The Tantalizing Tastes of Tuscany

September 28, 2024

Greetings Friends, Family, and Fellow Travelers,

We are sending out our newsletter from Milan, where we are staying two minutes away from the airport. We drove here this morning, making a quick pit stop to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This is our final evening in Europe, as we fly to Casablanca tomorrow. We’ve spent the last two weeks in Tuscany, which has been such a highlight of our trip thus far. Read on to hear more…

Agriturismo Diacceroni

When I started researching our time in Italy, I knew I wanted to visit Tuscany. Diacceroni was the one name that popped up time and again when I researched where to stay with kids, and thus it was one of the first places I booked for our family sabbatical year. Located outside of Volterra, Diacceroni is a gem in large part due to all the on-site activities offered, many of which are included with the rate of the accommodations. When we arrived, we were delighted to see that our three-bedroom apartment was right next to the playground with a large green space for running around. We have a patio and can sit out there and watch Calla play. Naturally, she quickly made friends with other children. 

Included in the weekly program at Diacceroni are three parties: The Saturday night Welcome Party, the Tuesday night Pizza Party, and the Thursday night Pasta Party. We arrived on a Saturday, checked in, and got unpacked while the kids played outside. Diacceroni has multiple properties, but as all the activities and the restaurant are on the main site, that is where we chose to stay. The Welcome Party was essentially right outside our room, with a huge buffet of Tuscan food and a DJ. We were able to purchase cocktails, juice, and local bottles of wine. After eating and heading back for seconds (and thirds), we learned that there was also a meat course! Whoops. Calla owned the dance floor – as the sun was setting, Calla danced around on her own while all the other guests sat at tables chatting. Soon, there was an announcement for “bambinis” so Calla was joined by a few other kids. She befriended another four-year-old from Malta, and they started hugging and dancing together. We basically had to drag Calla off the dance floor at 9:30pm to get her moving towards finishing her dinner and bedtime. All in all, a phenomenal start to our two weeks here.

We took advantage of several other on-site activities during our stay here, including pasta making, an introduction to beekeeping, and horseback riding. Calla also enjoyed her kids’ baking class, where she made a Nutella pie and cookies with rainbow sprinkles.

Pasta Making: I’ve made pasta several times – and taken a few classes – but I still find it an incredibly onerous process and often break the dough and/or make my pasta far too dense. This class felt luxurious since we used Italian products made right on site. We mixed our pre-portioned ingredients (3 parts 00 pasta flour, 2 parts semola flour – not semolina), added eggs, salt, and oil. Calla helped me out and immediately shattered the egg all over the place, but I admired her enthusiasm! I learned where I was going awry previously – including combining all the flour rather than using a fork to incorporate it slowly, whisking like you’re making an omelet. I also realized I need a larger cutting board and rolling pin since having space to roll out the dough is key. We learned how to make multiple shapes of pasta, including ravioli (filled with ricotta), malfatti, tagliatelle, and pappardelle. We also cut several bow ties because I think these are fun to make, though I don’t find them as fun to eat. We brought our pasta to the on-site restaurant, where it was prepared and served to us in three courses with accompanying sauces (brown butter sage, tomato, and ragu) along with wine and profiteroles for dessert. All in all, a delightful way to spend our day.

Beekeeping: Before our arrival at Diacceroni, I’d signed us up for an introduction to beekeeping. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it seemed like something in which the kids would be interested. We met the beekeeper, Stefan, on site, where he explained the process of making honey and showed us some of his equipment. We learned that he paints the queen bees (who live for four years)) a different colored dot each year so that he knows how old they are; these colors are standard issue. He also paints the boxes containing the hives so that the bees can recognize them. We sampled three types of honey, and then followed Stefan back to his farm so we could sample honey directly form the hives! After we donned beekeeper get ups to protect us from stings, we watched as Stefan expertly removed the bees from the hive, and we even got to see a baby bee being born. We sampled the honey, taking care not to eat the honeycomb, and it was the freshest, most delicious honey I’ve ever had. (Calla would say, “scrumptious!”) Then we followed Stefan to his small shop in town to pick up a jar, which we polished off in our morning yogurt over the course of several days. This activity was a hit, especially with the boys, particularly once the lecture part was over and they were able to visit the farm. 

