So much time to kill at the airport that I just had to have a pedicure!
Old monestary windows - higher than the ceiling
View from our windows in Rome my first night
Hotel Milton Roma - an old monestary
Drive-by shot of the Colosseum
Colosseum II
Not bad from the car
It rained through the first weekend
Outside the Vatican
Rainy Vatican
The Pope speaks from the black windows
Denise having a nook moment
Chapel view from our kitchen window
Lince (Leen-chee) getting out of the rain
Vineyard view from the kitchen window
Our beautiful kitchen - we read there every morning
Our entry stairs
The vino (wine) building
La Leccia vino barrels
View to the left out our front door
La Lecchia's official Chianti sign
A mini Mercedes - and sometimes even these weren't small enough!
Chapel on the property
Castellina in Chianti
Village of Castellina in Chianti
Castellina homes
More Castellina homes
Fortress in Castellina
Stairs up to the tower - Il Gallo Nero is everywhere
Stairs II
The best thin-crust stuffed mozzarella/prosciutto/truffle pizza anywhere - and made by Michael Jackson!
These were our first “personal” pizzas
A local butcher shop sign
The coolest mosaic moth in my room
The first morning view out my bedroom window
My bedroom
My bathroom
First morning view out the bathroom window
Cool window surround and ceiling
A farm in a valley in close to the heart of Siena
A typical Siena street
Another Siena street
Stacked streets and houses - and those are people on the arch
Some of the group to the right checking out the amazing buildings
Three layers, three types of architecture
Finally blue sky!
We ate inside - the meals just kept getting better
Beautiful old arches
Chris, Michelle, Denise, and Mark laughing at the tourists paying (and waiting!) for the bathroom
Walking around the corner and seeing it was breathtaking
First view of Il Campo
Approaching Il Campo
Il Campo
A fun and vibrant place
This guy was hilarious playing jokes on unsuspecting tourists
The funniest part is that most everyone else was watching and in on it!
Torre de Mangia
Torre de Mangia and the Palazzo Pubblico
Finally some sun! Fonte Gaia in the back.
Hee hee. It takes a confident woman to pull that off.
Inside the Palazzo Pubblico
View of Torre de Mangia from inside the Piazza Pubblico
Torre View II
Archways in the Palazzo Pubblico
Michelle and Chris taking a breather
View of Il Campo from inside the palazzo
Gothic architecture
Beautiful archways
Open palazzos everywhere
Amazing...
...art...
...everywhere.
Another Siena palazzo
Cute stuffed, but freaky in real life - especially when there were three!
Chris emerging from his personal heaven
Il Duomo
People on the Facciatone (c. 1339 - never finished)
Ceiling of a side wing of Il Duomo
Amazing architecture
The cathedral dome
Pipe organ
Pipes
Gorgeous arches
Another pipe organ
Marble and fresco
Marble and stained glass
Sorry, it's just a picture on a curtain
See? At least the top is real.
The most cars we saw in the center of Siena
More blue sky and cathedral roofline
Restored section of marble
A cool spot
Back of the cathedral
Gorgeous marble was everywhere.
Arched walkway behind Il Duomo
Denise and Mark in the arched walkway
Working shutters
More restoration and steps up to Il Duomo
More restoration
Tourists
Siena view from a walkway
Motorcycles and scooters are the way to go
Siena alley
Mark, Chris, and Michelle enjoying their (full glass) vino tasting
I played around with this one since it was out of focus but such a cool place
Same here
What a difference a little sunlight makes
The courtyard. Winemaking equipment is starting to arrive.
Our driveway. You can see the village off to the right.
Village to the left, vineyard in the center out the kitchen window
Our kitchen fireplace
The living room with another fireplace
Denise and Mark's room with exposed walls
The foyer outside of the bedrooms...my room was about a mile and a half down the hall through that doorway.
My room...this time with sun
View of our patio and olive groves out my window
View of a vineyard out my window to the left
Another villa across the valley
Outdoor fireplace on the patio with a view of the olive groves and vineyard
Stairs down to the bottom floor
The bottom floor...base of the tower to the left
Full villa shot
The chapel
Adjacent building - being turned into more living space for a full B&B
The view from our parking lot
Parking lot with another wine/olive building in the background
View from the parking lot up to the courtyard
The wine and oil tasting room
Olives
Old Fiat
View out the door to the left
From left to right - wine building, chapel, office, villa, wine processing area
My bedroom and bathroom windows with the tower on the left
I did this constantly
Olive trees and path to the pool
Life-sized lizard
Our pool
Another lizard...they were everywhere
Stairs to the pool
View up the hill from the pool
Another pool view
Cactus
More cactus
Not sure what these are
Found this on a wall in an overgrown area
Same wall
Arbor in “the secret garden” - up some old stairs
More “secret garden”
A great overlook
Overlook 2
Overgrown arbor
Path in the garden
Another overlook shot
A mill/grinding stone?
