Andiamo Adventurer's: A 2014 Viva Italia Trip Report - Complete!

[mare1203]

Happy Labor Day Weekend, Adventurer's! I finally had the chance to write-up the rest of my trip, which will make my updates much faster! I'm going to try to upload a couple of updates today and tomorrow. Andiamo!

Tuscan Holiday/Pasta Making:


Our next day in Tuscany was the most relaxing of the entire trip. Our itinerary for the day included pasta making at a farm, lunch on the patio (my favorite way to eat), an afternoon on our own, and dinner at a monastery.


We didn’t have to be up super early for this adventure, so we headed down to breakfast around 8:00 a.m. and left for the farm around 9:00. Before breakfast my dad and I took a walk up into town. There’s not much there, but it’s beautiful countryside. The breakfast spread in Tuscany was enough to fill you up. They had fresh bread, which was quite tasty. The staff would come around and bring drinks for anyone who wanted coffee.


Their cappuccino’s came out special for everyone. Here is a picture of one!


It was about a 30 minute drive to the family farm, so we all loaded on to the bus. The trip seemed to take a while and I am pretty sure we went around in a few circles. I may not have known where I was, but you just have a feeling when you’re lost. Plus, going around in circles is much more noticeable when you’re on a bus. Turns out, the bus driver went to the wrong entrance and we had to find our way to the correct one.


For our next adventure we would be heading to a family farm in the heart of Tuscany. I’ve noticed most of the itineraries in Adventures by Disney includes some sort of hands-on activity involving food. Ours was no different as we were going to do some pasta making. I didn’t have an opinion either way on this activity before we did it, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It didn’t go so well for me, but it was fun to do and I thought it a fun and different way to spend the morning.


We were met at the farm by Sarah, the daughter of the farms owners. She was young, sweet, and had a visible passion both for her farm and for cooking in general. We really enjoyed our time with her. Before going in for the pasta making activity, Sarah gave us some general information about the farm and her family's history with it. Her father and uncle immigrated to the Tuscan area looking for jobs over 50 years ago and found employment on the farm. They worked on the farm until they had the opportunity to buy it.


Today, Sarah’s father and uncle, both in their 80’s still work on the farm as much as possible. This is her and her uncle, still working hard.

Sarah said she has always had a passion for food and for the farm. She likes cooking from scratch with her mother and has an appreciation for knowing and understand where food comes from. They run a restaurant and make almost all their own food from products raised or grown on the farm. The farm has a vineyard and cows among other working areas. In the early 200o’s Sarah decided to write a cookbook dedicated to her family’s recipes. To her surprise it was picked up by a publisher and has sold over 5,000 copies.


After giving us this overview of our location we were led into a room where we found it set-up for us to make our pasta.


We each grabbed a spot which included a cutting board, a rolling pin, and an apron for us to wear. We then gathered around Sarah for the pasta making demonstration. She definitely made the process look easy.


It doesn’t take all that much to make pasta from scratch, but it does take practice and a bit of finesse. She showed us how to roll it out and gave us instructions on how to cut out a few different types of pasta, including fettuccine, ravioli, and tortellini. After seeing Sarah do the demonstration I think we were all thinking pretty highly of ourselves...then we were released to do it ourselves!


I very much enjoyed the pasta making event even though I failed miserably at it. It will definitely take a few more tries to get pasta making right! The activity gave us all a chance to interact with one another in a way we hadn’t had the chance to do so far. And by that time we all knew one another well enough to throw some playful jabs in there at the type of pasta’s people were making.


The guides got in on the fun as well. There was plenty of flour being strewn on the floor, on clothes, and on faces!


As we finished up our pasta we showed off our creations to the cameras. Some people did a really great job with their pasta!


A group shot of us and our pasta creations.​

 

[georgiagirl2]

Your pictures are beautiful! The day at Sarah's farm was my favorite one of the trip.

 

[mare1203]

Your pictures are beautiful! The day at Sarah's farm was my favorite one of the trip.

