Hello! It feels good to be posting again after my little holiday from the trip in the countryside. In this post I am going to tell you all about my experience in the Italian province of Tuscany!

In the morning, we walked from our Airbnb in Bologna to Autovia Car Rental. We picked up our car, it was a Hybrid Kia Niro. We started to drive toward our accommodation, Villa Barbaiano. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called La Martellina in a small town called Santa Cristina. We all ordered porchetta (pork) sandwiches and the adults got coffee and Chianti Wine (the wine from that area) . We continued to drive and eventually got to Villa Barbaiano. Denise and I were really excited because there was supposed to be a pool there. When we got there the host said the pool was closed. We were really bummed and mad because the place advertised that the pool had been open since June 1st. The host was also very unwelcoming and the beds did not have blankets. After the host left we decided to look on Airbnb for  a place with a pool. After searching Airbnb we decided to have dinner. After dinner I looked some more on Airbnb and found a place that looked good so I saved it, and went to bed.

The next morning we went for breakfast in the closest town to Villa Barbaiano, Monte San Savino. While eating at a cafe we booked the place I had found the night before. We walked around Monte San Savino, went up the clock tower and then drove back to Villa Barbaiano to pack up before moving to a better villa. We were happy to arrive at Agriturismo Tontenano that night and the next day we planned to drive to Siena for a daytrip.

Here is the Campo (main square) in Siena. We had bought groceries and had a delicious picnic on the Campo. The Campo is shaped like a shell. Twice a year on the 2nd of July and the 16th of August, the Palio di Siena bareback horse race is held around the edges of the Campo. This  event involves all 17 districts of Siena. The winner is the horse that is first to cross the finish line after three rounds with or without its jockey. (The jockeys sometimes get thrown off). A lot of people hang out at the Campo and have picnics. We wanted to climb the tower but it was too expensive💰and it was 503 steps to the top!

On our 2nd day at Agriturismo Tontenano we went to a sheep and goat cheese farm near a town called Montalcino. We got a tour of how they milk the sheep and the goats and they showed us their sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs. The tour guide said the farm used to use Sardinian Sheep but they needed to graze far out of the farm and apparently wolves would hunt the sheep in the daytime while they were grazing far away from the farm. The farm used to have 1000 Sardinian Sheep but they have lost 500 due to wolf issues. Now the farm has invested in French Sheep that are fine with staying in the barn most of the time.  At the end of the tour they gave us  6 different cheeses to try. My favourite was the fresh goat cheese.

This is me diving into the pool at Agriturismo Tontenano. The pool was 16 x 8 metres big and ranged from 70 centimetres to 3 metres in depth. I think I might rate the Agriturismo Tontenano pool a 9 out of 10. This was my 2nd swim since Koh Chang in Thailand so I was excited to have good enough weather to swim in.

Here is the playground at Agriturismo Tontenano. The 2 ring hoops were good for doing flips. There was also ping-pong but you can’t see it in this picture because it is beside the pool. We had a great time in Tuscany and I hope I get to go again!