Under The Tuscan Sun: San Galgano, Spannocchia, Scorgiano and Monteriggioni

This past weekend we had a school field trip to explore more of Tuscany. On Friday morning we took a bus to San Galgano where one of our teachers, Roberto, gave us a tour of the abandoned, roofless abbey. There were a few churches around the area that we also explored. After visiting San Galgano we took our bus to the next stop, the Spannocchia agriturismo. We hiked up the hill to get to the farm and once we were there we checked into our rooms for the night then enjoyed our “pranzo sacco”, sack lunches, that our host families made for us. I got lucky because Marco packed me two bologna sandwiches, an apple and a Kinder bar! Kinder is the equivalent to Hershey’s here in Italy and their chocolate and hazelnut bars are so good! After our lunches we got a tour of the self-sustaining, organic farm. We climbed to the top of their small castle and were able to get a great view of Tuscany! The farm itself is so beautiful, especially because all of the flowers are in bloom right now. There is a purple, droopy flower that has bloomed everywhere in Tuscany, called wisteria. It is my favorite! Later on Friday we had an aperitivo with red wine and were able to mingle with the American interns and volunteers on the farm. I talked to one girl for a while who is from the Arcadia area in Phoenix and works at one of my favorite coffee shops downtown, small world! That night for dinner we had homemade pasta with vegetables, spinach curd squares, roast beef, salad, bread and a fig and almond sponge cake for dessert. Everything was delicious! On Saturday we left the farm and headed to an estate that makes their own wine, Tenuta Bichi Borghese, in the town of Scorgiano. We had a wine tasting then ate fresh strawberries, meats, cheeses, bread with olive oil, tomato bisque and other tiny treats for lunch. We got a tour of the gorgeous property after lunch and went into their winery and through their gardens. After visiting Scorgiano we made one last stop at the medieval town of Monteriggioni. Monteriggioni is within their completely intact city wall. Shops, restaurants, a church and a few houses lie inside the wall. We got to look around for a while, eat some gelato then it was back to Siena! It was fun to be able to see more of the area around Siena this past weekend, Tuscany is so beautiful!

Here is a link to the farm we stayed at:

http://www.spannocchia.com/

Here is a link to the estate we toured:

http://www.bichiborghesi.it/

Ciao!

-Rachel