BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Wine Where Do You Stay In Tuscany?

If you travel to Tuscany where do you stay? Do you prefer the country side or cities?

This week I review a wonderful hotel in Florence.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art21896.asp/

The best way to stay in Tuscany is: stay in a small village in the country side, you can ejoy more the Italian life style, and know more the locals.

City are too caotic!!

You are absolutely right. Many, many years ago we enjoyed the "new" agroturismo idea in travelling. To stay at working farms throughout Italy. On one trip we stayed in the building where Leonardo da Vinci's grandmother lived when she was a maid.

Agroturismo has become a much bigger business, but it's still an excellent option.

Do you have any favorite villages you would like to share?

I like the idea of staying at a farm. How fun! Is it easy to locate the farms?

We usually have about 21 people when we travel-that includes 14 kids! So we go on the internet and look for a villa or gite (in France) that has a pool. We found a wonderful place in Iano which was 15 minutes from San Giminano (sp?). It's true staying in your own villa in a small village is a wonderful way to get to know the coutry. Our favorite meals were the steaks we marinated in olive oil and fresh rosemary cut from the shrubs. Which we then cooked on the grills. Our villa even had a pizza oven! We travel one day-Lucca Florence ect then the next day relax and swim in the pool and walk around the village. Try to go when the sunflowers are out. Beautiful!!!

That's great advice. A villa or apartment is a great way to really get familiar with a country.

You can find out more about farm stays in Italy at: http://www.agriturismo.com/englisch.htm