Horseback Riding: Diacceroni has stables on site, and many horses and ponies. One of the activities they offer is an introduction to riding, and since Calla was interested I signed her up. When we saw the size of the ponies, we decided that she’d probably do fine on a horse. She practiced grooming the horse, Pluto, and was taken around the arena and then out onto the road. I was shocked they let her ride solo (i.e., without an instructor holding onto the leash…is it called a leash when it’s a horse?) but Calla just went for it. This shot I have of her on horseback outside the hills of Tuscany is one of my favorites from the entire trip thus far.

Several days later, we went for another horseback riding adventure, this time accompanied by Simon. Simon’s horse, Bully, kept stopping to eat the dress, which Simon found both hilarious and frustrating.

Cycling Adventures

I’ve long held a travel dream of cycling through the Tuscan countryside, Justin and me riding along amidst the sweeping background of rolling hills, stopping at wineries along the way. While I understood this would not be my reality - in my dream travel vision, no children accompanied us, plus there is no chance I can intersperse cycling with day drinking - it nonetheless is an image that remains idyllic to me, and I was pleased to partially realize it during this trip.

Our first cycling trip took us to San Gimignano, where we sampled gelato from Dondoli. The shop claims to make the best gelato in the world, and the lines to back it up. That said, it definitely wasn’t the best gelato we’ve had since arriving in Italy, though they offered the most unique flavors. (I had “Mango Thai” and “Italian Garden” - mango, coconut, sticky rice and basil cheesecake, strawberry sauce, tomato sauce, crumble.) Then it was time for cycling. We rode approximately eight miles through the countryside, on rocks, roads, through small villages. We saw few cars and fewer people on foot. About ¾’s of the way through, the boys were ready to stop, so they rode in the van while Justin and I (and Calla, riding along with Justin) finished out the ride At the end of our cycling journey, we were driven to a small town for lunch and wine tasting. The sommelier likened one of the red wines to a “spicy princess,” which is naturally now what we are all calling Calla.

For our second cycling trip – four days after the first – I’d been prepping the kids for a much longer ride (15 – 20 miles). We’d planned to have Simon trail with an adult as we didn’t think he’d be able to cover that much distance. When we showed up in Peccolli to meet our guides, I realized I’d somehow missed that we’d be riding on e-bikes! None of us had ever ridden an e-bike before, and suddenly the whole 15-20 miles thing made much more sense! It took some time to get used to the power on the bikes. Simon trailed with Fabrizio, one of the guides, while Calla again rode with Justin. I managed the uphills with ease, and kept my hands on the brakes for the downhills since I didn’t want to be roadkill. Naturally, Calla pretended she was on a rollercoaster and flung her hands above her head crying, “wheeee!” whenever Justin took a fast downhill.

After our 15+ mile ride, we followed Fabrizio and Julietta (the other guide) to a farm owned by Valentina, who was going to teach us how to make pizza. The five of us rolled out dough and covered our individual pizzas with sauce before Viviana put them in an epic outdoor pizza oven. The pizzas cooked for about 5-10 minutes, and then Viviana took them out so we could add cheese and basil, which the boys picked from her garden. Like good Americans, we added far too much cheese. While we waited for our pizzas to be ready, the kids played outside, and Simon took a particular liking to Viviana’s dog. Viviana served us the pizzas alongside a delicious fruit salad – including watermelon from the garden - and some red wine. She later brought out another large pizza for the adults, including one topped with capers, anchovies, and parmesan. Since I don’t like capers, I picked them off but was delighted by the tang of such a salty pizza. After having an espresso and wearing out our welcome while Simon harassed the chickens and Calla threatened to jump from high places, we headed back to Diacceroni. Upon arrival, it immediately started pouring and Justin realized he’d left the backpack at Viviana’s, so he had to drive all the way back. Despite the hiccups, we had such a great time and I have to say – cycling first and then eating and drinking? I think I’ve found my new dream.

