We checked out of our Airbnb in Florence early to pick up our Budget Rental car. Our original pick up time was 11am, but after a long time on the phone with Budget, we knew we could pick it up at least two hours early. We arrive there around 10, there was only one person in front of me, and we were on the road by 10:30. As I was walking out the rental car there had to be 10 additional customers behind us. We picked a good time to go.

I was a little nervous about driving in Florence, but honestly, that was the easiest part of the day. It took us about 45 minutes to drive to San Gimignano. We weren’t planning on going into this little wall city today, but we had two wineries to visit in the area.

Our first winery was called Tenuto Torciano. We were a little concerned when we pulled up and saw buses in the parking lot for fear that this was a giant group tour place to visit. Some of the signage could’ve been better because we had no idea where to go to check in or start our lunch. Yes, we had a light lunch with our tasting. Well Mom’s tasting not mine. I was excited to taste the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. After asking 4 people where do we go, the last person we asked, walked us to the reception area. Our light lunch consisted of Mom tasting 8 types of wine, which included five whites, a rosé and a Chianti. Her favorite bottle was Vermentino, with the blue peacock on the label. Our light lunch wasn’t very light. It included a plate of Tuscan, salami, cheese, lasagna, tuscan ribollita, and something similar to biscotti, but smaller called cantuccini. It was quite tasty.

Our second winery, we visited was Podere La Marronala, also located in the same area only about 15 minutes from our first one. This was on organic and biodynamic, family-run farm. Which means no pesticides, and for me it only meant water for to drink. They don’t have anything else on the property to drink, other than wine and water.

At this winery, mom only tasted five types of wine. We thought we started off with two assuming that there might only be two but then she brought three more. One was an orange wine. I’ve never seen an orange colored wine before. The wine is essentially produced as if it were a red wine, but with white grapes. This is what creates an orangish color and an intense, robust flavor. The wine’s skin lends substance, creating a wine that is complex both in the nose and the mouth.

The one she enjoyed was a sparkling white wine made similarly to how Prosecco is made. Here’s a little blurb about it.

Piuma della Marronaia is a sparkling wine composed of 100% Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the varietal representative of our town.These grapes are grown in the Podere le Colonne vineyard, San Gimignano. The lack of pesticides in the soil, natural minerality and southeast exposure during the hot Tuscan summer, makes this the ideal habitat for cultivating the Vernaccia di San Gimignano grape.

The best part of this winery was the view. You could see San Gimignano from our table. We were rather impressed by the number of wine glasses any of the waiters could carry in one hand. I enjoyed the balsamic vinegar and olive oil tasting more than anything else.

After leaving this Vineyard, our plan was to go to a fort where I could take photos of San Gimignano. That didn’t turn out exactly as planned. We technically found the fort, but realized it was a one-way street with no easy way to turn around. But you had to turn around that was the only way out. I was sure I was going to ding the shit out of the car. Fortunately, while stressful that was less stressful than some of the rest of the drive. Little did we know we were actually in the wall city of San Gimignano. Our GPS kept telling us to turn on what look like incorrect roads. I drove into a square, we turned around there. We drove down a pedestrian Street. Pretty sure we should’ve gotten a ticket but got lucky. People kept looking at us like what are you doing on this road? This is not for you. At this point, I wasn’t quite yelling at my mother. But when I kept asking her things like should we turn here and she said I don’t know when she was navigating. At one point we had to push our mirrors in to not hit the car next to us or the wall. Let’s just say I’m not going back to that little city anytime soon. Originally we considered exploring it over the next few days. Nope, not unless someone else is driving.

Then we made the hour long track into Siena. Not the actual city because we can’t drive in that city ha ha ha. We’re staying in an apartment on the floors first floor in the country. Which means steep, narrow gravel roads were there’s no way two cars can pass. Some of the Italian drivers were getting frustrated with my slow driving, which was above the speed limit. At one point I had to pull over just so I can breathe. That’s when I realized I had 19% left on my iPhone and 13 minutes until we reached the Airbnb. Unfortunately, you can’t have the cell phone plugged in and listen to her giving us directions at the same time. Eventually, we made it there. At first we weren’t sure we were at the right place, but decided to unpack the car anyway because if it wasn’t the right place, we were gonna make friends with the family, and ask if we could spend the night.

Our host, who we thought her name was Adriana is actually Cinzia but it’s pronounced Cynthia. Adriana is Cynthia’s mother who doesn’t speak English and is deaf. they both live here on the second floor, we were surprised to see Cynthia here when we arrive because she was supposed to go into Siena for work this evening. She’s a tour guide and works in both Florence and Siena.

Tomorrow we are supposed to go into Siena, but will make that decision in the morning after a good nights sleep.

Sorry, no close up photos of San Gimignano