I loved the doorway to a courtyard we never saw
Stairs up from the lower level
I purchased this watercolor of a vineyard in Siena from an artist there
An oil of Castellina in Chianti - purchased from a local artist
View of driveway
Lince napping
Lince napping 2
The adjacent building - always looked different with the light changes
Villa and adjacent building
Lince courtesy of Denise
Bathtime
Shrine at the entrance to the main driveway
Castello La Leccia from the driveway
Driveway
A young vineyard
The sign on the main road at the entrance to the driveway
View from the driveway
Cool clouds
More cool clouds
Beautiful skies
More driveway...it was a long one
Vineyard view from the other side of the fence
Castello La Leccia view from inside the vineyard
Castello La Leccia - vineyard view
Another vineyard view
Grapes in the sun
Vineyard row
Yum
More grapes
My next wine label pic
Grapes as the sun began to set
Driveway view
More olives
Driveway shot
Full view left to right of Castello La Leccia
Last of the sun
D and Mark at sunset poolside...does it get any better than this?
Real snails
We loved our lone pool tree
Sunset
There's a bunch so I won't be offended if you fast forward
Sunset from the arbor up at “the secret garden”
Sunset from the arbor
Sun reflections off the trees
Sunset at the end of the path
Sunset through the arbor
Pool at dusk
More sunset
Final sunset - check out the mini version in the light sphere
That amazing truffle pizza
Mark kept a great fire going Tuesday night.
A cartoon snail
Tuesday's dinner in - pasta two ways by Michelle
The harvesting begins
He's everywhere
Statue in the Greve square
Greve square
Church in Greve
Greve shopping district
A shared backyard from the overlook road in Greve
Sculpted station of the cross on the overlook road wall
Credit Union
Heaven - the wine museum with tasting stations
Tasting debit card and notes
Tasting stations are my favorite - name, tasting cost, region, cost of bottle (for purchase there) with a debit card slot to purchase a pour
He really is everywhere
Final Greve shot
Bell tower in Radda
Sunlight through the bell tower at sunset
Bell tower
A cool square in Radda
Archway in Radda
Fountain in Radda
Another old building and a working clock
I had to get one “old Italian lady in an alley” shot...
...and at least one “Italian laundry drying in an alley” shot
Valley view from Radda
Portable traffic lights...for use when you really need them?
Our first view of Florence after a harrowing, so-narrow-it-was-barely-a-street drive
Florence center - Piazza San Giovanni/Duomo
Florence Street
Poster in Enoteca Coquinarius
Tons of shopping
Said to be the “most beautiful square in Tuscany”
Piazza Della Signoria
Piazza Della Signoria - more tourists here than anywhere
Statue in the piazza
Statues in the piazza - just outside the Uffizi
Tower in the piazza
Nice pigeons
See?
David replica - a.k.a. “Dave”
Statues and tourists in the piazza
Uffizi walkway
View of tower in the piazza from the Uffizi
View of Piazza Della Signoria
Statue of Donatello outside the Uffizi
Statue of DaVinci outside the Uffizi
Statue of Galileo outside the Uffizi
Statue of Vespucci outside the Uffizi
Bridge over the Arno
Piazza Della Signoria from the Uffizi
Ponte Vecchio with its many jewelry shops
Hang on to your purses - the Vespas are coming!
Ponte Vecchio
Ponte Vecchio shops and tourists
View from the Ponte Vecchio
View of the Ponte Vecchio from the Ponte Santa Trinita
Sunset on the riverfront
Sunset through a dome
Ponte Vecchio at sunset from the Ponte Santa Trinita
Tower in San Gimignano
Had dinner here - “Four Cats”
Four Cats
San Gimignano wall
Our last morning
Bottles on the window sill
Bottles 2
Readying the equipment for winemaking
Last view of Lince napping
Lince
Last look out my window
Biker Billy begins moving the grapes
Francesco adjusting the equipment
Pulling the grapes down
Giacomo moving the stems to the trailer
Giacomo tossing the stems in the trailer
Only in Italy!
Francesco observing
Filtration equipment...hose runs to the processing building
La Leccia barrels
La Leccia barrel through the window (reflection from the stone wall outside)
Francesco, Giacomo, and coworker making adjustments
Remnants from the crushing process
Grapes after the crush
Stems in the trailer
Skins after the crush
Castellina in Chianti fountain
Castello La Leccia (other side)
Castello La Leccia
Hugo - a lunchtime visitor at Pescatore's in Ansedonia
Old building on the Ansedonia coast
Ansedonia coast - Tyrrhenian sea Meditteranean
Ansedonia coast - Tyrrhenian sea Mediterranean
1100 BC ruins
Last night's hotel in Rome - or Florida??
Denise and Mark leaving for the airport - 4:15 AM. It's officially over. :(
