Our last day in Tuscany, sad faces but we are excited for the next part of our trip too. So we decided to spend the morning just enjoying our surroundings. Lazed around the pool and did a little reading (not about Italy either, instead a new John Grisham novel). Gaye booked a wine tasting at a local winery. A few days before we had tried some local wine at a restaurant (where I had their steak) and really liked the house wine. It turns out this is where it come from. We had a tour through the place, saw the barrels and casks, and tried about 5 of their wines. Barbara, our host, was not stingy at all with the pouring so I was feeling no pain. Lots of fun.

Back home at our place we needed to walk off the buzz, so Beth, Gaye and I headed off for a last walk through the countryside. We walked back to that old church that I had mentioned earlier, but kept going through a path into the woods. As what always seems to happen here, when you least expect it you come across something truly amazing. Walking along we came across an ancient Romitorio (hermitage) in the forest. It is unused now, but when we walked around the stone wall to the front of it and then faced down the hill, we discovered a very long stone staircase then led to a beautiful villa down at the bottom of the hill. I'll attach some pics but I'm not sure how well they'll turn out. Turns out the villa was constructed in the 1600's and stayed in the same family until the 1970's when an English Lord bought it and restored the house and gardens. Definitely another wow moment.

Tomorrow we're up early to drive to Rome to catch a flight to Sicily.
Ciao!