Thank you! Some are mine, some are my sisters and plenty belong to our wonderful guides!

 

[mare1203]

Are you all ready for another update? That's a silly question, of course you are! Andiamo!


Once we were finished with the pasta making and everyone had a chance to clean up a little we embarked on part 2 of our day at the farm: a short tour. Honestly, I don’t think anyone loved this part or was really looking forward to it, but it was most likely necessary for 2 reasons: 1) it was part of the deal to also host the pasta making and 2) to keep us occupied until lunch was ready. We visited 2 areas during the tour.



First up was the vineyard and barrel room used for wine making. Sarah gave us an overview of the types of barrels they use and a short description of the process.



This was really the cliffs notes version of visiting a vineyard, but we got some fun pictures.


They put rose bushes to signal something, but I don't remember what. Perhaps Kathy remembers and will comment!

The second part was visiting the cows. While we were there some of the cows were getting pedicures, which was sort of a fun fact. They also keep the cows separated. To be honest, I spent about 3 minutes with the cows and then headed out to wait for the others along with a few of my fellow adventurers. I grew up in the Midwest and have seen more than my fair share of cows.


The cows were fun for the kids (and Dad's too!)!

While at the farm Marco and Sarah were having a good time bantering back and forth. He was pretty silly, getting flour all over and acting like a kid. A few of the adventurers in the group noticed the two of them seemed to have a great chemistry and jokingly asked ‘Marco, is Sarah your girlfriend?!’. He said no, but some of the ladies were ready to set him up!


Before lunch, the adults were separated from the kids for a short activity. The junior adventurers made olive oil.



The adults went to the patio for a short wine tasting. We tried a red and white.



Lunch was held outside on the patio overlooking the farm and the Tuscan countryside. It was a gorgeous view. There was some weather coming in, so there was a nice breeze to keep us, well, not cool, but at least comfortable during the meal. Lunch included water, soda, and both red & white wines.


The lunch was not rushed in the slightest, allowing us to visit, take pictures, and explore the general area. Here you can see Kathy in what I am sure is conversation, with Troy looking on!

There was a small shop where you could buy pasta, wine, and Sarah’s book which she was signing for anyone who wanted one. The wines were pretty good, and at 5 Euro a great bargain.


Sadly, I only found one picture of our food from lunch. Everyone was eager to eat and forgot. It doesn't really matter, though, because we do have a picture of the one that really matters. First up was a saffron, pea, and sage spaghetti that everyone raved about. It was light and flavorful, and one of our favorite pastas of the entire trip.

The second pasta was a pappardelle pasta in a light tomato sauce. This was also very good. Dessert, of which I do not have a picture, was a chocolate cake or berry panna cotta. I got the panna cotta and thought it was light and flavorful.

The only real eventful thing that happened at lunch was that my dad accidentally spilled red wine on my white pants...eesh! He felt really bad, but what can you do? I was able to get some of it out before it set in, but then Troy came over with the equivalent of a tide stick! With that and some water, I was able to get the stain pretty much out of my pants. We also washed them out when we got back to the hotel and I cleaned them when I got home, but at least they weren't ruined.

The afternoon was on our own at the hotel. However, there was also an option to go to Pisa if you were interested. Troy and Marco made the announcement the day before and set up a van to take anyone who wanted to go. We had 2 families make the trip. The van picked them up at the farm and then dropped them off at the monastery for dinner. The price is dependent on how many people go. At about 2:30 the rest of us boarded the bus and headed towards the hotel.

We spent most of our free time just relaxing at the hotel. While we were at lunch the clouds had rolled in and the wind picked up, so it ended up being a cloudy afternoon. Kathy and I spent most of the time out by the pool as did most of the other families. We spent some time talking to one of the families who did the Costa Rica trip the previous year. They really enjoyed their adventure and it sounds like a great trip. They said it was a lot more physical activity than this one, which makes a lot of sense as Italy has so much history to explore.

My next update will include dinner at the Monastery, but I will leave you with a few more pictures of our fabulous farm venue.









