Today was our second day on this beautiful Tuscan farm, and it gave us the opportunity to meet up with DIL’s Canadian cousin who is lucky enough to now live and work near here.

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One of our group (definitely not me) was up at the crack of dawn getting sunrise photos. Thank you Philippa!

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We all met for breakfast, knowing that we would need to be fortified for today’s long walk. Our agriturismo’s winery’s Spumante offering was on the breakfast buffet.

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Come along with us on a 7km portion of the Via Francigena pilgrimage route through pictures; walking mostly uphill involved a lot of laboured breathing and a complete lack of commentary. The Via is an ancient pilgrimage route running from Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulua Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land.

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The hill town of San Gimignano is encircled by 13th-century walls, inside of which the stone surfaced streets are lined with medieval houses.

It has a skyline of medieval towers. At one time there were as many as 70; about 14 remain.

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We stopped in a little Tuscan bottega for a lunch of saffron risotto and Pici (thick Tuscan noodles) served with a wild pig ragu.

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After lunch we walked into the centre of town, through the Piazza del Duomo where an actor dressed as Dante Alighieri was reciting ex tempore from The Divine Comedy, and on to the town’s world famous gelato shop, where we joined a fast-moving queue for our dessert.

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After the gelato stop our group members went their separate ways. We window shopped, did a tiny bit of real shopping, and went inside the Duomo – mostly because I wanted to see the Renaissance Chapel of Santa Fina, built in 1468-1475 with an altar by Benedetto da Maiano and vibrant frescoes depicting the life and miracles of Saint Fina by Domenico Ghirlandaio.

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We had a bit more free time left to wander before meeting our tour leader and the taxi drivers taking us back to the Agriturismo.

Dinner was booked for our group tonight at Rustico Salini, a trattoria located in a neighbouring Agriturismo.

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We ate in the same restaurant, but with my DIL’s cousin and her husband instead of with our tour group. This allowed for a family reunion more than 6 years in the making, since the girls haven’t seen each other since the pandemic, during which my DIL’s cousin and her husband moved to Europe to work.

San Gimignano and its surrounding villages are considered part of the Chianti region, historically a poorer region of Italy, so the cuisine is simple and flavourful renditions of economical local ingredients.

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After saying a hopeful arrivaderci, we repacked our suitcases and headed to bed. We have an early transfer to Rome tomorrow morning.