a farm. Well, it is definitely a farm! We had horses, sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, hens, roosters, ducks, dogs, cats and even a peacock! We were put to task on the first day learning how to feed the animals. The kids loved it and were dutiful helpers every night.

There is a pool with a gorgeous view of the mountains. All I can say is thank goodness for that pool! The kids were in there about 3 times a day and loved every minute of it.

Santa Fiora is a great place to stay for many reasons. One is that it is close enough to a number of the major cities you would want to visit like Florence, Sienna and Assisi. Geoff and Joce took on Florence and Sienna, while Mom, Dad and I explored the beautiful Assisi.

The second reason that Santa Fiora is great, is because you really are in the heart of Italy and you have to try and learn some Italian to get by (if you don't, you will end up with 8 massive t-bone steaks from the butcher, when all you want is 4). My Italian is still nowhere near decent (Dad's is getting really good), but at least I picked-up a couple of key words.

The third reason we all loved and appreciated were the people that owned the farmhouse: Corrina and Sandro. They were incredibly nice and invited us to events in the town. Dad even got to participate in a talent competition (He played guitar and sang After Midnight) and was given a medal for his stellar performance. He was honestly the only person to get the town on its feet clapping and singing along with him. There was also a medieval event that was mainly cancelled due to rain and thunderstorms, but at least Kingston and Mia got to see a mock sword fight the night before.

Corrina and Sandro also helped us to plan a fantastic birthday dinner night by introducing us to Albertina. Albertina is a true Italian Nona in her late sixties, who doesn't speak a lick of English. She showed us how to make pasta from scratch and let us roll and cut the flour, eggs and olive oil into tagliatelle for an authentic pasta with bolognese sauce. She also whipped up for us bruschetta, another pasta with gorgonzola, zucchini in a white wine and olive oil sauce, veal scallopini and a caprese salad. I think I made it through the bruschetta and the first pasta...so much food, but so good! Albertina, Sandro and Corrina enjoyed the feast with us and we had a wonderful celebration. Dad broke out the guitar and we all had a good sing-a-long into the night.

A lot of this trip has revolved around food. One of the nicest meals and views we had by far was in Montenero D'Orcia at a restaurant called Antica Fattoria Del Grottaione. We had an epic last Sunday brunch with great food, great wine and the most spectacular view overlooking other hilltop towns. They served only one Italian beer that is about 10% booze. When you have it in the restaurant it is about $10 Euros. The bottle is extremely nice, but we found out the hard way that it is another $10 Euros for the bottle if you want to take it home, making them a pricey $20 Euros. Good thing we only bought 2 for the road :).

Unfortunately for me, a couple of days before we had to go, I came down with a really bad summer cold. It meant missing Geoff, Joce and the G-kids' last dinner and the drive to Cinqueterre was just lovely. Even though the ending wasn't the best, I will remember Santa Fiora and the farmhouse as a great experience and will especially appreciate the time I got to spend getting to know the G-kids even better.