​

 

[kanadar]

I can't remember exactly but I believe the rose bushes were placed at the end of rows because there is a certain bug that likes to eat the grapes as well as rose bushes. The roses blossom before the grapes, so if the roses are eaten by the bugs, they know to spray the trees to prevent these bugs from eating the grapes.

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

What an amazing view! We leave in less than 2 weeks. I am so excited!

Laurie

 

[Cousin Orville]

We had the same sort of thing with the resort in Santorini that you had in Tuscany. The rooms were all different configurations, and it seemed a bit random as to who got what. There were suites, town-house type rooms, and regular studio-type rooms. They were all large and very nice, but they really varied greatly.

Sayhello

So was our "hotel" in the Loire Valley (France). There were rooms in the main chateau, rooms in the servant quarters?, and ours was room in the old stables - all converted of course . It was actually a very cool hotel.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I can't remember exactly but I believe the rose bushes were placed at the end of rows because there is a certain bug that likes to eat the grapes as well as rose bushes. The roses blossom before the grapes, so if the roses are eaten by the bugs, they know to spray the trees to prevent these bugs from eating the grapes.

Well that's clever!

 

[mare1203]

Let's finish up our Tuscan Holiday with a quick update about dinner. Andiamo!

After an afternoon of relaxation we met up to head out for dinner. Since we had some time before the bus left, my Dad and I stopped at the bar for an aptertif.


I had seen a bunch of Italians ordering this bright orange drink and wanted to try it for myself. It turned out to be an Aperol Spritz. The Aperol Spritz is a pre-dinner drink of Prosecco, Aperol, and Club Soda. It is usually garnished with an orange. Aperol has an orangey-bitter flavor with some herb notes as well. The spirit does not have an explicit list of flavors, it just sort of "is". I should also note that Aperol is similar to another popular Italian spirit...Campari, and it is made by the same company. Campari is a darker red in color and more bitter in flavor. I did not love this drink, but I was glad I tried one.


That evening we did dinner at a monastery. We were excitedly met by the junior adventurers who had arrived back from Pisa.

The reactions to this experience were mostly positive, but I should note that there is some audience interaction. If you don't like to get involved, you probably won't like it. I thought it was quite entertaining. It was more of a medieval style meal and evening.


We were seated at two long tables where we sat facing one another with the food and waitresses being served in the middle. It was an interesting set up.


There meal started off with some charcuterie and flash fried veggies.


For the main course we received a couple of different meats. The waitstaff came down the middle and offered the options to each person. I believe there was a chicken and a beef option. It was a hearty meal.


Dessert was either an apple crumble type dessert or a fruit and panna cotta-esque option. I had the apple option and thought it was both delicious and I nice change of pace from the creamy desserts we had been having.




As we finished our dinner the entertainment portion of the evening began.








There was a troupe a musician comedians who got everyone up and dancing.






They mixed music and laughter to create the show. The vast majority of audience interaction were the guys in the group. Most of our men got into it and were good sports. They did 3 different skits involving audience participation. I won’t go into the content of each to keep some of the surprise, but my Dad got in on the fun in one skit. As you can see, they did not get into it at all...




At the end they did a final song to show off their skills. One interesting thing about this night was that it was the longest day of the year, so while most groups will experience this at night, it was still daylight out for the entirety of our dinner. I don’t know why this would make a difference, but I really felt like it would. Maybe it would have given the monastery a bit more ambiance?

Once we had our bellies filled and were sufficiently entertained we got back on the bus toward the hotel. I do not remember doing anything in particular that night. The next day...Florence!​

 

[mare1203]

Hi all! I'm back and ready to give you another update. Andiamo!


I had been anticipating our day-trip to Florence after having heard nothing but good things about the city. Florence, also known as Firenze, has a long and distinguished past as the capital city of the Tuscan region of Italy.

We did not leave super early for Florence and it was about an hour ride to the city. Adventurers have 2 options on the Florence day for when they leave. Initially, we were planning on spending the entire day in Florence and leaving on the late bus. on the ride over, our guides informed us that it was St. John the Baptist Day in Florence and there would be celebrations going on all day. Celebrations were to include fireworks and a parade (oh no! not another parade!).


