It was always a dream of Jane and I to take ourselves and our teenage daughters to Italy, it had been a promise I made well over ten years prior, that one day we'd get there and that we would enjoy the time as a family together, the history, the romance (for Jane and I anyway) the culture, the incredible Tuscan views, particularly the sunsets and of course the amazing food. It seemed for years this was never going to happen with job, family pressures, kids education and well, just the daily grind getting in the way!

Well it happened in June 2009 and to say it was "magical" would be an understatement.
We picked up a rental car in Pisa, and despite asking for a 4wd we ended up with a very nice Alfa Romeo wagon, manual, and set off for Panzano in Chianti; we had the aid of a navigation system that apparently couldn't read Italian and despite a couple of "Griswald" moments, the roundabouts were particularly funny, we made it to the driveway of Lupinati Villa and started the 1km journey down the unmade road; I said started because we got at least a quarter of the way before the road made its indelible mark on the Alfa and scraped the bottom of the car (scraped, more like took the bottom of the engine out!) and you guessed it, red warning lights started to appear on the instrument panel. Not brave enough to continue, we emptied the car, including our luggage, I reversed slowly back up the road and decided we needed to get to the nearest mechanic before we did anymore damage; trying to read a Car manual in Italian is hard enough but after checking in with the rental car company, which turned out to be futile given they couldn't understand us and we couldn't understand them, about 20 kms later we found ourselves in Greve; we found a mechanic and just as we drove into his shop, low and behold the red lights disappeared at that very moment, like there was some sort of divine intervention! Either that or the car looked at the Italian mechanic and got cold feet!. It didn't matter, the mechanic and I gestured to each other, "it's Italian" who knows why!

So off we go back to Lupinati, this time we made the girls (and Jane) walk down the hill whilst I followed their directions given the road was so rough, and despite a few more scrapes, we gently made it down the track and into the Villa and the surprise that was awaiting our arrival; one of the most beautiful Villas set in beautiful garden surrounds and in one of the best parts of Italy we've ever been to.

We settled in, it was very late afternoon, and I poured Jane and I a glass of vino; we all walked down to the pool area overlooking the Olive grove and to the most incredible Tuscan vista; the beautiful rows of vines disappearing into the horizon, a medieval tower standing guard over the hills, and a Tuscan sunset that most Tuscan visitors would understand, with the light mesmerising the valleys and the shadows slow dancing across the hills as the sun slowly disappeared; as it got darker, another surprise, like we were in a magic grotto of sorts, fire-fly's lighting our way back to the Villa and the girls just in awe of this magical place.

We made dinner that night with local produce we'd bought from the village in Panzano and talked about our event filled day, laughing as families do, our "Griswald" moments and the incredible start to our Tuscan adventure and this incredibly beautiful place. For me, that was living the dream!

Just day one in Tuscany, but a great memory like it was yesterday!

Autor

  Pete B.

Posición

  Panzano in Chianti

Categoría

  Mi familia

Fecha de Publicación

08 jul 2014 - 09:41:56

Vote  2 Votos