Day Trips

Volterra: On our first full day in Tuscany, we decided to visit Volterra, a medieval town about 30 minutes from our agriturismo. It took a while to get ourselves out the door since everyone was partied out from the night before, so we didn’t make it to Volterra until around 11:30. First, we visited the museum by the Piazza dei Priori and climbed to the top of the tower for the views. Then we walked to lunch at Osteria de la Pace, and decided to wait for a table. This turned out to be quite the adventure/lesson in “Italian time,” as our “5-10 minute” wait quickly turned into ~45 minutes. While we were waiting, a spirited argument broke out, and all the staff were yelling at one another and a customer was yelling at the staff. We tried to understand what was going on and got a cursory translation from a fellow waiting guest, but it was quite the experience. When we were finally seated, the food came out fast and we were treated to tasty, traditional Tuscan/Volterran food, included a “solid soup” of tomato, bread, burrata, parmesan, and truffles.

After lunch, we visited the history museum and saw many ancient artifacts including urns, coins, and vases. We split off and Calla, Jonah, and I poked into some alabaster shops while Justin took Simon to the Roman Ruins. Volterra is known for its alabaster, and I bought Calla a pink heart necklace and myself a matching stone.

Florence: I’m not sure I’d recommend trying to tackle Florence – Renaissance art capital of the world - in just a day, but a day is what we had so a day is what we did! We drove to Pontederra (~40 mins away) to take the train to Florence, where we were delayed upon our arrival. A woman from another family told us they were going to take the tram because she thought it would be faster than waiting so we followed them. After a 10-minute walk and another 10-minute wait, we boarded the crowded tram and the kids professed that they could never live in New York City or endure such a thing again as we rode the 20 minutes into the historical city center. We walked to the Mercado Centrale, a huge two-story market, for lunch, and then headed to the carousel for a couple of spins on the horses. By then, the kids were ready to eat again, so another gelato run was in order. Next, as I’d failed to buy tickets far enough in advance, we joined a tour for our visits to the Academmia and the Duomo. When we met the guide, we were told that Calla couldn’t enter the Duomo at all, which was a surprise to us; I’d just thought she couldn’t go out on the terrace. Happily, they were able to sort everything out, and she was able to climb the 467 steps to the top and we all got to see the stunning views of the city. At the Academia, we saw many works by Michelangelo, including the David. I underestimated the size and scope of the sculpture, which was prominently placed behind ropes at the end of a large room of the artist’s other work.

When our tour was over, I picked up gelato for myself as I was the only family member who hadn’t yet eaten any, and Justin tried on cool leather jackets that he did not buy. We ate dinner at Trattoria ZaZa, which was huge and packed with tourists. I was surprised at the quality of the food, and ate some of the best eggplant parmesan I’ve ever had. We caught an 8:30pm train back to Pontederra and conked out around 10pm when we arrived back to Diacceroni. Overall, it was a really great day.

Lucca: We spontaneously decided to head to Lucca after seeing that it was supposed to rain on the day we’d initially planned to go, and subsequently ended up caught in intermittent rain showers regardless. Lucca is a small city, and we did yet another tower climb. This time, we ascended the Torre Guinigi, and were treated to a tree-covered platform at the top. We rented a family bike to circle the walls around the city, opting for “fitness” (manual) over “fun” (electric) and instantly regretted it when we realized that Simon’s feet couldn’t reach the pedals. The walls are less like walls and more like a large path you might find on a park. After riding for a while, I switched seats with Jonah (who was up front) and we instantly realized that this was the problem – the bike is primarily powered by the two people at the front! This made it much easier for us to ride around. At one point, the boys said they needed to get out to stretch their legs, so they did, and then Justin and I surprised them by quickly pedaling away as they laughed and ran to catch up. We returned out bikes and walked around some more until it was time for Calla and I took get pedicures. We headed back to Diacceroni hungry, tired, and just in time for the pizza party.

