A weekend away from everything. I love to just pack a small bag and go away for a few days, especially if the destination is a beautiful place like Tuscany, where you find a territory full of history, amazing food, relaxing places and stunning nature. It’s easy to have a crush on this Italian region (and that explains why more and more foreigners are buying properties around these hills, or simply getting married here).
This is my itinerary for a 3 day trip to Tuscany in Maremma, the lowest part of the region. I hope this can inspire you to consider it as your next weekend-away destination. Believe me, it’s really worth it!
Our first stop was Capalbio, a medieval fortified small town between the sea and the hills. It is really small, still it is full of restaurants! It is famous for its wild boar based plates, like the superbe ‘pappardelle al ragù di cinghiale‘(wide spaghetti made of fresh pasta with a sauce of meat and tomato).
Spend a couple of hours walking around Capalbio, discovering its narrow streets and delightful corners, then stop for a lunch or a dinner. I recommend not to miss an aperitif at the bar Magenta, just on the outer walls of the town, overlooking the countryside around.
Since the weather wasn’t great we decided to head to the inland towards Saturnia, a famous thermal centre with both a luxury resort and SPA (where you can buy a day access) and some natural thermal pools (free).
First things first: we stopped for a delicious lunch in Saturnia town. We chose a fresh Porcini mushrooms menu at Il Melangolo.
As the sun started to shine we drove to the thermal centre. We decided to go to the natural pools, the Cascatelle di Saturnia, since I had never tried them before.
Well, they are just amazing. Unfortunately during summer on most sunny day they are literally packed with people but, waiting (and fighting) a bit you can secure a wonderful spot under the waterfalls. Since they are natural pools, yes: you’ll get the good and the bad of it. The good is that the water is flowing really fast so, even if there are lots of people, the water is always clean. Oh, and since it is SO natural your skin will thank forever. The bad is that when you’ll have a shower you’ll see how many..mmm… natural things got caught on your body, hair and inside your bikini. Use an old one, it will stink of thermal water (a.k.a. spoiled eggs) for a while.
Next stop was a truly charming place: Pitigliano. It is a little medieval town entirely carved into the typical local stone, the tufo (the translation should be tuff or tufa, as the dictionary says, but doesn’t sound to me). We had already been there for a memorable night: that time we surprisingly found ourselves in the middle of a crazy event, the cantine aperte (open cantines), which I highly recommend: the entire town opens its door selling great wine for cheap prize and local street food or pasta. It is party all around till dawn, a really amazing event.
We were quite lucky this time too: we found the Festa della Contea, a Medieval-themed event with games, food, parades.
Pitigliano still has an ancient charme, it is a romantic and beautiful place to visit, especially for an evening stroll.
We hadn’t reserved a place in our fav restaurant so had a quick but delicious dinner in a wine shop called Delizie di Ale e Helga, with local products you can buy at the nearby shop.
We had some amazing cheese and ham, red and white wine, pici (a kind of pasta which is typical of this area) all’agliata (garlic tomato sauce), pappardelle with artichokes and truffle sauce and some dessert. Don’t they look yummy?
Voilà.
Here’s a little map of our itinerary. I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow!
Some of my fav places:
CAPALBIO
Eat
Al Pozzo – our fav restaurant in Capalbio. Don’t miss the ‘sformatini di verdura’ (veggie souffle) as an appetizer.
La Torre da Carla – good food and lovely view over the main little ‘piazza’ of the town.
Bar Magenta 7 – don’t forget to drink something at sunset, the bar is directly on the wall that surrounds the town and overlooks the hills.
SATURNIA
Mangiare
Non c’era posto, ma mi avevano caldamente consigliato Da Mario.
Io ho pranzato da Il Melangolo, buono soprattutto il menu di funghi.
PITIGLIANO
Eat
Hostaria Il Ceccottino – great food, lovely location.
Il tufo allegro – – the chef is a really good one, lovely place for a couple.
Delizie di Ale e Helga – wine bar with some hot dishes. Nice atmosphere.
Sleep
We slept in the nearby Sovana, at the lovely Hotel Scilla.
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