Italian Adventures: Exploring San Miniato
So back in September, we jetted off to Tuscany to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. We spent the first night in Florence, which you can read all about here.
And then, while strolling through the town following any route that took our interest, we found a pathway up to a tall tower above the town. After a steady climb, we arrived at the foot of the tower, known as the Rocca, to even more magnificent views than we'd already witnessed.
The little yellow building to the very left of the photo is our villa, accessed by the stunning cyprus-lined driveway towards the centre.
We then discovered you could climb the Rocca, which of course, we couldn't not do...
Only five minutes later and we were at the top of a very windy and completely empty lookout point. There seems to be something said for visiting San Miniato in mid-September - for the whole week we found ourselves surrounded by no-one other than locals.
And yes, the views then got even better.
And we couldn't pull ourselves away.
Where that little white car is in the foreground, was home to the restaurant at which we had our anniversary dinner a few nights later, and opposite, a shop selling the best gelato I've ever eaten.
Honestly, we were so in love with this car! For the duration of our trip, she was known as 'Bianca' - and we had to get some great photos with her, of course!
We then walked through the town and stumbled upon a little wine bar, 'Caffe Centrale.' Having been able to see from the road that it held the best views of all the local eateries, we stepped inside, requested a table on the balcony out the back, and sat amongst a handful of locals that were whiling away the afternoon sipping coffee or wine.
It was simply peace. In its purest, most overwhelming form. The air was fresh, the warm autumn sun was beating down upon the landscape and we felt like we had unlocked one of the earth's greatest secrets; being able to gaze upon all of that natural beauty and soak up the moment all to ourselves.
A quick run down the winding hill in the Fiat found us back at our villa and not wanting to leave the outdoors just yet. So we took our red checked table cloth, a couple of glasses and the bottle of wine that our host had given us from the very vineyard on which we were staying, and wandered down to the grassy hill beside the pool.
Nestled in amongst the olive trees, we sat and watched the sun set over the town before eventually climbing the hill to bed once we'd started to get cold.
It was just magical. And reliving it all these months later takes me right back to the sheer happiness and relaxation that San Miniato had brought us.
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