Tuscan Countryside

Peter and Coy

My mom has family friends who live in the hills outside Tuscany, so we swung by their place for lunch on the way south to Pienza. Peter and Coy are living the Tuscan dream, and served us up an incredible spread in their converted farmhouse kitchen. First, though, Peter, a superstar landscape architect, poured us flutes of prosecco, then took us around the house and grounds, where they've lived for 30 years.

Lunch: To start, Coy's special figs stuffed with cheese and ham. Then, a batch of impossibly light and crisp calamari with a slice of lemon. Next, baked chicken breast wrapped around eggs and truffles. To finish, fruit and raw walnuts. They keep a big bowl of them on the kitchen table.

Truly a highlight of the trip. Thanks, Peter and Coy!!!

Agriturismo Terrapille

We drove south through the Tuscan countryside to the hillside town of Pienza, which we're using use as a base to visit Tuscany over the next five days. We are staying at Agristurismo Terrapille, a converted farmhouse. This place is postcard perfect, as evidenced by the postcards all over Pienza. That's Jen looking down the gravel road at Terrapille. I've read that there are over 4,000 of these farmhouses ("agriturismos") around the country. Although the amenities vary dramatically from place to place, some rules apparently state that the agriturismos must remain working farms, with a certain percentage of revenue coming from the land. Who knows how carefully that's policed, but our place appears legit, with olive groves and a tractor working the fields every morning. More on Tuscany later...

Our Wheels

Check out the Lancia. Europeans know how to make cool-looking small cars. This is not one of them.