So, and now we would like an honest answer: Does the word “Tuscany” manage or not manage to evoke a lot of associations in your head? Pictures, smells, tastes, an attitude towards life. Do you automatically think of the imposing landscape? A potpourri of coffee smell and wood stove smell? Yes? It’s nice to know that it’s not just us. No? Then read on. If you don’t really want to go to Tuscany afterwards, you – sorry! – also no longer to help. Here are our 5 very personal arguments why Tuscany is ALWAYS worth a trip.
Here in the tiny villages, people live in a small microcosm. They drink their espresso at the counter, they do their shopping at the grocer around the corner. They chat longer, walk more slowly, laugh more. It feels a bit like time has stood still. And don’t think you can get anything here in the afternoon, because that’s when the shopkeepers take their nap.
Questions that you spend your whole life looking for answers to: why it that ice cream tastes so incredibly delicious in Italy? And why can’t other countries do the same? There she is in front of you, the Italian ice cream mom. She is usually quite corpulent and calls out a brisk “Prego, prego!” at you. With miserable intonation you try to “Pistaccio”, “Nocciolone” and “Fragoline di bosco” to be pronounced as elegantly as possible. It doesn’t work. She smiles. You smile sheepishly. She hands you the stanitzel. And then: BOOM. It just doesn’t get any better! “It tastes particularly good this time!”, we hear ourselves saying. We said it yesterday and we will say it again tomorrow.
Olive groves and vines. hills and valleys. Cypress avenues and pine trees. Villages where Grandma and Grandpa sit outside in front of the bank and stare wide-eyed at everyone who passes by. How is it that Tuscany fulfills so many clichés? Imagine the most idyllic landscape you have ever seen! Plus the most picturesque village you can imagine. People who couldn’t be more “Italian”. Are you ready? And now let me tell you: Tuscany can do it even better. Still don’t believe us? Then look at these photos!
Yes, admittedly. All of Italy can do it: prepare good coffee. And as we sit on the bench in front of a bar and sip the milk froth of our cappuccino, we ask ourselves: Why on earth does the coffee in Vienna often taste so unbelievably disgusting? And : Why hasn’t the Affogato made it onto our Standard map yet? One or two scoops of ice cream combined with a good espresso – it doesn’t get any better than that. No wonder that our coffee consumption in Tuscany has reached unbelievable proportions.
It’s not just the imposing buildings – the Cathedral of Florence, the leaning tower of Pisa, the striking towers of San Gimignano – that amaze us. Above all, it’s the small details: the old stone houses, the hidden alleys, the squares, the balconies, the backyards and frescoes. And the washing lines, everywhere these washing lines that really make the cityscape perfect.
Do you already know our Tuscany video?
2015 Have you been to Tuscany? What particularly excited you? As always, we look forward to your comments.
