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| The view from the belvedere of our hotel - Il Borgo Pignano |
Saturday October 9, 2021
The drive from Venice to Tuscany took about 4 hours with a few short stops. The beginning third of the drive is flat as a pancake, as you drive through the Po River Valley and Piedemonte towards Bologna. My dad always told me that the Po Valley was the bread basket of Italy. We surely saw a good number of farmers out on their tractors today working the fields.
After we arrived at the Borgo and unpacked the car and our suitcases, we realized we were just in time for a beautiful sunset view from their balcony/belvedere overlooking the hills and the town of Volterra. Gorgeous colors tonight.
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| You can order drinks and sit out on the balcony to watch the sunset. So nice. |
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The sun is just touching the hill of the town of Volterra - one of my favorite towns in Tuscany.
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Once you make it to Bologna, the terrain becomes hilly and then mountainous. Mountains run along the whole spine of the Italian peninsula, so you must cross them when driving east to west or visa versa.
We had a choice between two routes - Firenze Panoramica or Firenze Diretto. We chose the direct route - and noticed how new the roads and tunnels were. Quite different than when we drove it the last time. The tunnels are smooth and modern - and eliminate almost all switchbacks and other interesting challenges about driving through the mountains.
Maybe because it was Saturday, trucks were rare, as were trailers of any kind. A few motorcyclists, but not many. A pretty easy drive. It was nice to see the countryside changing to typical Tuscan hills, with vineyards and olive groves, cypress trees and umbrella pines.
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| We knew we were in Tuscany when we saw lines of cypress trees |
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| Tuscan hill towns with golden houses and terra cotta tiled roofs |
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| Vineyards and olive groves |
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| Umbrella pines |
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| San Gimignano on the horizon |
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| More sunset views from our hotel |
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| Good night Tuscany |
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