First couple of days in Tuscany
We had two other people arriving at the villa on Saturday evening. We did some shopping in the nearby village to have something to eat once the first guests arrived. Then hubby dropped me off at the villa and went to pick up our friends at Florence airport. Once they arrived at the villa, we had a nice relaxed evening and made plans for the next day.
Scarperia village
On Sunday we had breakfast at the villa and headed out to explore a nearby village called Scarperia. Scarperia is renowned for the production of “ferri taglienti” (literally “cutting tools”: knives, blades, razors, scissors) the main craftsmanship in the area. In the historic center, you find the Palazzo dei Vicari, built in 1306, which from the 15th century was the seat of the Vicar sent by the Florentine Republic to administer a vast extension of the Mugello countryside. The Palazzo is now a museum. We visited the palace as well as the local church, the Church of the Saints Filippo and Jacopo. The church was built in 1325 by the Augustinian friars and remained their property till 1812. After visiting the sights we had a spot of lunch in the village. Before returning we did some grocery shopping in Borgo san Lorenzo.
More people arriving
After we got back to the villa, we took a dip in the pool and relaxed for a while until it was time for hubby to head out to the airport again to pick up another guest. We also had a couple friends driving in from Germany on Sunday. The people driving and hubby arrived at approximately the same time. We let our guests settle in and then took a tour of the villa and grounds. It was time for another stay-in dinner and just chilled and chatted throughout the evening. With a rather early airport pick-up on Monday morning and the people that arrived on Sunday being kind of tired so we turned in quite early.
Winery tour
I joined hubby for the early morning airport pick-up and we stopped by the grocery store on the way back. Once back at the villa it was breakfast time after which we took a refreshing dip in the pool. After some problems, I had been able to book a winery tour for Monday afternoon through Winedering at a winery called Fattoria Lavacchio. So we jumped into our two cars and headed to the winery. It was a 90-minute tour including a tasting of four wines with some cold cuts. The tour was interesting and our guide was very knowledgeable. The wines we tasted were nice and actually inspired us to buy some to take back to the villa (some even made it all the way back home with us). After the winery tour, we returned to the villa and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.
