Roaming Hearts Podcast
Justice & Hannah Lynn Arceri
✈️ Bucket List Travel Couple on a Budget📍 NOLA
🌎 National Parks | International
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Roaming Hearts Podcast
Italy Travel - Episode 2: Under the Tuscan Sun pt.1
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00:00:00 Justice
Hey, fellow Wanderers, thanks for tuning in to the Roaming Hearts podcast.
00:00:04 Hannah Lynn
Practical tips to fun stories we are your travel buddies, so if you're dreaming of far off places or just looking for your next travel hack, you're in the right spot.
00:00:13 Justice
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00:00:19 Hannah Lynn
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00:00:25 Justice
So pack your bags and join us on this journey Roaming Hearts podcast. Because every adventure begins with a story.
00:00:34 Justice
Welcome back to the Roaming Hearts podcast. I'm justice.
00:00:37 Hannah Lynn
And I'm Hannah.
00:00:38 Justice
And we are continuing our journey through Italy on this amazing vacation that we took recently in April. We're breaking it down for you. And so today we're continuing with our trek into the Tuscan region.
00:00:52 Justice
We if you missed it, we did Rome in the past episode and that was all things Rome. So if you are wondering what to do in Rome, go back and watch and listen to that episode for sure. We're going to continue on with our trek up into the Tuscan region, so why don't we start with this? You know, we say Tusk.
00:01:10 Justice
Many you know, obviously that's not a country or a city. So like, what is Tuscany?
00:01:15 Hannah Lynn
Well, Tuscany is a region in Italy and Italy is made-up of 20 different regions. So a lot of times those regions are kind of known for their historical importance and maybe their political standings through the years. And so they were.
00:01:30 Hannah Lynn
Kind of the different regions, the different people, groups of Italy and something very interesting about Italy is that it did not become a unified nation until 1861. So Italy as a nation is actually younger than America. You know, you think about the Roman Empire and it's like, well, you know, that's always been around. We think about these 20 regions in Italy.
00:01:50 Hannah Lynn
They all are kind of special in their own way, either historically or geographically, or just the things that they produce, like wine or cheese specifically, or even salt. So some of the regions that are well known are of course, Tuscany. There's umbria. Sicily is also.
00:02:05 Hannah Lynn
Region you have Lombardi, which is the largest region, so it kind of splits up and you will notice that different major cities are often found in different regions. So it kind of just makes that that, that historical and cultural aspect of that city.
00:02:20 Justice
Yeah. And so just to clarify, when you're saying you know 1861 that's talking about a a united Italy per se. So like you said, there's the Roman Empire. So when you say Ohh it's younger than America, it's like what are you talking about that's?
00:02:33 Justice
There since.
00:02:35 Justice
The birth of times. What's going on with that? And it's talking about a unified nation of Italy. So that is pretty fascinating. We're talking about Tuscany today. So breaking down Tuscany, even though that is an entire region, we really feel like it can be kind of split into two parts. It's almost like there's two different vibes, two different. It feels like two different places. The way we break it down here.
00:02:38 Hannah Lynn
Unification, yes.
00:02:53 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:02:55 Justice
So the first one is the South region of Tuscany. So that's everything South of Florence South.
00:03:01
Yes.
00:03:01 Justice
With pizza when you're in these areas, it's, you know, it's that it's that beautiful countryside which you see in, like every car commercial where they're driving through the hills and the the olive trees.
00:03:09
Yes.
00:03:13 Hannah Lynn
Yeah, it's kind of that quintessential, like, Tuscan vibe. When you see those movies and they're in the little car driving through the rolling hills.
00:03:23 Hannah Lynn
They stop on the side of the road and it's a vineyard it. I was there just shocked, looking around like this is exactly what I imagined. Yeah, and that doesn't happen very often. Like, this is exactly what I pictured in.
00:03:34 Hannah Lynn
Mind. And so that was really exciting. That was probably my favorite part of the trip, was just looking out and going. What? This is real, you know.
00:03:42 Justice
Yeah, that was, I would agree. I think both of us felt like this was the place that we wish we could have stayed for 18 days instead of just just four. So yeah, so that Southern area is.
00:03:48 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:03:49 Hannah Lynn
Truly.
00:03:54 Justice
You know the farm, the views, the countryside, their export is, you know, it's dairy, it's cheese, it's wine, it's olive oil and so.
00:04:03 Justice
That's what you think of when you're in this area. That's what you'll see while you're while you're journeying through this area. And then the other part of Tuscany, that sort of second part is the central and north part. So it's going to be Florence and Pisa. Think Renaissance art influence this. You know, the the high culture, almost like in jewelry.
00:04:16 Hannah Lynn
Yeah.