When we arrived, the city was quite lively and our guides commented that it was definitely busier than normal. The flag of Florence was out in full force!


Our first stop was picking up our local guide, Sam.


He then led us to the Galleria dell’Accademia, home to the original David. Of course, I had heard of the David, but honestly I didn’t know too much about it. The guides, especially Troy, made it pretty fun by continually talking up the beauty of the David. During one point in our wait, he pulled our guide aside to “secretly” (aka whisper while knowing the whisper device was still on) tell Sam that he and Troy should be ready to take care of the ladies when they encounter the David for the first time, since women have been known to faint at the sight of him. Our wait to get into the Accademia was the longest wait of our trip. Even though we had pre-bought the tickets there was a snaking line to get in and we waited for about 30 minutes. This gave Sam the opportunity to give us some history about the city.


Florence known as an elegant city with a vibrant culture and considered the birthplace of the Renaissance. Florence was once one of the wealthiest cities in the world, and is still known for its influence in arts, culture, and fashion. If you are partial to leather, Florence is where you should wait to purchase those items. They are everywhere and you can find options for every budget.

During its reign as a powerful city in Europe, Florence was ruled by the Medici family. Although the Medici’s have a tumultuous past, the family contributed much to the arts and culture of the time, commissioning works by Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Botticelli. Today, there are still lots of art and cultural influences in the city.


The David is really the main attraction of the Accademia and it doesn’t take long to get through the entire museum. This attraction focuses on statues, especially those from Michaelangelo. Other than the David, none of the statues are complete. There are various speculations as to why, but the most popular theory is that Michaelangelo was so afraid his other statues wouldn’t be as celebrated as the David he just didn’t finish them.



Once we got in, Sam took us all around the David so we were able to see all angles and take note of the intricacies of the statue. It really was something to see, and it’s giant! One fun fact about the David is that the marble used by Michaelangelo had been deemed unusable by 2 other artists, making his ability to create such a perfect structure that much more impressive.




After seeing the statue we were given time on our own to peruse the rest of the museum and shop in the gift shop. Most of us ladies went back to feign fainting in front of the statue. Don’t worry, Troy was there to save us!

​

 

[mare1203]

Hi All! I'm back with another update! Let's continue our tour of Florence, shall we? Andiamo!

From the Accademmia, we were off on a walking tour of the city. Our first stop was the Duomo di Firenze.




It was completed in the gothic style and is well known for its facade rather than interior. The Duomo is enormous!


Its dome was engineered by Brunelleschi while the exterior uses marble panels using colors of white, pink, and green. Sam gave us information about how the dome was constructed, but I don’t remember all the details. I do know that he was inspired by the Pantheon. Across from the Duomo is the Florence Baptistry, but it is currently under restoration, so parts of it are covered for those purposes.


Our tour of Florence was complete with a stop out front of the Disney Store (we are on a Disney trip, after all). While we were walking through the city, Sam gave us some tips on both gelato and shopping. Mostly, that when seeking out gelato, the colors should be more muted, it should at least be in stainless bins, if not in stainless drums, and should not be mountainous. If the gelato is a mountain that indicates it has been pumped with air. In terms of shopping, he said that leather was the main product and that you should negotiate with sellers. The small shops are good, and for less expensive gifts for others the outside vendors with carts are okay. Just steer clear of the guys roaming around with leather goods.


We stopped briefly at the Piazza della Signoria, which is considered the political city center and home to the Palazzo Vecchio and Uffizi Galleries.


Outside the Palazzo Vecchio are a number of statues, including a replica of the David we saw earlier. From this square we headed to a second, the Piazza Santa Croce. This was where we found lunch and an empty stadium that dominated much of the square. It is home to Calcio Fiorentino, or Florentine football.


