Book Review Day. June 3rd

Have you ever read a book and wished you could go there and see what the setting in the book actually looked like?  Well today was our day to go to a couple of places we had read about.

In the Countryside of Tuscany

Tuscany

First up was La Foce from the book "War in Val D'orcia" by Iris Origo. She was a rich landowner who kept a diary for two years during WWII in Italy. She also housed over 30 children who had been displaced from northern Italian cites that had been bombed.  Read the book.  We went to a restaurant they have near the Estate. Aŕrived a bit early so we had to wait outside on the patio and soak up the Tuscany atmosphere.

 Waiting to be served

 The Patio

 The Val D'orcia

 Roses everywhere

We ate and had planned to tour the gardens (the Estate is not open for tours) but had to get back on the road to go to my next book. We would return here later in the afternoon.
Ferenc Mate wrote a couple of books similar to "Under the Tuscan Sun". One of his books was about building a winery. Located near Montalcino he and his artist wife built the winery in Tuscany from scratch. Called "A Winery in Tuscany" we had read the book and then discovered that it had become an award winning winery.  Mind you a drive through the Tuscan countryside is not a hard thing to take. The first place we visited was near the beautiful hill town of Montepulciano and the second near Montalcino.

 The Mate Winery 

The Mate Vinyards 

Back to La Foce and a walk through their garden.

 Side of the Estate

 The Estate house from the garden

 Garden trellis

Val D'orcia

We wind our way back home.  A great day in Tuscany and having throughly enjoyed our book reviews.

Did I mention that the town we are staying in, is the one featured in "Under the Tuscan Sun"

Cortona