00:04:20 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:04:23 Justice
And so, like, that's more of the vibe. Yes, the Medici influence. That's what you'll find in these north and central region of Tuscany. Yes. So we're going to get back to the same method we used in the first episode. So we're going to break down day-to-day just what we did. And then we'll kind of.
00:04:24 Hannah Lynn
Yes, that better she influence.
00:04:40 Justice
Add on as we go. Some of the experiences we had in hopes that you, the listener, if you're planning your vacation to to Italy, you can go hey.
00:04:49 Justice
I only hear what they did because I gotta say was pretty awesome. Vacation. So yeah, we're gonna break that down. So let's start with day one. But really, when you go into day, when you talk about how did we get there, how did we get out of Rome? Do you want to kind of give us a little bit? We had some experiences at the Rome train station, right? If you listened in the first episode with the, the the.
00:04:53
Oh, absolutely.
00:05:00
Yes.
00:05:05 Hannah Lynn
Truly. Truly.
00:05:09 Justice
Metro tickets and stuff. But tell us a little bit about.
00:05:12 Justice
Out getting out of the Rome train station if.
00:05:14 Hannah Lynn
You would, yes. So the train station in Rome is one of the largest. You know, it's very big, very large. And so we were First off trying to find our terminal. That was kind of like.
00:05:24 Hannah Lynn
A big deal.
00:05:24 Justice
Not easy.
00:05:25 Hannah Lynn
And a lot of the door, there's a lot of glass dividing doors and so a lot of them were closed. And so you could only enter through a few of them.
00:05:32 Hannah Lynn
So once we got on got into, I guess the actual where the trains depart.
00:05:36 Hannah Lynn
From we're like kind of chilling. We're like, oh, we got like 30 minutes. You know, we're just kind of walking around. And so we're kind of looking for our train, and we keep seeing something that was similar but not quite it. I think it was like train 23. But ours was said east. And so I'm like finding Terminal 23 or whatever it was. And I'm.
00:05:41 Justice
Yeah, funny though.
00:05:57 Hannah Lynn
Thinking like, OK, well.
00:05:58 Hannah Lynn
We're here. We're fine.
00:05:59 Hannah Lynn
And so then we start looking and I told somebody and they're like ohh that's like way over there. And I'm like, OK, so we start walking down and these girls, we just see this group of girls just run past us. And I mean, you look on their face, they were panicked. And I'm like, what are they doing? And I'm like.
00:06:11 Justice
All send.
00:06:14 Justice
Yeah.
00:06:19 Hannah Lynn
Oh, that's very interesting. And then we see these girls going past. And then so I'm like, gosh, why are they in such a rush? I mean, we got like 12 minutes, you know, and then this guy runs by.
00:06:30
Mm-hmm.
00:06:31 Hannah Lynn
And he is like, huffing and puffing, and he will looked terrified. And so I I kind of.
00:06:36 Hannah Lynn
He's like, hey, are you going to so and so train. And he's like, yes, we need to hurry. And so all my all my. So we book it. OK. I mean we were full Sprint for a solid 7 minutes and it had the bumps on the gravel. So it was just like a mess.
00:06:43
But.
00:06:45 Justice
Yes.
00:06:46
With.
00:06:47 Justice
Multiple bags with like rolling bags.
00:06:50 Justice
Yes.
00:06:53 Justice
I think I have a vivid audio memory of like the sound when you're when you're rolling your bags and you know, like you're saying it's kind of that, that brick road, so it's like.
00:07:03 Justice
It starts off, yeah. And then.
00:07:07 Justice
Just knowing full.
00:07:09 Justice
And trying to get to this train and it was, it was crazy, but we made it.
00:07:10
Truly.
00:07:13 Justice
Got on board.
00:07:13 Hannah Lynn
Barely. I mean, really it it we got on and.
00:07:16 Hannah Lynn
It.
00:07:16 Hannah Lynn
Took off.
00:07:17 Justice
Yeah, literally the doors closed behind us. It started moving and we were then trying to find where we were on the train.
00:07:23 Hannah Lynn
So adventure.
00:07:25 Justice
Yeah. So I'm gonna quickly say because I just thought of this when we're talking about trains, if you're traveling by train, which you know we did to get out of the major cities to get to the next major city.
00:07:33
Of course, yes.
00:07:36 Justice
Keep in mind that it's apparently pretty common that the trains in Italy, the the train employee, and the unions and stuff they go on strike multiple times a month. Yeah, so definitely there's multiple resources like the train company itself like just announces their strikes.
00:07:44
Yes. Yeah.
00:07:47
Yes.
00:07:55 Hannah Lynn
Yes, and they do usually announce a.