It is an ancient game closer to rugby than football and soccer, but with few rules and lots of ‘men beating up on one another’. The finals were supposed to be held that day, but apparently the game had earlier gotten out of hand and the mayor cancelled the event. If you look at the left hand corner of this picture you can see the bleachers were still set up.


Our lunch was held at a restaurant on the other side of the square. We had ordered lunch the previous day and had a few options.


Troy highly recommended the lasagna, so that is what everyone in my family chose. I know there was also a chicken dish and one other option. I thought the lasagna was very good and the meat sauce to be incredible, but would have preferred to just go out on our own for lunch. We had been given a restaurant recommendation by a good friend who had eaten there years ago. However, they were only open for lunch. We could have left the group and gone their for lunch on our own, but 1) lunch was included in the price of the adventure and 2) we asked Sam about it and though he highly recommended it, he also said it was a bit of a walk and we didn’t feel like walking any more since it was hot and we had been walking for the past hour.


After lunch we were on our own in Florence. There was an option to see the Palazzo Vecchio. By this time, our family was pretty much museumed out and ready for some time to explore and shop, so we did not do the Palazzo Vecchio. I don’t regret the decision, but those who did it said it was a wonderful tour, so I would probably opt to do it if given a second chance (another reason Disney should think about adding a 2nd day in Florence!). The junior adventurers who went said it was an interactive and fun activity. Plus, there are some wonderful views from the top.


Actually, to be honest, I wish we had 2 days in Florence. It was my favorite city and I just don’t think we got to experience enough of it. Obviously, it didn’t help that this was basically a holiday in Florence meaning it was way busier than usual. I enjoyed staying in Tuscany for the relaxation aspect, but Florence is somewhere I will definitely hanker to get back to in the future.


We used our free time to find some leather and explore the city on our own. We went down many small streets to see what we found and were happily treated to many cute shops. It would have been easy to spend lots of money in Florence!

My sister found a nice sports store where she bought a soccer jersey for her fiance. They had a number of different soccer teams to choose from and would personalize it on site for an extra fee. The personalization was immediate and took about 3 minutes, which was cool.


We also found a well-known gelato spot, Grom, and got some gelato. They are of the artisanal variety and actually a chain. You can also find them in Venice, fyi. I tried a melone flavor and thought it was fresh and flavorful. While we were exploring we decided to head back on the early bus rather than the later.


Before we had to meet the group we found this little German style pub and stopped in for a pint!

There was another World Cup game that night and the bar in the hotel was going to set up a game-watch for anyone interested. A relaxing night at the hotel sounded pretty good, so we went back and met up with the the group.


The first bus back left at 5:30 for us and not so surprisingly, only 7 adventurers opted to stay. Also, not surprisingly, those 7 had also done the Palazzo Vecchio, so they probably used that extra time to explore the city. A few people in our group chose to take a taxi back to the hotel after lunch. We heard it was about 80 Euro. Even after our Tuscan Holiday the day before we were pooped. I’m not sure this would be such an issue if you went in April/May or September/October since the heat exhausts even the best of us.​

 

[kanadar]

Something I found extremely interesting about the Duomo was about the construction of the dome. I can't remember all the details but they wanted the dome to be built but something about the size (I think) made it very difficult. So difficult that they said they would reward the person who could figure out how to build it. I don't remember who figured out a way to build it but to this day they have no idea how he did it because he destroyed all of his plans and his research as soon as the dome was finished.

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

Still loving this report! We leave in 5 days for Italy!! Do you happen to remember the name or general location of the sports store where your sister found the jersey? A soccer jersey is all my son wants as a souvenier.

Laurie

 

[tracyv]

This report is so awesome! I look forward to your posts! In Florence, did anyone in your group go to the uffizi and if so did the guides obtain the tickets, or do you have to do that in advance?

 

[twentyco]

This report is so awesome! I look forward to your posts! In Florence, did anyone in your group go to the uffizi and if so did the guides obtain the tickets, or do you have to do that in advance?

