When a person goes to Italy, they must take a vineyard tour while in Tuscany. My mom and I took a public coach bus 50 minutes away from Florence and got off at the Mercantile stop...which was about 3 stops too soon. In the countryside of Tuscany, few english speakers can be found.
We asked two men in the city center how to get to Castello il Palagio and they said it was a 4 km walk. We had only one choice so we started in the direction they pointed. Within minutes we came to a fork in the road and asked an old Italian woman where to go from there. She spoke only Italian and kept saying "Quatro Strado." She made us go down the right street of the fork. We kept walking up hills and back down. For the entire 45 minute walk, all we could do was admire the countryside in Tuscany with rolling hills of vineyards and villas while saying "thank goodness it's not raining" repeatedly.
All of the sudden, we came around a corner and saw the vineyard we were looking for, Castello Il Palagio! I had booked us a tour of the vineyard and a tasting of wine, cheese, bread, and salad. Since we arrived a little later than planned, we got a private tour of the castle which was built in 1252. The castle sits between Florence and Siena and served as a military structure until 300 years ago it became a vineyard. We learned that one olive tree produces only 4 bottles of olive oil. Our guide, who was a small, young Italian woman, showed us the wine cellar which previously served as the castle's underground prison. After the tour it was time to eat!
We walked upstairs and found a table waiting with toasted garlic bread and olive oil, wines, and salad. Our guide also gave us almond cookies for dessert. We loved our tour and decided it was our favorite thing we did in Italy!
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