00:07:58 Hannah Lynn
Up to a few days before I know that we knew the day before we were going to board for a different day trip, and so we we were able to adjust and it it it didn't, you know, impede us too much. But it is that is just a factor to take into account.
00:08:12 Hannah Lynn
And it seemed nobody seemed very bothered. I mean, everyone was just kind of like, well, this is normal. OK, well, we'll wait here.
00:08:18 Hannah Lynn
For an hour to.
00:08:19 Justice
Yeah, this happens kind of thing.
00:08:20 Hannah Lynn
Like alright.
00:08:21 Justice
Yeah. So just keep that in mind if you're traveling by train that you might want to just take a peek at the website that they have and just make sure that they're not on strike the day.
00:08:29 Hannah Lynn
You're planning on traveling? Yes. So once we got to.
00:08:33 Hannah Lynn
The Tuscan region.
00:08:34 Hannah Lynn
That was our kind of day one in Tuscany. Why don't you tell us about getting into that? The train station and.
00:08:41 Hannah Lynn
Getting our car.
00:08:42 Justice
Yeah. So we left Rome and our destination was the Chuisi Chinchiano Terme.
00:08:48
Oh.
00:08:48 Justice
And that right and that is really right after you cross over from the Umbria region into the Tuscany region, yes. And so there, once you're in Tuscany, this S Tuscany we're talking about where it's all these countryside towns and stuff. So you're really going to want to probably do a rental car at this point. It did not seem feasible.
00:09:09 Justice
All to rely on some kind of like bus system or.
00:09:13 Justice
There's really trains at that point are just headed straight to Florence. There's not a lot.
00:09:17 Hannah Lynn
Of deviations? Yes. And this was a more rural area. So we originally didn't think that we would rent a car. But after talking to our bed and breakfast host, they really recommended that we did. And I'm glad that we ended up.
00:09:28 Justice
Doing that, yeah. And ended up being a great decision. But so since you mentioned the bed and breakfast, let's go ahead and go into that. Cuz the first day.
00:09:35 Justice
Was arrival at the bed and breakfast.
00:09:38 Justice
It was Poggio Etrusco is what it's called and so it's an Agritourismo and that's a big Italian fancy word that pretty much describes a working farm, an active farm that hosts people to to just, you know, bed and breakfast, you know, sleep there, get fed. Breakfast in the morning, which was delicious, by the way it was.
00:09:42 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:09:52 Hannah Lynn
As the.
00:09:52 Hannah Lynn
Members.
00:09:57 Justice
Fantastic breakfast. So it's an olive oil farm.
00:10:00 Justice
Which is really, really cool, because we got a whole history lesson of olive oil and got it tasting and it was just really, really awesome. But the hospitality, the location, the beauty of its surroundings, just on like this Tuscan countryside, this farm side. So like, it was really, really great. The hosts, Pamela and Johnny John's.
00:10:03 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:10:20 Justice
Are a couple that moved over to Italy about 40 years ago. She was doing food and wine tours in Italy and then eventually they just said let's just make the move and get over there. And so they opened up this olive oil farm. They open up their doors for people to come.
00:10:30
Yes.
00:10:33 Justice
Stay beautiful.
00:10:35 Justice
Building. Yeah, just amazing and so.
00:10:38 Justice
Day one was arrival, so we get there blown away by the surroundings. When you walk in, like I said, the cobblestone building, the Ivy growing on the sides.
00:10:47 Hannah Lynn
Absolutely. It was just exactly what you would want if you were staying in the hills of Tuscany. It was totally just gorgeous, very quaint. And Pamela had actually upgraded us our stay because there was a larger suite that a family had to unfortunately cancel on. And so we got that. So we had that kind of bird's eye view of the.
00:11:06 Hannah Lynn
Sally. And so that was very, very special. Really. The whole experience was just.
00:11:12 Hannah Lynn
Incredible. Pamela and her husband, she, like you said, she is very well versed in olive oil. They had their farm has actually been picked as some of Italy's best olive oil that has been produced multiple times. So they were just really, really kind, inclusive, sharing their knowledge with us, kind of taking us in and.
00:11:32 Hannah Lynn
Really, it was just wonderful. It was very great. Every day there was a breakfast that they serve.
00:11:38 Hannah Lynn
And oh, absolutely. Phenomenal. Kind of in their big dining room and other guests would come in. So you just got to meet new people from different places. And I would just highly recommend Poggio Etrusco.
00:11:38 Justice
Delicious.
00:11:51 Justice
Yeah. And we'll have the link on our website. It is one of our travel recommendations that you can find there.
00:11:58 Justice
The booking itself. So we heard about Poggio Etrusco through another podcast. And so one of the things that was mentioned, which I agree with is most of the things in Italy. If you pull up their website and it.