On our second to last day, we visited Tenuta Torciano, as I’d read it was a good winery to visit with kids. I’d booked us for a wine and cheese tasting, but put in the notes that our kids were unlikely to eat any of the fancy cheeses and requested something else. The winery definitely delivered! As we were sharing a room with a large party of 15 who was having lunch, the staff essentially served us all the same stuff, including pasta with parmesan for the kids, lasagna for us and Jonah, and a charcuterie platter. We sampled eight wines – including the famous Brunello – and I took a very long nap upon our return back to the Agriturismo. 

Challenges:

Lest you think this is all fun and games, the last couple of weeks have not been without challenges. I’m starting to get tired. Europe feels so manageable – we see stores we recognize and it’s been relatively easy to access the things we need. As we head into our time in Morocco, which includes 11 accommodations in 15 days, I’m feeling apprehensive about moving around so quickly with the kids in a culture that is so different from our own. But it’s more than that…being on all of the time is so hard. Calla is continues to express feeling homesick. The other day, she expressed concern that Cece’s pacifier was stuck and she couldn’t get it out of her mouth. (Cece is a doll; I let Calla know that babies are experts at spitting out pacifiers.) She also started crying out of the blue because she never got to do a puzzle at preschool that the older kids were able to do. (Justin said, “I know you’re homesick” and she said, “I’m not. I’m school sick.”) Simon is whip smart, but sitting in front of the computer to do his work is kicking up his anxiety. He struggles to work independently, and at the same time, he doesn’t always like being pushed or guided. This means that our time spent on formal schooling is often a battle, and never our preferred activity. We actually went ahead and pulled Jonah out of formal online school this week as it was clear it wasn’t going to be possible for him to sustain his coursework, so he will instead be working on independent projects and using free programs to keep up with math without the pressure of strict deadlines. Everyone feels very good about this decision, and we hope it leads to more growth and harmony for Jonah and for the rest of us. We didn’t have Wi-Fi in our apartment, which on paper seems like a small thing, but in practice has made it challenging to deal with the rhythms of life that must continue even when we are traveling. This means that in order to get any work done – including trip planning, submitting medical claims, figuring out how to send a package, helping the boys with school – we had to pack up and sit outside by the reception desk. We ended up doing Simon’s school in large chunks rather than in smaller increments, since it was harder to work the latter into our days. We also tried to work ahead in his curriculum, anticipating that doing any school in Morocco will be tricky, and are proud that he was able to sustain a more intense pace in order to make this happen. We continue to find our rhythm and be responsive to our needs only to see our rhythm and needs change. Finding routine for our kids in the context of evolving change is hard. Overall, they are (mostly) happy and we are all enjoying ourselves. I just refuse to send out a newsletter that makes it sound like everything 24/7 sunshine and roses. What we are doing is anything but easy; at the same time, I don’t think anything worth it in the long run is easy. And when all else fails, there is always more gelato. (Another perk of Diacceroni! A gelato shop a stone’s throw from our apartment.)

Justin’s Soapbox:

Our time in Italy has been almost everything we could have hoped for. We’ve continually met new people, seen new sights, and tried new (and old) amazing foods that has left us more than satisfied. I’m actually feeling very full from an excellent lasagne right now, as I write this.

We’ve recently had some good stretches of time in Bologna and Tuscany to slow down and take the days more in stride, even as we have done a number of day trips to surrounding cities. So it’s been a time of rest and reflection, though nothing is ever truly restful in our family! As we gear up for Morocco we’re preparing for a more adventurous, active mode of travel and will need to be ready to take in a lot on a daily basis. It’s a bit foreboding to think about ramping back up again, but I think we’re ready and the weeks ahead will be something truly special.

If I haven’t been writing much in these update lately, it’s largely because I don’t want to sound to repetitive. The truth is we have settled into something resembling a "mode of life" out here; meals, excursions, school lessons, correspondence, bedtimes, repeat… and it feels a bit silly to try and wring out some big important thoughts when the truth is that throughout much of the past few weeks, my main focus has been on more pedestrian concerns; things like working the kids through this spin at homeschooling we’re attempting, and trying not to overcook pasta. Of course we’ve still been doing a ton of activities, as Sara explained above per usual. And it’s not that it’s any less impactful, but rather that there are only so many words with which to relate that impact, time and again.

