I arrived in Florence on a particularly chilly and rainy evening and as the taxi drove to my lodgings at Villa Murray just outside of the city, I realized the rain was becoming increasingly solid – snow. My brave driver slid right and left up the steep and twisted driveway to the villa and he prevailed – barely. As I watched him slide back down the winding road, the snow was beginning to pile up and I hurried inside the warm and inviting villa. Villa Murray is a sixteenth-century villa painted soft yellow and surrounded by a wonderfully dense forest filled with deer and wild boar. I was greeted by owner Silvia Sgobbi who showed me to my extremely spacious room appointed with a large queen bed, plush chairs and era-appropriate heavy wooden furniture. The ceiling was utterly remarkable – beautifully decorated wooden-cut squares painted with multitudes of color in the sixteenth-century style. I was disappointed to learn that the ceiling was one of the few things in the villa that actually wasn’t of that time period. Pretty white shuttered doors led to the bathroom which was surprisingly big and looked to be newly renovated featuring a huge bathtub,  good sized sink, towel warmer and of course the requisite bidet.  The highlight of the room however, was the dark wood-shuttered window that when opened, revealed the expansive Tuscan sky, lush forest and lightly-falling snow.  A delicious selection of breakfast goodies comes with your accommodation at Villa Murray as does the friendly smile and conversation of resident helper Agatha who makes your stay all the more pleasant. On the other hand, the owner actually lives in the villa with her two tweenage boys who enjoy playing loud video games and screaming at each other so you take the good with the not-so-great.   I chose Villa Murray for several reasons – its location outside of Florence guarantees a much more reasonable price and free parking as well as an excellent location for daytripping to the delightful towns throughout Tuscany.  

I rented a bright yellow Panda to zoom around the Tuscan countryside – right from the start one notices the excellent signage in Italy. Their large signs are so clearly marked and repeated so often that if you get lost, you really just aren’t looking. The freeways are even better – they post several signs far in advance of exits and as the exits are coming up, they paint huge letters directly on the pavement with arrows.  Honestly – if you miss it you aren’t looking.  On the other hand, I never did entirely master the abundant roundabouts - I think I may have secured some kind of world record at Poggibonsi for sheer number of times around.  I have since decided roundabouts are an acquired taste.  

I selected cities throughout Tuscany to visit including Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Viareggio, Siena, Cortona, Passignano, Monteriggioni, Volterra and San Gimignano but ended up stopping in several more due to questionable map skills and various other operator-errors, serendipitously discovering  picturesque medieval gems hidden in peaceful little hamlets. Tuscan city notes coming in Florence and Tuscany – Part II.