The first day of our journey through Southern Tuscany saw us leave the hustle and bustle of Rome behind. As it is Saturday we are doing what every local Roman does, leave the city to the tourists over the weekend. 
We travelled for about an hour and a half before stopping for lunch in a beautiful lakeside town. The lake is actually the crater of an ancient volcano with the water a bright blue colour against the dark sandy shore.
Another hour further on brings us to Santa Fiori, a Medieval town which has a long history, more recently that of a mineral mining town , but now houses only approximately 1,000 residents. It has a charming atmosphere with a town square of course and being built high on the hillside it has a stunning view over the valley and adjoining hills.
The highlight of our day, and a wonderful start to our trip was the evening meal and entertainment. OK we were actually the entertainment, or at least a part of it. As the evening turned out, we were guests at a party in our hotel with brilliant live music. The Australians (that is us) were seated at one end of the room and the Italians at the other end of the room. Neither of us could speak any of the other’s language, however as we all know, music and dance is an international language. We were of course the rowdy lot in the room and it didn’t take long for Marion to get the old Italian gentleman up and dancing, which was the incentive needed for everyone else on the Italian side of the room to join the rowdy Aussies on the dance floor. What a great night we had! The musicians played on in their own time for hours and did not want to stop with such an appreciative audience. Exhaustion finally saw us all tumble up to bed. A great start to our Tuscan experience.
– signing off, from Marika, Women’s Own Adventure