00:12:01 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:12:06 Hannah Lynn
Yeah.
00:12:11 Justice
Has a look that maybe seems like it came from the 90s or something like that. That's a good thing that that means it's all about the hospitality and the food and the experience and not.
00:12:16
Yes.
00:12:18 Hannah Lynn
That's right.
00:12:20 Hannah Lynn
Yes, they said, the older the website looks like the probably the better the experience it really was.
00:12:21 Justice
Focused on that.
00:12:25 Justice
Yes. And so that was true in this case because it was the best experience I think we had on the entire trip.
00:12:30 Hannah Lynn
Absolutely.
00:12:32 Hannah Lynn
So and they were able to make such great recommendations that we were able to kind of adjust, you know, they recommended some local places farm to table a dairy farm that we went and ate at. So some really special experiences. I don't think we ever would have tapped.
00:12:42 Justice
Yes.
00:12:47 Hannah Lynn
Had it not been for the.
00:12:47 Justice
Recommendation. No, and that was something that you're right. I reached out to her as we were getting close to arriving in terms of what we could possibly do that night because I wasn't quite sure what the travel situation would be like. And so, yeah, there was this, this dinner that we had at Podere il Casale. And it was just like a diamond in the rough.
00:12:58
Yes.
00:13:08 Justice
Like I would have never found that it was kind of off the beaten path up a hill, but it was literally.
00:13:09 Hannah Lynn
Truly yes.
00:13:13 Justice
Like a castle on the hill.
00:13:14 Hannah Lynn
It was, yeah.
00:13:15 Justice
And like you said, it had a dairy farm. It was when you say farm to table like it doesn't get any more farm to table than hey, before you eat, go walk around and look at the things that is producing the food that you're about to eat. Like go look at the pigs and the sheep.
00:13:21 Hannah Lynn
Truly.
00:13:26 Hannah Lynn
Yes, they were.
00:13:29 Justice
And the goats and and and stuff.
00:13:30 Hannah Lynn
It was so cool. You got to walk up to the gate with all of these goats and you're thinking, wow, like, these are the goats that the cheese are coming from. Cheeses are coming from. And so it was very.
00:13:40 Hannah Lynn
Very just fun. Very hands on experience. I think kids would love it just as much as adults would, so that was a very special little hidden gem that we found.
00:13:49 Justice
Yeah. And some of the most beautiful views of the trip, too. And we were there at a great time. The sun was just starting to set, looking over the rolling hills of Tuscany. There was, like, a Peacock walking around. So it was like just added this kind of nice eclectic thing going on there. And I believe they offered cooking classes there as well. They did see another group that was getting a cooking class from the own.
00:13:52 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:13:58 Hannah Lynn
Yes, they have there.
00:14:01
Yeah.
00:14:05 Hannah Lynn
Yes they did.
00:14:08 Justice
Which is a pretty popular thing in Italy, but it looked like a lot of fun, and they were they were trying the food that they had, but the food we had was delicious. We started off with, you know, you got to go with, like, the cheese board of Formaggi and get some meat and some cheese as an appetizer. And it was fantastic. And they came out and explained how aged certain cheese.
00:14:10 Hannah Lynn
MHM.
00:14:15 Hannah Lynn
Absolutely.
00:14:20 Hannah Lynn
Of course. So good, yes.
00:14:28 Justice
Laws and some of it underground aging, some of it above ground and.
00:14:28 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:14:31
Exactly.
00:14:32 Justice
So just a tremendous dining experience there.
00:14:36 Hannah Lynn
I really liked how personal it was. You could tell they really took pride in their food and their experience kind of in this atmosphere that they've created. So every they were coming over during every dish was served. And, you know, just kind of telling us about it, how it was connected to their land. So yeah, that was.
00:14:51 Hannah Lynn
A great that was a great one.
00:14:52 Justice
Yeah. Yeah. And so that was the dinner.
00:14:55 Justice
For day one, went back to the B&B after that slept for the night, which brings us to Day 2, which was actually your birthday. Yeah, so it was very special. I had emailed Pam ahead of time and said, hey, I need a gift. I can't.
00:15:02
Yes.
00:15:07 Justice
Really.
00:15:07 Justice
Like travel around with the gifts or something. And so she was able to actually give us give you a signed copy of one of her cookbooks, which was really nice.
00:15:09
So sweet.
00:15:12 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:15:15 Justice
Apron as well. Custom apron.
00:15:16 Hannah Lynn
Amazing. Yes, that was so sweet. And for my birthday, which was one of, I mean, the most special birthdays I've ever had, and Italy and Tuscany. It just incredible. Let's stop there.