This was my second trip to Florence in my lifetime, my second time seeing the David. It looks just as spectacular as I remembered it, and it felt extremely special to be in the room with it again. But it was also a familiar feeling; a place I’d been to and could remember and look back on. An old impression that had already been made on me, revisited. Did that make it less special? No - and being able to share the experience with the family certainly provides an important to new angle to everything we’re doing. But there is a certain part of you that just goes, “yep, there it is, that’s it.”  There’s an instinct to fight against this and insist that you have to make every effort to see things with new eyes, and that to do any less is a disservice to the experience we’re lucky to be having. At the same time, there’s also a sense that this kind of mindset perhaps represents, in part, the kind of flow state we set out to achieve with a year of travel. At some point, it’s less about running around to every tourist site on the map and compelling ourselves to wonder, and more about the experience of doing this together as a family. It may be that we’re starting to tip into that zone, but with the big changes of Morocco ahead, who knows?

Those of you interested in a migraine update can rest assured that I’ve continued to get good care out here and saw another round of doctors who prescribed me some meds to manage the issue. The situation is still ongoing, but at the moment things are at least not significantly disruptive to the trip. Thanks to all who have expressed concern.

Jonah’s Musings:

This is by far the best place we have stayed on this entire trip. It has just about everything you could ask for; almost ( the wifi isn't the best). Other than that though, this place is incredible, Every week there is a welcome party, a pizza party and a pasta party. Not only is the food great, the place we stay at is beautiful, we  live in this little miniature house village on a huge hill. There is also a gelato place right next to our room and they have the best Nutella gelato I have ever had; in fact I think it's the best gelato I have ever had.

We've done a lot of cool things in the past week and a half, but my favorite thing that we did without question has to be the bee farm. My family thought that the bee keeper would just explain how he farmed bees, but instead he not only explained it to us, but he actually brought us to his bee farm! At the farm we put on suits so the bees couldn't sting us. We learned that different types of honey depend on the type of flower that a bee pollinates.

But the overall best part of this experience was getting to taste the honey. He cut some pieces of honeycomb, and it was amazing. It was one of the sweetest things I had ever tasted. That's all I really have to say about going to the bee farm but there is still something else that happened that day that I really want to talk about. When we were driving to the bee farm Simon and I spotted something running along a field by the river. It looked like a big husky, but then we realized it was actually a wolf! We asked the beekeeper later if there were wolves living around the area, and he said that there is a pack that lives down by the river. So that was really cool, getting to see a wolf in the wild.

Simon’s Reflection:

I want to write about our time biking in Tuscany. My family and I did biking and my bike was connected to the tour guide’s. The bikes were electric so you barely had to pedal, and I really had to barely pedal because the tour guide was doing most of it for me! And also I beat Mom in finding lizards 34 to 0. Mom was a little scared of going downhill because it went so fast. I liked it going fast! Then, we went and did this pizza making class and I played with the dog. I was really scared because I thought the dog was attacking the chickens but really its job is like being a sheepdog. Chickendog! It has to lead all the chickens back to the chicken coop.

Where we are staying, three days a week there is a party and they’re so fun. My favorite one is the pizza party because they have Nutella pizza and French fry pizza.

In Florence, I liked seeing the museums because I like seeing people look weird like with the angel halos. I also liked seeing Michelangelo’s broken nose.

Calla’s Thoughts:

I liked bike riding twice. I also liked going horseback riding and I pretty liked going to Lucca and having all those pastries and snacks. Pedicures were fun, and my mom got a long one but for course I got a short one. I also liked doing the welcome party. I danced and singed. I liked cooking my chocolate yummy pie. I’m going to go miss Italy because we’re going to Milan and Morocco, so I’m going to miss it. The end!

(Calla would also like to add that she made a friend named Matilda, and she misses her.)

Thanks for joining us for our European travels!! See you in Morocco!

xo,
Sara, Justin, Jonah, Simon, and Calla