Tuscany here we come!

The one certainty of a visit to Tuscany is that you will not rest until you return.  We respond to the call of this special place in September and will share the experience with our good friends the Clements and Rallos from Louisville.  Air travel arrangements are complete with the six of us departing for Rome from Charlotte, non stop on US Air.  We will be staying at La Volpaia, a restored 16th century farm estate very near San Gimignano in the middle of the Val d'Elsa (Elsa river valley).  This villa is surrounded by vineyards and olive groves and a picturesque Tuscan landscape.

We were fortunate to get a referral from Fr. Gene who is a friend of our dear friend and priest Fr. Len.  Fr. Gene has stayed in this villa several times and gave it a very enthusiastic recommendation. 


Once in Rome we will rent a van and drive to La Volpaia, about three hours north.  This will be our base of operations and a great central location for daily forays to the neighboring Tuscan hilltop villages.  Of course we hope to visit Florence, since we were deprived of a day and a half in 2011 and literally saw it while sprinting.   We have also allowed a few days in Rome at the end of our vacation, returning to the chaos of "civilization" to re-acclimate before our flight back to the States.