Sadly, our stay in Venice has ended. We have loved it here and have so many amazing memories – our wedding, Carnevale, Burano, and so many wonderful restaurants and boat rides.

But we are moving on to Tuscany. We decided that Venice was our “wedding trip,” so Tuscany is our honeymoon – or “luna de miel” in Italian. So we set out on the first day of our honeymoon. We rented a car and drove through the hills, mountains, tunnels, and fog to Toscana. We even stopped at a truckstop for lunch – I have to say, they have very good food and very impressive shopping!

Montepulciano

We are in the little hill town of Montepulciano, which is about an hour past Florence toward Rome, kind of near Cortona, which is where “Under the Tuscan Sun” was filmed. We chose it because our favorite wine at the Annapolis wine store is $7 Montepulciano. We figured if the cheaper wine is that good, we couldn’t go wrong. Plus we read that it is a good base to see wineries and hill towns.

We rented an apartment within the city walls directly from the owner via TripAdvisor. Our host is Luca, who met us outside the walls and had us follow him up and down very steep and narrow winding switchbacks to our door, so we could drop off luggage. And then back down the same winding switchbacks to where the non-residents can park below. (Frank did a very good job in some very tight spots – although we aren’t sure we’ll ever find the car again.)

Here are pictures of our street and front door –

Casa Montepulciano

Our apartment has a main living room / kitchen and master bedroom with a king bed. It overlooks one of the fortified city walls. It is windy and chilly here, so feels super cozy to be so tucked in. And we are spoiled. It has two bathrooms (so Frank and I each have our own) and a second small bedroom that we are using for suitcases / dressing.  Pictures are below.

Luca is also a sommelier and passionate about wines and food. He had lots of ideas for our stay in the area and places to eat. We took one of his suggestions last night and visited an enoteca (wine bar) that serves local Montepulciano Nobile wine by the glass. It also specializes in hamburgers! But these are hamburgers made with the same Chianina beef that makes Florentine steaks so famous, cooked rare, with truffle pecorino cheese. Heavenly.

So – we think we’re going to like it here and are having a fabulous honeymoon so far!

Love, Christy & Frank