When Jeff and I were studying abroad together in Prague, one of our favorite places we traveled was Italy. We spent a few weeks there hitting Venice, Bologna, Florence, Siena, Cinque Terre, and Rome, and it was the beginning of our love of traveling and adventuring together.

So we hoped that sometime during our time in Ireland, we’d be able to make it back to Italy. It’s such a beautiful country with so many different areas to visit, but based on flights, our timing, and the kind of trip we wanted to have this time around, we decided to base ourselves near Pisa and explore a little of northern Tuscany. Rather than stay in a city, we opted to check out accommodations in the countryside. That way, the kids could have lots of room to run around and play while Jeff and I relaxed and drank wine in a beautiful setting. What could be better? 🙂

As I started researching, I realized there are tons of countryside retreats to stay in all over Tuscany (and I think throughout other parts of Italy, as well). Called agriturismos, they are hotels/villas/apartments situated on a “farm,” which in most cases is not a farm with animals but rather usually a vineyard. They range in degrees of size and luxury, and whether more of a hotel or a self-catering situation. The one we found was on a beautiful vineyard and combined the best of both worlds — we had our own villa with plenty of space and a kitchen in which to cook, but also some amenities of a hotel like housekeeping, a pool, and a small staff to help recommend things around the area. Besides the loads of mosquitoes we all encountered (since it’s an organic winery, they don’t spray the crops at all and thus there were loads of bugs!), it couldn’t have been a more ideal place to spend a few days.

Mostly, we just relaxed around the villa. We took walks around the vineyards, swam in the pool, and sat outside drinking cappucino or wine. One afternoon, we drove about 10 minutes to the tiny town of Lari. It’s a medieval town situated on a hilltop overlooking the fields of Tuscany below, and was very quaint to walk around. We popped into a small family-run pasta factory where we got a short tour and learned a little bit about the pasta-making process.

Our one main longer excursion was to the town of Lucca. It’s a perfectly preserved town of medieval architecture and reveals its layers of history from Roman times to the Middle ages, to more modern times. The broad 17th century walls surrounding the city are no longer needed for protection, so they now serve as a lovely wide path and park on top of the city, on which people walk, bike, or picnic while looking down on the city below. We rented a family bike (a canopy-style bike with bench seats so we could all sit together) and had a blast cycling around the old city walls. Afterwards, wandering the narrow alleyways and piazzas of the city, we happened upon some of the most delicious pizza we’ve ever had (Pizza da Felice — if you’re ever in Lucca, go there!), and rounded out the day with coffee at one of the many cafes inside the old Roman amphitheater. Driving back to our villa, we were passing through Pisa and couldn’t not stop to see the Leaning Tower.

Between our chilled out vineyard stay, playing and running around with the boys outside, exploring impossibly picturesque Italian towns, and of course delicious food and wine, it was a pretty fantastic few days in Tuscany.