Thermal Baths

These were a surprise to us.  I had no idea there were so many thermal bath towns all over Tuscany.  We visited two.  Not only is San Casciano dei Bagni a beautiful village set in magnificent landscape it also has natural thermal baths nearby.  We soaked in the 39 celsius water and enjoyed the water jets and waterfall on a rainy day.  I can tell you we were pretty relaxed when we left two hours later.  The baths at San Giovanni are much bigger than those at San Casciano with fewer jets and very salty water.  It took several days to get the coating of minerals off our skin.  I guess I should have showered right after bathing.  You should have seen my hair!

Tuscan Villages

There are big ones and little ones, well known ones and obscure ones, ones on hillsides, ones built on rocky escarpments and fortified ones.  Here is a list of the villages we visited in Tuscany.  Take your Blue Guide as it will be useful:

San Gimignano for its towers;

Pienza for its pretty location and pecorino cheese;

Montepulciano for its many boutiques and wine cellars with Etruscan ruins and the nearby Tiempo di San Badgio;

San Quirico d’Orcia because it has a great name and leads to the magnificent Val d’Orcia;

Cortona for its pretty location on top of a hill and because of the book, Under a Tuscan Sun, and the steep alleys;

San Casciano dei Bagni for its thermal baths;

Celle sul Rigo for its location and its pici (poor man’s spaghetti) and the flocks of sheep with tinkling bells around their necks;

Radicofani beacuse its stuck on top of a hill with unobstructed views in each direction, a medieval village right on a pilgrimage route;

Pitigliano because its built on a cliff;

Montelupo Fiorentino for its ceramics;

Siena for the campo, the cathedral and many other historic monuments and you can’t go to Tuscany without saying you visited Siena;

Monteriggioni because it is a well preserved fortified town;

Colle Val d’Elsa for its crystal; and,

San Giovanni for its thermal baths.

Passes

If you are budget conscience people like me then you want to save money and optimize your time.  One way to do this is to buy passes for transportation and entries into museums and galleries.  Most of these passes can be bought online before you go or when you arrive.  They are a little more expensive but you won’t have to wait in line.

In Venice as we were staying for a week, we bought the Vaporetto Pass, the Museum Pass, and the Secrets Itinerary pass.  You might consider the Chorus Pass as well if you like churches.  In Florence we bought passes for the Uffizi and Accademia.  In Rome we bought passes for the Vatican Museum (a big time saver), Borghese and Coliseum.

The Great Flood

On 4^th November 1966 after months of higher than usual rainfall the Florentine authorities decided to open a dam on the Arno River to relief pressure without warning their citizens.  The resulting flood caked thousands of artistic works with mud and debris, inundated most of the city, submnerged 12,000 cars and claimed up to one hundred lives (although accounts vary).  In the Santa Croce area where we were staying the waters reached 22 feet.



Santa Croce today



Santa Croce during the flood

Gelati

Italian ice cream is one of the culinary wonders of the world.  We would stop most afternoons to partake in a little dolce and gelato was often what we chose.  I liked all the gelati I tried however connoisseurs rave about two stores in Florence, namely Vivolo and Perche No and San Crispino in Rome.  You’ll find their addresses on the Internet.

Remember the Token

If you have travelled to France ignore this article.  Remember to take your shopping token with you to Italy.  To prevent shoppers from high-jacking the shopping carts supermarkets have a system whereby you have to place your token in the shopping cart to retrieve it from the rest.

Wine in a Plastic Bottle

Until we got up the courage (not feel like an ass) to go to the wine store (see my article on Not all Italians speak English) Marielle and I would buy local wines at the supermarket (4-5 euros the bottle).  At the liquor store you come with a clean half litre or litre plastic bottle which the store owner fills from a vat.  The variety was good and a litre cost 2 euros.  We also got to practice our Italian – un litro di vino rosso locale per favore.