00:15:30 Hannah Lynn
Yes, it was. It was the most special birthday that I've had. It was just such a sweet, sweet time and we actually did a cooking class with Pamela and that was truly amazing. I think her heart is for the Tuscan peasant cooking. And so through time, Tuscany has gone through hardships.
00:15:37 Justice
Yeah.
00:15:50 Hannah Lynn
And so a big part of their culture and a big part of their cuisine.
00:15:53 Hannah Lynn
Sean is making something great out of something small and meager, and so they have a certain dish that is bread crumb pasta and so it's pasta and they save every single bread crumb throughout their day, and they're able to make like a garlic butter reduction with that. So just those really neat little things, they're peachy.
00:16:14 Hannah Lynn
So this was the big thing. The Tuscan Pici, which is pasta, and each kind of region has their own take on their own pasta. And so pici is simply flour and water. So there's no egg in there, pasta and Tuscany.
00:16:29 Hannah Lynn
And so we went through all of the steps of making peachy what it looks like, making the well. And, you know, kneading it and, umm, so that was so neat. And to see the history and how that culture had influenced their cuisine was really, really special with that peachy.
00:16:45 Justice
Yeah. And like you said, it was. It was amazing to me to to find out how to make.
00:16:50 Justice
By hand, like I said, like literally making a well out of flour and putting the water in that and then kneading it from there and seeing it all kind of come together. The different sort of methods of needing and so.
00:16:51 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:17:02
Yes.
00:17:02 Justice
That was just.
00:17:03 Justice
Really, really good.
00:17:03 Hannah Lynn
And pulling them by hand.
00:17:04 Justice
Yeah. And like Johnny came in and showed us how to, like, twist him and stretch him out. And so it was. It was a lot of fun and very simple to do something that, like, we came home with and we're, like, invited our parents over. We're like, let's show you how we learned how to make Pici all the time. Yeah. It's a lot of fun. And it's something. And that was something we talked about before we went. Is like, we want to do right. Because there was a bunch of different options for what we would learn to cook.
00:17:12 Hannah Lynn
Absolutely yes. Yeah. And we do it all.
00:17:17 Hannah Lynn
The time.
00:17:19 Hannah Lynn
It's become a staple in our house.
00:17:26
Yes.
00:17:26 Justice
And we were like, we really want to learn something that we can come home.
00:17:29 Justice
Home with and.
00:17:30 Justice
But you don't want to learn some extravagant.
00:17:33 Justice
Kind of dish. Yeah, just like something simple. And so, like, literally we can just hand make pasta. Yeah. Whenever we went with flour and water. And that is just really cool to me. We also, we made some olive oil cake. We had some bacon wrapped spinach, stuffed chicken, which was like savory and. And then you actually made a gorgonzola pecan stuffed mushroom.
00:17:33 Hannah Lynn
Thing that we'll never know how to make.
00:17:37 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:17:39 Hannah Lynn
Yeah.
00:17:39
This seems.
00:17:48 Hannah Lynn
Delicious. Delicious. Yes.
00:17:53 Hannah Lynn
Yes, was so yummy.
00:17:54 Justice
Which, yeah, that was really fun. Just to watch you make. I did the olive oil cake was mainly what I was in, which was so good. I've never had an olive oil cake before this. And so.
00:18:01
Yes.
00:18:03 Justice
So I actually told you for this year when my birthday comes up in October, I was like I want.
00:18:08 Justice
That olive OK.
00:18:09 Hannah Lynn
Like this is what I want. I thought it was really neat because obviously there's tons of olive oil in it, which was very unique for just a cake, but it had a citrus you had zested I think like two whole oranges. So it had this very refreshing yet rich taste, which was absolutely delicious. I love that one. But yeah, those mushrooms.
00:18:28 Hannah Lynn
It was so fun and what I really liked is just the.
00:18:31 Hannah Lynn
Just the process is so important in Italian cooking, and Pamela actually had an Italian, a native Italian assistant in the kitchen, so seeing her kind of interact with the food. And we made little fritters from zucchini flowers and some zucchini squash as well. And so they talked about.
00:18:52 Hannah Lynn
It's the oil and how you put it in and you can add some Prosecco in there and it makes it bubbly. So it was just a really neat, just incredible process. I think All in all, I would recommend, no matter what region you're going to try to book a cooking class because it gave such just an.
00:19:07 Hannah Lynn
Of experience into that culture, and every region would be different with their take on that. So very special. A big part of my birthday celebration and I just loved it.
00:19:18 Justice
Yeah. Yeah. And not to brag, but probably the best birthday that I've planned for you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So after the cooking class, naturally, all that food, you gotta walk it off. You gotta explore. So, per Pamela's recommendation, we went to the town of Pienza, which is about 15-20 minutes.
