14. Tuscan bliss, Chianti, Siena and the Giro d'Italia

A major aim of our time in Italy was to enjoy the culture, the wine, the lifestyle, and of course to follow the Giro d Italia Cycling. When Dickey was able to confirm accessibility ** and book at La Pressura Agritorismo farm we were beyond excited, what a lucky find! We had two weeks staying in a 16th century farm house surrounded by olives and vineyards which produced one of the regions famous Chianti Classicos'. It was going to be bliss!!





When we turned in to the steep drive we were lost for words. The buildings were just gorgeous, the olive groves and vine's seemed to go on forever and the sun starting to drop low over the hills made it all seem a bit surreal. Checking in we met our lovely host, Carlotta and she presented us each with our first glass of Chianti Classico. We had grins from ear to ear! Even though we were only 10 km from Florence, it felt luxuriously remote. Our nearest town was Strada in Chianti and while there was a handful of tiny shops and a mini supermarket it was a sleepy village and over the two weeks we rarely managed to get the opening times right.

Our first full day at the Villa was just as holidays should be, totally relaxing. I took myself off for a run along one of the olive grove trails, finding myself crossing fields, tackling some of the many hills and then suddenly in a tiny, very traditional looking village. Ironically, we never found that village again on our many random driving adventures around Tuscany so I still have no idea of its name or where it actually was located if you took roads rather than goat trails! We had hoped for sunshine and pool weather, but it was somewhat average and we spent a large part of the day watching the Giro di Italia on the television, with all the commentary in Italian. A definite learning experience that made us even more excited for our days ahead watching the riders live!

Our first attempt to see the cycling was driving towards Foligno for the end of Stage 7. According to google maps it was a mere two hour drive from the villa, so we were up and on our way at a reasonable morning hour. Two hours in, after many winding single lane roads it became apparent we were not even half way there, so the plan was changed and given we were so close to Siena we pointed ourselves there instead. Siena is just magical and really does live up to the stories. It is a stunning, hilly village with cobbles and towering brick buildings. There was plenty of me pushing Dickey up hills and him having the joy of flying down them propped on his back wheels and scaring the other tourists! To see it all in the 'flesh' was just fantastic and the realization that the Piazza del Campo, site of the famed Palio horse race was actually quite small was incredible. The village is set down in the valley which adds to its allure and as we wandered the streets away from the main tourist squares it was evident that it is still very much a functioning town, that is inundated with tourists on a daily basis.

  Siena!

As we wandered along the top of some old city walls we could see the clouds getting darker and before we knew it we were rushing for the shelter of an old tunnel just as the rain started to pour down. The storm was just brilliant, and it turned out to be the first of many Tuscan storms we experienced. There was heavy rain, thunder, lighting and so much hail!! The roads were flooded, then an hour later the sun was out. Not dissimilar to Melbourne weather really!


Our driving adventures through Tuscany were entertaining. We had declined the GPS, had no phone service or google maps and had decided to go old school and buy a paper map of Italy. This was all well and good until we discovered not all roads had made it on to the map and that Dickey, whilst adept at reading a Melways wasn't quite as good at navigating us through Italy. Despite this we always found our way, eventually. We always took wrong turns on every journey and we most certainly saw some beautiful country side, tackled some very narrow challenging roads in a 4 cylinder ford focus and saw parts of Tuscany others tourists may have missed. Radda in Chianti was one of these lucky finds and perched on the hill tops it was one very Giro excited village! Everything was pink, the official color of the Giro: streamers, flags, clothing. It was brilliant to see such excitement after not even being able to find a cafe with a TV to get Giro updates in Siena. It was late Friday afternoon when we found Radda and the locals were busy setting up displays and decorations. Sundays time trial stage was to start in Radda and finish in Greve in Chianti, a village close to La Pressura. What luck for us!

Stage 8 was our most successful day of viewing the Giro, and not just because we actually made it. One of the other challenges of driving in Italy is the joke the road signage plays on you. For anyone that has tried to navigate Italian roads you may remember arriving at a junction only to find arrows pointing two or three different directions for the same town. Despite causing high levels of confusion it did give us a great deal of joy and celebration every time we managed to make it to our desired location. It was like defying the odds!

Arezzo was a fantastic stage for the spectators. It circled the walled city, came up to the peak of the town, headed back out ONTO GRAVEL ROADS for a 25km loop and then came back through the peak for the sprint finish. Our viewing spot was total rock star and we had ourselves on a bend, 200m from the finish line. Thankfully our possie was well worth it because it had involved pushing Dickey up an incredibly steep 300m long road. We must have looked a site and were grateful to the kind Italian man who helped push the last 50m!!

We were that close to the action in Stage 8 of the Giro!

The Arezzo crowd was pumping and was building up hours before the riders were due to arrive. Being famous for jousting there was an entertaining medieval band march up the finish chute, followed by the sponsor vehicles and some lycra clad dancers. An interesting entertainment combo! Amongst the crowd we met a lovely English couple who have spent the last 10 years following the Giro around. Being big sports fans Linda and Gerry also follow the Tour de France, Rugby and the Cricket around the world. We had such fun meeting them, were inspired no end by their travelling stories and were glad to run into them at later Giro stages. It was a magical day in the sun, watching the entire race stage on the big screen from our perfect vantage point, then live as they looped past. Five hours went by so fast and we were experiencing exactly what we had hoped for our trip!

Bambrilla the pink jersey rider

Our final local stage of the Giro was the hilly individual time trail from Radda to Greve. Being so close to our villa but with the worry of the roads being closed we arrived early to secure a park close to town. With plenty of time to kill and an abundance of wine bars we set ourselves up at Falorni Butcher and Wine Shop for breakfast Proseccos and a days wine tasting card. Why not, we were on holidays!
The sun was stunning as we found our selves a possie near the final bend, a big screen, shade and a gelato bar. The stage was 40.5km of hills and the riders were flying. The lower placed riders started first and left around 60 seconds apart over the next few hours. Just like the day before the clouds started to roll in, and before we knew it the rain was pouring down! There were spectators scrambling for cover, while we smiled as only prepared Melbournites who are used to erratic weather can, from our pre-planned shadey/ sheltered spot! There were riders slipping out on the tight final bends and times were slowing as the wind joined the rain. The eventual stage winner was not surprisingly one of the early, lower ranked starters who clocked a time of just on 54 minutes for the 40.5km's!

My rockstar in the finish chute!

Our first few days in Chianti were nothing short of blissful happiness. We were beside ourselves with excitement (or at least I was outwardly, I'm sure Dickey was on the inside!) getting to see the Giro live and experience so many awesome Italian villages already. This was exactly what we had come for.

Tuscany Wed 11/5 - Tue 24/5

Accessibly footnote **
While we loved our time at La Pressura it must be noted that it is better termed as 'semi-accessible'. The shower chair was a green garden chair and there were no rails in the bathroom. We had a fully accessible kitchen but many of the cupboards were out of reach from the chair. It was fantastic and the location was everything we hoped for, but it is important to note that it is best suited for travel with a partner/ companion and for someone quite mobile and adaptable.