Where's this Tuscan Sun I've Heard About?

On our first full day in Tuscany, I woke up early and went out to explore while Jim slept in. I started walking behind our little abode in an olive grove. The trail turned into an old overgrown farm road that went straight up a steep hill. I ended up getting to a main dirt road which took me to the castle ruins we had seen the night before. I was surprised to see that people were living among the castle ruins. They had simply built houses using some of the remaining walls of the old castle.

On the way back to our apartment, I had a bit of a scare. I heard a noise in the forest and expected to see a few deer. However, I was quite surprised when I found myself right near a family of wild boars and heard the large male let out a low squeling growl.

Our plan for the day was initially to go for a ride and then head to Urbino. However, after breakfast it started to pour. We went to the main house to use the internet and check the distances to the towns we planned to visit. We quickly scrapped Urbino after discovering that it was over 2 hours away.

We settled on a visit to Cortona which was the locale for the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun”. As we drove up to the town, we couldn’t help wonder where this Tuscan sun was as the rain had still not let up.

Our first priority was lunch. We at a Rick Steve’s recommendation – Trattoria La Grotto. It was located down a narrow alley and was packed for 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon. We had a great meal there with lots of truffles. I had the best bruschetta of my life there and my pasta dish was covered in truffles. Due to the rain, we were in no hurry to get back outside and enjoyed a long leisurely lunch.

The sights to see in Cortona were mainly churches and really just the town itself. The main church, Santa Margarita, was of course at the top of the town up an incredibly steep street.

After wandering around Cortona for a few hours we headed back home.
Thankfully back at Tenuta di Lupinari the rain had stopped and the roads were dry so we went out for an evening ride.