00:19:22 Hannah Lynn
Ohh absolutely kudos to.
00:19:29 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:19:34 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:19:38 Hannah Lynn
Very close, yeah.
00:19:38 Justice
East of Montepulciano.
00:19:40 Justice
And so, yeah, I mean Pienza, it's known for its 15th century architecture, the brick streets. It's on a hill. The views were amazing. And it's also well known for shopping.
00:19:51 Hannah Lynn
Yes, that was something. One of the reasons that Pamela recommended she's, like, go take a shopping trip for your birthday. So it's known for that for linen garments.
00:20:00 Hannah Lynn
And just things from around the.
00:20:02 Hannah Lynn
Area very local I guess shops there so that was really really cool getting to go, you know, the alleyways are made of brick and you're on these brick streets. And so it had just a very, very authentic feel.
00:20:16 Justice
Perfect photo shoot town. Yes, it was just dreamy. And I think we even facetimed our family from there.
00:20:18 Hannah Lynn
Absolutely.
00:20:24 Justice
Attempted to connection wise, get a hold of them, but I think it was just visually one of the best places and you'll see that a lot in all the areas, all these little towns that are South of Florence. You know your Pienza and Sienna and Arezzo like all these places just are very aesthetically pleasing, very beautiful.
00:20:42 Hannah Lynn
Yes, they're very picturesque. You kind of look and go, Oh my goodness. I didn't know towns like this actually existed, you know? And they they feel almost untouched. Like you mentioned their 15th century architecture. So that's back from the 4th.
00:20:44 Justice
Yes.
00:20:51 Justice
Yes.
00:20:55 Hannah Lynn
Hundreds and that architecture, it still feels like that. They've got the door frames that are cut into the stone. So when you walk into the shops, you're kind of, you know, walking into that big brick wall. So it's just a really, really unique special place.
00:21:10 Justice
Yeah. So we spent the rest of that day shopping in Pienza.
00:21:12 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:21:15 Justice
And then we finished with a dinner at a place called Brady Toscani. Again, we're just finishing off the day with another recommendation for Pamela, which was so awesome about the place that we stayed at, that they had all these local recommendations for us, which is always a plus.
00:21:18
Yes.
00:21:21 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:21:25 Hannah Lynn
Of course, yeah.
00:21:29 Justice
And this place was it was a meat and cheese like farm like that it was essentially that was there. So like how Pamela was doing the olive oil. They were all about meat and cheese and it was delicious. It was like you. It was like an endless charcuterie board essentially. Like they just.
00:21:43 Hannah Lynn
Yes. And you can see the meats aging, yeah.
00:21:45 Justice
Yes, like literally hanging in the ceiling and stuff like it was. It was a great time. So I really enjoyed that place as well. Yes. So if you're in that area, definitely try that out.
00:21:47
Yes.
00:21:55 Justice
Moving into the third day, this was kind of our activity day, which you know that was one of the sort of priorities of our trip was to make sure we had a lot of activities.
00:21:56 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:22:05 Hannah Lynn
Planned. Yes. And so this was a really neat experience. So this was something we really wanted to budget for, to have that very unique experience.
00:22:14 Hannah Lynn
And so this was a truffle hunt in Siena. So this was about an hour away from Montepulciano. And so we took our car. We met up with Alessandro and he took us with him.
00:22:17
Yeah.
00:22:27 Hannah Lynn
His own dog is truffle hunting dog, mocha, and we had a translator come along and we were able to book this all online ahead of time and so we will have those links on our website for you guys to book if you would like. It was wonderful. I mean just a great experience.
00:22:45 Justice
Yeah. So I mean, like the history of truffle hunting, if you don't know, like you may have heard the term like a truffle pig. Yes. And so back when they first started doing truffle hunting, it was pigs. And then they obviously ran into a problem where it was like, the pigs love truffle too much and they're not, like, hunting it. They're just, like, devouring it when they find it.
00:22:56
Hmm.
00:23:04 Justice
So slowly they kind of transitioned to dogs and hunters. Such a cool experience to see, like the bond between Mocha and Alessandro, which was just like really cool, probably the most well trained dog I've ever seen puts our dog to.
00:23:17 Hannah Lynn
Yeah.
00:23:18 Justice
Shame.
00:23:20 Justice
But so yeah, so we go out into the woods, it was literally.
00:23:24 Justice
Just in a ravine behind his house.
00:23:27 Justice
And they just took us out into the woods and just the little mocha ran around and we have tons of these videos and we'll probably put some on the website, but it would just go sniff around. He have this one little command and he would start digging and he would even let you, like, once he kind of dug it up a little bit, he would let you kind of finish it off and dig out the truffle. And I mean, those were some. There were some nice sized truffles.
