Verbena

If you’ve ever wondered what the labels of DOCG, DOC, IGT AND VDT mean when you see them on Italian wine bottles, then you’re reading the right article to find out! During the late 20th century, Italy decided to create laws to protect the quality and uniqueness of their wines by implementing certain rules that had to be strictly obeyed to receive a certain category of quality label. Visitors staying in a tuscany villa rental are sure to see a selection of these labels which might help inform their choice of wine to enjoy.

Between the months of March and December, tourists can experience a wonderful vintage train ride through the heart of Tuscany! This old fashioned steam train will travel at a perfect pace to allow you the opportunity to see the gently rolling hills and breathtaking scenery of the Tuscan countryside!

For those wishing to base their stay close to this exciting adventure trail, there is a wide range of stunning holiday rentals in Siena province where this old railway system travels around.

For the last three weeks, I have been writing about vacation rentals in Tuscany – an introduction to Tuscany, how to select a vacation rental and the differences between houses in Italy and those in North America. This week’s blog article is about the fun things you can do in Tuscany once you are settled into your vacation rental for the week.

For this blog article I am concentrating on the area, south of Siena, near Montepulciano, Pienza and Montalcino. This is an area that my husband Steve and I have traveled to many times and we have never run out of new things to explore and old favorites to revisit.

Panpepato is a typical cake served around Christmas which has ancient origins and comes from Siena. Panpepato cake is more rustic than the more familiar Panforte, with lots of spices, giving it a strong flavour. It is probably also the oldest variation of these types of cakes and is thought to have been created at the Monastery of Corpus Domini during the 15th century. Its original name is said to have been “pan del pape” (bread of the pope) or “pan pepato” (peppered bread).

Chocolate as a layer over the whole cake was introduced in the late 19th century which differentiates it from the Christmas cakes of Emilia and Romagna and helps keep it moist through the entire holiday season.

Find a luxury villa in Siena and try out a Tuscan Christmas or bring a little bit of Tuscany to your table at home while you plan a holiday for the new year!

Continuing on from our last post, here are some more architectural gems around Tuscany that are well worth a visit if you are interested in art and culture. Once you have found a luxury villa in Tuscany and are planning your trip, be sure to pencil some of these beauties into your itinerary.

Siena's Cathedral is a perfect example. It was built between 1215 and 1263 and was designed by Nicola Pisano. His son, Giovanni, continued the design when more building was undertaken from 1285. The upper half of the facade was not added until 14th century, a time of great wealth and prosperity for Siena. At the time, plans were considered to transform the church into a giant masterpiece that could even rival the mammoth St. Peter's in Rome but this never came to pass.

It is still a stunning building, Gothic in style, and elaborately embellished inside and out. Its anachronistically Romanesque black-and-white striped campanile is particularly iconic.

One of the most famous Italian Palio events is the Palio di Siena held in the city of Siena in the central Tuscany region. To celebrate their historic Palio event, the people of Siena stage a famous horse race twice a year; one on the 2nd of July and one on the 16th August. There is a great selection of luxury holiday villas and simple vacation rentals located close to the city where you can easily commute to witness this spectacular event. The participants in this exciting race are horses and jockeys representing their ‘contrada’ or region of the city of Siena. The competition and rivalry between the contrade is fierce and attracts thousands of city supporters and tourists every year. There are seventeen contrade in total but only ten are allowed to race on each date for safety reasons. The ten that are chosen to race in one Palio are then replaced in the following one by the seven that didn’t race plus three that will be chosen by drawing lots between the other ten. The months leading up to the Palio di Siena is filled with choosing the best ten horses to race and the jockeys to ride them as well as organising the smaller events that will be held in each contrada in the days leading up to the main event. The race is preceded with a group of the national military police or ‘carabinieri’ on horseback wielding their swords as they demonstrate a mounted charge twice around the track. As they exit, a pageant enters the Piazza which includes flag wavers, and trumpeters marching around the track to signal the beginning of another thrilling year of racing rivalry!