Day 7 - Tuscan Countryside

Mom and Dad With the Fiat

Day 7 was another busy travel day.  After a late breakfast, we picked up our rental car, a blue Fiat Bravo, and began the drive out to the Tuscan countryside.  Originally, Avis wanted to give us a Ford Kuga, because we are American, but we decided we wanted to drive what the natives drive, Fiats. Also, on our last trip abroad we learned that it is smart to rent the absolutely smallest car you will fit in - because the streets and the parking spots will not accommodate anything larger.  We also decided to go for the optional GPS (a good decision) and even paid extra for the English version, but honestly, the language did not make much difference because we had trouble making heads-or-tails of anything it said. After a while, we understood that is because in the countryside, the streets have names that are the equivalent of "the provincial road that travels between Firenze Lucca and Pisa and then goes on to Rome."  After only a little directional confusion, we made it to out of Florence and were on our way to Malborghetto, a lovely restaurant where we had lunch.

Dad and I Walking Through the Cemetery

On the way to the restaurant, we stopped at an America World War II cemetery.  Before we drove past it, we did not even know that there were any American cemeteries in Italy, but 15,000 Americans killed in the Florence area are buried there and  it is definitely just as moving and interesting as the more famous World War II cemetery in Normandy, which we saw on our trip to France.

Mom and Dad in front of Malborghetto

Our lunch at Malborghetto was a highlight.  The restaurant was hidden down a small road, further off the beaten track than we already were, which just added to its charm.  After our experience with pear ravioli in Florence, we decided that we had to try it when we saw it on the menu, and while it was not quite as good as what we had eaten the day before, it was still made for a delicious meal.  Given that there was not a gelato shop in the area that we knew of, we decided to indulge in dessert at the restaurant.  I had a molten chocolate cake with vanilla gelato, but the mint gelato, in Mom's Gelato Misto, was the best mint gelato I have eaten.

As we were finished a half dozen people came in that appeared to be part of a group tour and they were served a fixed menu.  We think they may still be there eating as the antipasto each of them was served was immense (and delicious looking).  They also teach a cooking class at the restaurant and we were kind of sorry we didn't have time to take it.

The Garden and Pool Area at Our Hotel

After lunch, we continued our drive out to our hotel, Villa Sassolini, a tiny hotel in a country home that dates back to the 15th century.  The hotel is beautiful, with breathtaking views of the countryside and a wonderful pool.  After our usual afternoon nap, we headed downstairs for dinner in our hotel.  While dinner was good it was not our most memorable meal.  With dinner complete we headed back up to our room and looked forward to what would be our last non-travel day of the trip.