Travel Adventures In Tuscany and Rome

I am very excited to share a photo journal of my delicious and delightful travel adventures in Tuscany and Rome. It’s a warm and friendly place that enriched my body, mind and spirit.

Italy is a country full of amazing art, food, and wine.  Autumn is a fantastic time to be in Italy for food lovers like you and me.  Truffles and mushrooms are harvested daily.  The olive trees are ripe and ready for picking.  We had crisp clear mornings and evenings with warm sunny days. Bello!

Enjoy my photo journey of this bountiful, ancient country!

We started our travel adventures in one of the most magical towns of Tuscany, San Gimignano. It’s a walled hill town with medieval towers. I felt like I was in a fairytale.

We climbed the 218 steps of 12 century Camara del Podesta for a spectacular view of the town and surrounding countryside.

Here I enjoyed a simple lunch of sauteed spinach, roasted potatoes, and Tuscan fish soup. These gratifying, flavorful, soothing foods were what my body craved after the long plane ride. For dinner, I enjoyed a farm raised pork loin with black truffles at a local farm restaurant called Zafferano. It was heavenly.

Our next travel adventure was a total immersion in the mysterious world of truffle hunting and eating.

The Truffle experience at Savini Tartufi is an unforgettable experience both in nature and at the table. We went hunting for truffles with a guide and his “truffle hunting dog.”  The dog was young, it was the first time he found a white truffle.  He was the star of the show.  There’s a little video of Jako digging for truffles. We were fortunate to find black and white truffles.

After the hunt, we enjoyed a lunch of truffle delicacies combined with selected wines of the area.

There was local cheese with truffles dipped in truffle honey, truffle pasta, truffled eggs and Bocconcino Al Tartufo a chocolate covered truffle ice cream. Even though I don’t generally eat gluten I had to indulge in the pasta, it was spectacular and I felt fine.

Next, we were off to Montespertoli, a more rural area of Tuscany.  We walked among the vineyards, olive, and pomegranate trees enjoying the countryside.  I love the majestic Cyprus trees that line the sides of the road. We stopped at a local supermarket to pick up a few things for a picnic.

On our travel adventure, we came across a roadside trattoria, Il Focolare offering traditional Tuscan food. The risotto was made with local porcini mushrooms and melted in my mouth.  It was the best risotto I’ve ever eaten.

As the day came to an end we watched the moon rise from the patio of our room, pure bliss.

Our next travel adventure was exploring  Rome.  We had an evening to remember in the neighborhood where cucina romana  (Roman cuisine) was born. Here in the neighborhood of Testaccio, we did a supper stroll and food tour.  Known to Romans as ‘the heart of Rome’ Testaccio is the city’s original foodie neighborhood.

In antiquity, the district was home to the Emporium port, where the bulk of the Romans’ food supply funneled into the city. Olive oil, grains, and other essential foodstuffs arrived in terracotta vessels called amphorae, and once emptied were disposed of in an outdoor dumpsite. The ancient Monte dei Cocci, or Monte Testaccio hill, composed of around 53 million broken amphorae, still looms today.  Caves once dug into the mound for storage now host many bars.

The offal on many menus recalls the Testaccio slaughterhouse, now the MACRO modern art museum.  The men who worked in the slaughterhouse were given offal to take home as part of their payment.  The creative Italian women elevated these less desirable parts to rustic, Roman dishes like trippa alla romana and oxtail stew served all over Italy today.

At Masto, we sampled some of Italy’s finest cheeses and meats with a glass of wonderful local wine.

At Ristorante Angelina, built on top of Monte Testaccio, we enjoyed their specialty coda alla vaccinara (oxtail) with a bold red wine.  It was quite good.  The trippa alla romana (tripe) not so good. They also prepared a traditional Roman pasta dish with guanciale ( the cheek of the pig). They made a gluten-free version for me.

The food tour ended at Giolitti, serving some of the city’s best gelato since 1914.  The difference between gelato and ice cream is gelato has a higher proportion of milk and a lower proportion of cream. It is churned at a much slower rate, incorporating less air and leaving the gelato denser than ice cream. Yummy!

On our travel adventures in Rome, we spent one day exploring the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica and more. St Peter’s is Italy’s largest and most spectacular basilica.  Its lavish interior contains many spectacular works of art including Michelangelo’s Pieta.  No photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel but the ceiling painted by Michelangelo was magnificent. This statue of Apollo inspired Michelangelo’s body and face of Jesus in his painting here.

The final day we took in the energy of ancient Rome, touring the Colosseum, Palatino and Roman Forum.  Enjoyed a delicious gluten-free wood-fired brick oven pizza. So good!

I’m so glad you came on these travel adventures with me, and hope it inspires you to love and appreciate the abundant, magnificent world we live in.  It has certainly inspired me and filled me with love and gratitude.

Have a great day and see you soon!

Lots of love,
Ingrid