We spent our honeymoon in Tuscany – 2 nights in Florence (mainly recovering from the wedding hype/hangovers) and 7 nights in the Maremma, which is South West Tuscany. The best thing about the holiday was exploring all the hilltop villages as well as sampling the local cuisine and sipping as much of the local wine as we could manage whilst keeping all 4 wheels of our fiat500 on the windy roads.

I’ll start with a cappuccino and pasta (pastry) as this was how we normally kicked off the day, the rest of the photos are a mingle of villages we travelled through, local cuisine (much of which consisted of wild boar and pici).

Pici was a new experience for ourselves, a thick spaghetti and the best I had was in Montepescali in a restaurant called “Le Logge”. The dish was ‘pici all’aglione’ which consisted of fresh pici in a simple garlic and tomato sauce – absolutely delicious! The cinghiale translates to wild boar. You find this served as a ragu in all kinds of ways, one of my favourites was over a spinach and ricotta ravioli or mixed through pici. The best I had of this dish was in “Tronca” – a trattoria in our favourite town Massa Marittima. There is a good champagne bar near by and plenty of wine osterias to have a glass of two before eating and plenty of very good hams, salamis and cheeses to try there with your wine or take home.

In Sienna we visited “La Taverna di San Guiseppe” where we had the fiorentina bistecca (as big as it was tender) and probably the best crostone I have ever had (lardo, honey, pear and sweet gorgonzola), so delicious I would go back just for them……and I suppose I’d have the beef steak again too, maybe fit in a pudding next time rather than pasta course just to top it off…

All in all, there were infinite places to explore from where we were situated in the Maremma. We can highly recommend Caminino – link below,

http://www.caminino.it/

A historic resort comprised of self-contained apartments, well enough off the ‘beaten track’ to visit some truly beautiful and truly local villages without a bumbag or sock and sandal in sight. Our apartment had its own private roof terrace, the pool has a beautiful backdrop and your electronic key opens gates where you are free to walk about the families vinyards.

Local pecorino cheeses with sweet chutney

A lunch platter of bits we picked up from various delis

Our apartment in Caminino and Roccatederighi – one of the most special villages and the first we explored

Cellar at San Guiseppe in Sienna and mohair wool wovan by a woman in Sienna also – beautiful garments all hand woven

Rolled chicken stuffed with rocket and view from Pitigliano

Sangimignano

Fruiterers and view in Florence 

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with ragu, vin santo at Tronca trattoria, Massa Marittima

Porto Ercole

Weaver in Sienna

Panificio in Massa Marittima

Porto Ercole and our apartment

Tagliatelle ai funghi porcini

San Guiseppe in Sienna

Acciughe sotto pesto in montepescali (absolutely delicious anchovies!)

Pool at Caminino and Pitigliano

Potato soup served with the bread at San Guiseppe

Caminino and Sorano

Pici all’aglione (the best I had at Montepescali)

Rooftop in apartment Caminino

Deep-fried zucchini flowers in Florence

Ossibuchi con pisellini (osso bucco) at “Gatto e la Volpe” – good restaurant Massa Marittima

Some good ideas for toppings on white pizzas – our takeaway from Sassofortino and view from hotel in Florence

Enjoy your travels if you explore Tuscany, my advice would be to visit as many of the smaller villages as they are where you find the local spots and hidden gems. I am making my own pici today and will document the recipe next, I am not sure where I can get wild boar – let me know if you do!