00:23:34
MHM.
00:23:44 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:23:47 Hannah Lynn
There were some large truffles left. No, not at all.
00:23:48 Justice
You're getting.
00:23:49 Justice
And Truffle is not cheap and that stuff that comes over to like New York and all these fancy restaurants, they want truffle. And it was just such a unique experience to see.
00:23:56 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:23:59 Justice
Again, similar to like the the pasta making of like this is authentically the culture that has remained this whole entire time and they don't really allow people to go and hunt truffle with machinery and equipment like it still has to be done this way. And so that was just an amazing experience.
00:24:05 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:24:07 Hannah Lynn
Exactly.
00:24:14 Hannah Lynn
Yeah.
00:24:17 Hannah Lynn
It was like a little preserved piece of history, you know? And it was a very educational experience as well. I think kids, of course, would love it. And so it was a very small group tour that we had. And so that was with Sienna Tartufi. And so that's kind of the name of Alessandro's.
00:24:19
Yeah.
00:24:31
MHM.
00:24:35 Hannah Lynn
Truffle hunting.
00:24:36 Justice
Company. Yeah. And so if you look it up on a map too, you'll see that it's based in the city square of Sienna. Yeah. And so that's where his shop is. Yeah. So he sells truffle just right of his shop. They make all kinds of, like, truffle Mayo and truffle olive oil and honey. Yeah, which at the end, after you complete the the hunting excursion, they invite you to come to the shop. And they actually.
00:24:47
Honey.
00:24:49
Yes.
00:24:55 Justice
Serve us some truffle from his own shop on some different, you know, crackers with honey and taste.
00:24:56 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:25:01 Justice
And obviously you can buy some, you can have it shipped directly to your house so you don't have to worry about putting on an airplane.
00:25:03 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:25:06 Hannah Lynn
And they sold. They were really good about selling some travel sized containers as well. So we brought some, actually some lemon, some citrus olive oil. We brought that home and we brought some mayonnaise, some truffle mayonnaise and honey. It was great little gifts because it was such a cool experience for us. We got to share.
00:25:14 Justice
Yeah.
00:25:23 Justice
That with our family. Yeah. And it was really perfect that it finished off.
00:25:26 Justice
In Sienna at the end there to where we could go to the shop because like I said, it's right there in the city center. And so that was perfect like a segue for us to go right into, OK now.
00:25:30 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:25:35 Justice
Let's experience Sienna.
00:25:36 Justice
Yes, yeah. And so Sienna. Yeah. And so the.
00:25:38 Hannah Lynn
The Piazza right there.
00:25:40 Justice
plaza the city center. It's like this big giant square. It's really in the shape of a circle, which you'll find out why in a second. But so this town was all about horse racing, which is like, not not what I was expecting to find in the middle of Tuscany was like horse racing. But they have this event.
00:25:46 Hannah Lynn
MHM.
00:25:53 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:25:55 Hannah Lynn
Very random, yeah.
00:26:00 Justice
It happens twice a.
00:26:01 Justice
Here and it's just like so unique. Like we had to look it up because like every shop we were walking in, they were like racing flags and all these different logos and all the logos were like different animals and stuff. And so, like, what is this about?
00:26:10 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:26:13 Justice
And so why don't you tell us a little bit about the horse racing?
00:26:15 Hannah Lynn
Yes, so this is Paleo di Siena, which has been going on since 1232.
00:26:21 Justice
It's not just mind boggling.
00:26:23 Hannah Lynn
Unbelievable. So it has this long history in Siena. So Siena has been broken into 17 neighborhoods. And so each neighborhood kind of has their own Crest or their own flag and they compete. So tell us about that competition.
00:26:38 Justice
Yeah. So it's really a lottery system. Like I said, it's twice a year. And So what happens is with the 17 neighborhoods, only 10 are allowed to race every year. So you're kind of like on a on a on a lottery type thing just to see if you're even going to be in the race that year. And so that's dramatic in and of itself.
00:26:51 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:26:58 Justice
We didn't learn a whole lot about the lottery system, how it.
00:27:00 Justice
Works, but like after that they fill the square with dirt and then they line the walls of all the shops with mattresses and you think, why do they line it with mattresses? It's because it's like a really dangerous race because they're doing this super tight circle the entire time. At high speeds, riders just fly off.
00:27:05 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:27:10 Hannah Lynn
Yep.
00:27:21 Justice
Their horse can win without a rider like it's expected to like most of the riders are gonna fall off and the.
00:27:26 Justice
Horses just keep.
00:27:27 Justice
Going which is completely different from most horse racing.