I was on the tour a few days after this one. We booked tickets to the Uffizi in advance for 4 pm, which worked well for us. We toured Palazzo Vecchio after lunch (get in the first group), and then walked over to the Uffizi for our entry time. It is easy to book online in advance.

 

[tracyv]

I was on the tour a few days after this one. We booked tickets to the Uffizi in advance for 4 pm, which worked well for us. We toured Palazzo Vecchio after lunch (get in the first group), and then walked over to the Uffizi for our entry time. It is easy to book online in advance.

Thank you! I will surely do this. How was the uffizi?

 

[mare1203]

Still loving this report! We leave in 5 days for Italy!! Do you happen to remember the name or general location of the sports store where your sister found the jersey? A soccer jersey is all my son wants as a souvenier.

Laurie

I'm so excited for you! I don't exactly remember the name of the store, but we walked right by it on our walking tour. It may have been called Universo Sport. I found it very easy to backtrack in Florence to re-locate it, though!

 

[twentyco]

Thank you! I will surely do this. How was the uffizi?

I am not really an art museum person, but my daughter, who loves art and history, LOVED the Uffizi. On more than one occasion, we walked in to one of the rooms, and she stopped in her tracks and said "Is that the real ..." (name of painting). She would then just stand or sit staring at it for a long time. So for true art lovers, I would say it is well worth it. For me it was pretty, but the depth of it was lost on me because I am clueless about art!

We did the Uffizi and gift shop, and then made our way back to the meeting spot and took the early bus back to the hotel. I think for us the early bus was at about 6:30, so later than for Mary's group. I am not sure why that was. But we did not see much of anything of Florence other than museums, and we did not have any real time for shopping. Those things were not a huge priority for us, but if they are you will probably want to plan on taking the later bus back. It was a long day, and we were just too tired to do that.

Also, if you love art museums, we also did the Galleria Borghese in Rome the day we arrived. (We had a pre-day, so the first day of the adventure we went to Ostia Antica -- but the day we flew in, we arrived in the morning and went to the Galleria Borghese in the afternoon). If you want any info on that, let me know --we took the subway from the hotel and it worked fine (also booking tickets online in advance).

 

[tracyv]

I am not really an art museum person, but my daughter, who loves art and history, LOVED the Uffizi. On more than one occasion, we walked in to one of the rooms, and she stopped in her tracks and said "Is that the real ..." (name of painting). She would then just stand or sit staring at it for a long time. So for true art lovers, I would say it is well worth it. For me it was pretty, but the depth of it was lost on me because I am clueless about art! We did the Uffizi and gift shop, and then made our way back to the meeting spot and took the early bus back to the hotel. I think for us the early bus was at about 6:30, so later than for Mary's group. I am not sure why that was. But we did not see much of anything of Florence other than museums, and we did not have any real time for shopping. Those things were not a huge priority for us, but if they are you will probably want to plan on taking the later bus back. It was a long day, and we were just too tired to do that. Also, if you love art museums, we also did the Galleria Borghese in Rome the day we arrived. (We had a pre-day, so the first day of the adventure we went to Ostia Antica -- but the day we flew in, we arrived in the morning and went to the Galleria Borghese in the afternoon). If you want any info on that, let me know --we took the subway from the hotel and it worked fine (also booking tickets online in advance).

Yes I would love info on that! Thank you so much! We do have a pre-day in Rome so that would be awesome.

Tracy

 

[mare1203]

We also did the Borghese Gallery for our Pre-Day. Definitely recommend. Here is the website where you can pre-book your tickets: http://www.galleriaborghese.it/default-en.htm

Our guidebook said to go upstairs first and then make your way down since groups are limited to 2 hour time blocks. This makes for a less crowded experience, though the place is huge so I'm not sure it much matters. If you're really interested in the art I would also do some checking for a private tour guide. They have some information on the website, but a quick Google search could also point you to some guides. We saw a couple with a private guide and their information was much more in depth than just roaming around aimlessly admiring the art. They do provide some information there, but not to the extent a guide would give you.

I'm not going to comment on the transportation as those who have read my report on that know it went...not well, haha!