Florence on $85 a Day – A Room with a View

The view from the desk where I'm typing.

The last time I visited Tuscany, I was fortunate enough to stay at a cousin's villa a mile or so outside the ancient hilltop town Colle di Val d'Elsa. The guest house with three upstairs bedrooms, each with its own balcony providing sweeping views of the countryside, was surrounded by vineyards for the villa's signature wine production. The only noise my cousins and I ever heard was the soothing sound of the men calling to each other as they moved through the vineyards in the early morning; our isolation allowed plenty of time to enjoy the views over the pastures and to ponder the rationale for the towers of San Gimignano off in the distance.*

The five of us were quite content to stay on the grounds most of the time, especially because every time we ventured anywhere we promptly got lost, but we did go several times to Florence. The drive that was supposed to be 45 minutes stretched to two hours every time because we found new ways to get lost each trip. Getting lost was made more bearable by telling ourselves that we were seeing different areas of Tuscany, but, still, getting lost was always a frustration, and we were always relieved to return to our peaceful paradise where we could sit on the terrace at night watching the stars and hearing only the very occasional rustle of a wild boar in the distant woods.

David and I are not staying in the country on this trip to Florence.