00:27:31 Justice
But it's crazy because like we watch videos and stuff and it's just it's their life. Like they live for these races every year. And so it gives them this bragging rights. They can have all year long when it's their neighborhood they won. They parade through the streets with their crests and their flags.
00:27:36 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:27:39 Hannah Lynn
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:43 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:27:49 Hannah Lynn
And they do not let the other contratas, which are the other neighborhoods, they will not let them live it down. I mean, if they are the winners and they have certain contratas.
00:27:57 Hannah Lynn
Neighborhoods that have been on a 30 year winning streak, and so all the other ones are kind of trying to get together to dethrone them. And so it's a very cool part of their culture there.
00:28:08 Justice
Yeah. You think of like, American sports and rivalries. They're like, oh, yeah, this kid, you have, these two teams have been at it for 50 years. You're like, how about since 1232?
00:28:11 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:28:16 Hannah Lynn
Yeah.
00:28:17 Justice
Amazing. So we didn't get to experience it cause it wasn't going.
00:28:20 Justice
On at the time we were there, but we definitely were, yes, I mean, if we go back and we're going through Sienna, we're intentionally planning the trip around being there at that time.
00:28:29 Hannah Lynn
Absolutely so.
00:28:31 Hannah Lynn
So that is twice a year in July and August. So I believe it's the first week of July. And then I believe it always happens on August 16th. That's the the second one for the year and that one is like the big one because then they have that bragging right all year until the next July. So that is a really, really great thing.
00:28:50 Justice
Yeah, it sounds, I mean just totally nuts and like just awesome and just an atmosphere that I want to be a part of. So we're definitely going to try to plan to be.
00:28:56 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:29:00 Justice
Going to that next time we're in Italy, so I mean that kind of wraps up this time in Tuscany. You know, we'll be continuing with our journey as we made our way up through Florence and Pisa on our way to Milan and Venice, so be on the lookout for those episodes as they come forward. And with that, that kind of wraps us up here. So this was our sort of southern Tuscany.
00:29:02 Hannah Lynn
Absolutely.
00:29:04 Hannah Lynn
Yeah.
00:29:22 Justice
Region that we were talking about today.
00:29:25 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:29:25 Justice
Why don't you tell us? We have to.
00:29:26 Justice
Look forward to in the next episode.
00:29:27 Hannah Lynn
Yes, our next episode will be going into that, almost like that northern section of Tuscany, which will be Florence and Pisa, the Renaissance era there and all of the art and history that resides with it. So looking forward to that one.
00:29:43 Justice
Yeah, super excited about that. And if you've missed any previous episodes, which would be the first one we talked about. Rome. Yeah. You can always find that on our website. They're on YouTube. They're on all the normal platforms for for the audio versions. Apple podcast, Spotify.
00:29:48 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:29:54
Yes.
00:29:57 Justice
But do check out our website because it also has our travel recommendations, which is, you know, a huge part of like what we glean on when we're talking about travel is trying to figure out what are some places that people have already experienced. Yeah. And can pass on.
00:30:10 Hannah Lynn
Yes, absolutely.
00:30:12 Justice
Their experience to.
00:30:12 Justice
Us so definitely check out the website roamingheartspodcast.com for that.
00:30:16 Justice
And then tell us a.
00:30:17 Hannah Lynn
Little bit about consultation, yes. So our travel consultations are a great way to connect with us. We love to be able to sit down with you virtually and kind of map out what do you want out of your trip. And so we are able to take what you say and we make an itinerary for you. And so if you.
00:30:18 Justice
Nation.
00:30:33
Mm-hmm.
00:30:34 Hannah Lynn
Or we often talk about what is your vision for this trip when you imagine this trip? Is it experiences? Is it great food? Is it family time or is it, you know, seeing those popular sites? And then from there we'll give you all of the links where you're able to purchase your tickets, go for the tours. All of those things. So that is a great resource that we have. It's really.
00:30:55 Hannah Lynn
One of our biggest passions is being able to connect people with this stress free way to travel.
00:31:00 Justice
Yes, I.
00:31:01 Justice
You know, wish I had somebody to consult with. We just kind of consult with each other. But like, it's always great you can bring.
00:31:07 Hannah Lynn
It's always me. I'm the consult.
00:31:07 Justice
In a resource, yes.
00:31:10 Justice
And so also you can join us on Instagram, be a part of the conversation, share your journeys, ask US questions. We have answers. We love connecting with people, and that's the platform to do it on his Instagram. So that wraps us up. We're super excited that you tuned in on our journey through Tuscany.
00:31:12 Hannah Lynn
Yes.
00:31:16 Hannah Lynn
You always love that.
00:31:20
Absolutely.
00:31:25 Justice
And we'll see you at the next step.
00:31:27 Hannah Lynn
Stop.
