by Nigel Heath
The Villa Borgo di Colleoli is a magnificent former Renaissance residence situated amid the green and rolling Tuscan Hills with fine views all around.
It had been owned for many generations by a noble family from nearby Pisa, but today it is a fine Karma group hotel and was to be our base for a ten-day stay.
My wife, Jenny, and I landed from Bristol in a storm, but luckily the weather cleared as our taxi wound its way up through the rising countryside through olive groves and with occasional cypress trees and umbrella pines coming into view.
Sadly, Giovani on reception confirmed our fears that the weather forecast for the region over the coming days did not look good, which was annoying because last October had been sunny and guests had been swimming happily in the unheated outdoor pools right up to the end of the month.
Still, it might not be that bad and there were all those mouth-watering Tuscan dishes to be savoured and nearby iconic hilltop towns to be visited, my optimistic self rationalised.
The feasting began that very evening in the hotel’s vaulted restaurant, which had formerly been used for olive oil production.
We decided not to go for a traditional pasta or meat main course, but to sample a meze of starter dishes instead and were not disappointed.
As expected, grey and leaden skies greeted us as we set out the following morning in full waterproofs, brollies raised to walk through olive groves along a quiet and undulating road into the quaint hilltop-cresting town of Palaia with its signature red tiled rooves and ochre-coloured buildings all jumbled up together.
And what a delight it was with its small shops and bars at opposite ends of a narrow high street and feeling for all the world as if we had suddenly stepped back some 50 years.
We bought local cheese, savoury biscuits and fruit for lunch and locally produced olive oil to take back home to Wales and stopped at one of the bars for a drink before beginning our 35-minute hike back to the hotel.
Here we spent a chill-out afternoon and evening in our three-room suite with its high plaster-frescoed ceilings and long shuttered windows overlooking the wooded grounds.
Anticipating a wet Sunday we had made no plans for getting out and about. But surprisingly and confounding earlier forecasts, the storm clouds had drifted away overnight to reveal some lovely panoramic views of hilltop villages against a backdrop of distant mountains.
After a morning’s sunbathing we walked a mile along a quiet lane to reach a restaurant only to find a large family christening luncheon in full swing, so providing us with a surprise people-watching feast.
It was a glorious sunny Monday morning when our hired driver took us on a mostly scenic 45-minute cross country drive to the World Heritage hilltop town of San Gimignano.
En-route he explained that October was the start of the region’s olive harvesting season and that while last year’s crop had been a disaster for a variety of reasons, this year’s harvest had been affected by all the rain that had plumped out the olives with water.
San Gimignano’s stunning skyline of towers were, it seems, built at a time of aristocratic rivalry between the feuding nobles of the 12th and 13th centuries.
Entering by the main Porta San Giovanni arched gate, where fellow tourists were milling around, we began our pilgrimage-like stroll up the narrow street of sunshine and sharp shadows towards the lofty and citadel-like main square.
Tempting passageways and flights of ancient stone steps leading off in all directions enticed the shoals of tourists this way and that.
In summer this would have been mayhem we agreed, but now there were far fewer visitors talking mostly in lowered voices as if overawed by their surroundings.
Reaching a much smaller and quieter upper square, where the haunting sounds from a street player’s kettle drum-like instrument echoed around, we stopped for a beer and a coffee.
But consternation, for, when having delivered our drinks, our waitress dropped what we thought was a bill for 21 Euros on the table.
This may have been a World Heritage Site, but that was ridiculous we agreed, only to be embarrassingly told on enquiry that that was our table number!
Back in the busy main square we lunched alfresco on large bowls of salad with sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, slices of cucumber and olive’s before strolling across the way for our sweet.
This entailed joining the small queue outside Gelataria Dondoli, reputed to be the most famous ice cream shop in the whole of Italy.
Jenny messaged our driver that we were ready to be picked up and by the time we had strolled back down the street our cones had been consumed and our transport was waiting.
Next stop on our tour and only a 30-minute drive away was stunning Volterra, built in ancient times on a high plateau surrounded by yellow and grey volcanic hills, famous for the production of alabaster.
Here we spent an interesting hour strolling around its cool and lofty medieval streets and palazzi before deciding we had enough of being in tourist mode and that it was time to go home.
Our driver collected us under leaden skies the following morning and dropped us an hour later just inside the famous walled city of Lucca with its many ancient churches and squares, all linked by a veritable warren of narrow streets.
We made our way first to the church of San Michele, which has the highest bell tower in the city and one of the most exquisite facades in the whole of Tuscany, before finding a highly recommended restaurant for a traditional lunch and later taking coffee in the impressive circular Piazza dell’ anfiteatro.
From there it was a short stroll to the nearest point of the impressive wall, built in the 1500s, which completely surrounds the old city, before we made our way back to our pick-up point.
It was only a 30-minute drive the following morning to Villa Cosmiana, a former derelict Florentine country house and estate.
It has been magnificently restored over the past six years by Franco-Italian investor and art collector Jean Louis Scandella and his partner Sean Craig, who has been responsible for the rejuvenation of wine production to an international medal-winning standard.
Needless to say, the wine tasting and lunch in such surroundings were one of the highlights of the holiday.
Our last excursion the following morning involved an hour’s drive across country to Viareggio, Tuscany’s largest seaside resort, which with its fine avenue of palms and grand hotels has an air of yesteryear elegance about it.
Being dropped off at the beginning, we walked the three-kilometre length of the promenade of cafes, bars and smart designer boutiques and then out along a paved causeway, lined with yachts towards the open sea.
Retracing our steps we stopped off at a smart restaurant and dined on locally caught sea bass with vegetables, before the heavens opened and we called our driver to come to collect us.
