So many agriturismi in Tuscany, how does a girl to know which one to visit? If I had my way {and mind you, an infinite supply of money} I would visit them all as long as they met a few basic, very important qualities.

1. Comfortable, rustic but not too rustic. Basically I don’t want to sleep in a grandmother’s 40 year old guest cot, because if I wanted to do that, I’d just stay home and sleep in my own ‘nonna bed.’
2. A pool. It’s 95 degrees (35 to you celsius folk) right now. Need I say more?
3. Good, un pretentious healthy food and wine {preferably local}. It’s not that I mind pretentious food & wine, I just can’t afford it.
4. A view that would make me consider moving to the countryside for a more.. simple life {for at least 2.5 seconds}.

Not too much to ask for right? Well luckily for me, I had the opportunity to go to a place that had all of these qualities and then some in a short 2-day blog tour in the pretty area of Valdambra, Tuscany in the town of Bucine. My fellow cohorts {Michela, Francesca C, Elena, Francesca T, Cristiano, Alexandra, Marta and Philip} were a lovely mix of people. I have so many awesome photos I want to share so I am making this a two-blog post event, enjoy post 1!

We stayed at Tenuta di Lupinari, a truly lovely estate in the ancient village of Lupinari {zona Chianti – Bucine – province of Arezzo – an hour away from Florence} composed of rooms, vacation rentals all in wonderful condition, a gorgeous pool and oh yeah.. a castle just casually lying  there.

The entire place smelled amazing with fresh flowers planted everywhere and it just felt like this magical world that I wouldn’t mind getting lost in from time to time. If I didn’t like lovely Antonella  {the owner}so much I would have some serious jealousy issues with her beautiful life!

*Fun note! They produce their own oil and wine

Our apartment was called “Il Belvedere” , an absolutely charming, a two-bedroom affair with pretty four poster beds and a rustic feel with small details like shampoo and bottles of water in the fridge that I appreciate. Each bedroom had its own bathroom {I hate sharing} and the rest of the apartment was just as nice, with a terrace outside that I would have absolutely lived on if possible.

After getting acquainted with the estate, we got to check out the Castle Lupinari where we got to meet Camilla from Rome, who is famous for her conserve {chutney}. You know what I’m talking about, that savory sweet onion spread that you put over a slice of pecorino cheese over toasted bread.

It’s possibly one of my favorite Tuscan treats and you can make conserva out of so many different ingredients and a whole lot of sugar. We watched her whip up a sweet onion chutney they we all participated in and later got in small bottles to take home. I ate mine the second I got home which made me want to call Camilla and beg her for another bottle, I guess I have to make it! Luckily my friend Alex posted a recipe on her blog post from the weekend.

Aftwerwards, we went to the pretty town of Castelnuovo Berardenga for lunch at a local enoteca. There must have been some sort of festival going on because the town was decked out to the extremes with strange, yet lovely cartoon characters at every corner. This town was absolutely charming and I can’t believe I had never been there before {typical of being so close to so many gorgeous little towns}. I spotted awesome wall murals depicting music scenes and neat details in every corner. I will absolutely have to come back here to discover what I missed!

Fun quote by Alexandra when seeing the murals : “wall art & laundry!” (she was excited about the perfect photo op 😉

For now I will leave this post be or I may just get a little too picture crazy. In my next post/adventure, I will be writing about wine tasting at Villa a Sesta, a polo match, my own ‘Tuscan Texan’ experience with a horse determined to make me sore for at least a few days and a cooking contest {think Masterchef} that involved a lot of white wine and curse words. Sounds fun right?

Stay tuned!