Tuscany by Scooter
In the evening at our lovely Hotel in Florence, the whole group came together: Tobias from Germany - the one from the highway rest area - Tony and daughter Anna, Karin and Steve with son Ethan, Brendan and his daughter Elsa and the incredible Dane on his own. We had a good time at our short meet&greet and the welcome briefing with the presentation of the rough plans for the oncoming days. And of course at the delicious dinner with lots of talks about nearly everything - from vintage motorcycles via art&architecture, la cucina italiana to even more philosophic themes.
And it all starts with highlight after highlight: Leaving Florence we swing to Greve in Chianti, get immediatley in touch with the falorni boar, the most delicious sweets, the locals and their two wheelers. From Greve it is not far to Castellina in Chiant from where you can already see San Gimignano - the medievial Mahattan with its famous family towers - a very impressive town, not only for beautyful views, but also for the icecream worldchampions and the fingerlicking superfine Porchetta!
A perfect start into a new day underneath perfect blues skies. Today sightseeing is of minor interest - our focus is on curves! First at the racetrack of Mugello - the Italians used to call it "Mugiallo" (the "Yellow Mugello") during the days, when Valentino Rossi (with his CD colour yellow) dominated the Moto GP. We were lucky enough not only to watch racecars but also also a real stuntman in action, mhm Dane?! And afterwards we were sweeping the whole rest of the day through an as lonely as beautyful landscape, via 3000 ft high Passo del Muraglione back to our hotel in Firenze. Tuscan Antipasti, big bowls of noodles, some glasses of Chianti WIne and top notch deserts recharged our power ressources for the next day.
There was a bit of an anticipation this day in the morning. The reason: Siena - in my opinion one of the most exciting towns I have ever seen. Toni, who was already at Siena some years before, thinks pretty the same. And all the others do now. The route to other: Greve again, Castellina and some miles more to Siena. We visited the City just one day after the Palio, the wild horserace round the citys central Piazza del Campo. We had the strong impression of entering an arena through one of the gates and stairs leading to the piazza and a fine lunch and gelato. The Palazzo Peace-Chamber with its astonishing renaissance allegory paintings of the good and bad government was closed due restoration so we plenty of time for visiting the b&w striped cathedral - simply amazing ...
Next morning we left Firenze Direction Fiesole and Pontassieve to reach the gorgeous curvy road up to the summit of Passo della Consuma, another more then 3.000 feet high pass in the heart of the Toscana. In the cafe up there the show pictures of the old days when Giacomo Agostini on MV Agusta won races here. The downhill road brought us from Consuma to wonderful Arezzo, where we explored the (g)old city center and had an awesome lunch in ristorante Lancia d'Oro- just delicious dishes. Via impressive landscapes and sweeping roads we headed back to Florence and made ready for the dinner on the Terrace - Restaurant at Piazzale Michelangelo - top of Florence!
Today we explore the tuscan back roads. Our first stop was at Villa Pitiana, a superb example of the aristocratic living in former days ... and even now. After this we had a short visit at Vallombrosa Abbey. We met with the locals at the cafe in Regello, Steve bought some nice bottles of wine up there too. And had fun speeding our scooters through the open roads in the south of Florence. And in the evening we tasted one of the worlds 25 best noodle dishes according to the NYT. Mhm, quite good! A nice walk through downtown Firenze brought us back to the hotel.
Karin and Steve and Ethan, Dane, Tobias, Tony and Anna, Brendan and Elsa: We had a great time! You were lovely guests, we had so much fun, you were interested in exploring the whole Tuscany. Karin you were brave and you are an excellent scooterista!!! Big hugs & Love to You e a presto, Felix