MAPPING TUSCANY

It was the sea - not wine, food, a man or the rolling hills - that made me move to Tuscany in 1999. Having grown-up in a landlocked country,  from day one at work I pestered everybody in Montalcino for advice on  the best beach town and the perfect sea view on the Tuscan coast. It turned out to be an easy  mission since the locals sent me unanimously to Castiglione della Pescaia. The preferred seaside destination for people from Siena and Arezzo, Castiglione della Pescaia is also loved by the Swiss and Swedish, hence all the h oliday resorts and camping villages along some of its best beaches.  But unlike Marina di Grosseto or Principina a Mare, Castiglione della Pescaia has been a proper town way before the tourist boom took hold of the Tuscan coast. To  this day the  former fishing village has managed to keep its historic town center, clean beaches and even a handful of fishermen.  WHAT TO DO IN CASTIGLIONE DELLA PESCAIA  Swim and s...

The isle of Elba is a beach paradise, Mediterranean at its best with a hint of the Caribbean thanks to its crystal clear waters - a s long as you don't come in July or August. Elba in high season is obviously still beautiful, but the time spent enjoying the beach will be amazingly short. Most of the day you'll be looking for parking, a free parasol or an unoccupied square meter of sand to lay down your towel before you join the queue for ice cream.  Elba may be the biggest of the seven isles in the Tuscan archipelago and after Sicily and Sardinia already the third largest island of Italy, but it's still... small. In any case too small to absorb the huge amount of tourists scouting for the best beach on Elba from mid June to the first week of September (Italian school holiday time). Hence, the most important advice in regard to beach hunting on Elba is timing. Napoleon's isle is paradise on earth from the second week of September to the second week of June, a...

Beer isn't like beer. Germany and Belgium are good places to find out about this. And Tuscany.  It may seem a little weird, but over the last decade the craft beer brewing movement has managed to take foot in winemaking territory and microbreweries keep springing up all through the Tuscan hills and Italy.  Most people may have downed some Nastro Azzuro or sipped a Moretti with their pizza, but the two best known Italian beers hardly ever induce long-lasting memories. No doubt, it's up to the microbreweries to prove that Italy deserves a space on the worlds' beer map.  Curious to taste the Tuscan version of artisan beer? Leave Brunello territory this weekend and make time for a stop at the neighbors in Mont enero d'Orcia to get to know the locals' take on the planet's  most widely drunk alcoholic beverage. Definitely time for a beer.  The small town at the foot of Mount Amiata has a lovely shady park with amazing views over the Val d'Orica and...

Cinigiano's town square snowed in (a once in a century event)  The amazing quantities of snow in Tuscany have started to melt away, just in time to free our village's lovely main square for a winter outdoors event. It's a village tradition to celebrate the first day of lent (after all we just got used to celebrating during carnival, so why stop at lent?) with a hearty Tuscan dinner under the stars.  Rivolti (a local pancake made of solely of water and flour), hand-made polenta, Tuscan sausages, wine & a warming fire. Just the things one needs to get over the end of carnival and summon up some energy to sail through the last weeks of winter.  Dress warm and bring a healthy appetite. NOTTE DEI RIVOLTI 2012 , Cinigiano, Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, Wednesday 22nd of February, from 6pm till your feet start freezing off.  My Tuscan village is a 40 minutes drive from Grosseto (inland towards Monte Amiata) and an hour from Siena (driving towards Paganico...

I t's all snow over Tuscany: schools are closed, highways are in a mess and airports are total no goes. If you happen to be stuck in Siena you'll be able to kill time with a few  life events . Not so if you happen to sit on a Tuscan hill, cut off from the rest of the world  - nightmare or bliss? I'd say enjoy the forced winter break in Tuscany: put another log on the fire, open a bottle of wine and get those dusty records out... Paolo Conte Vieni via con me -  live in Amsterdam 

I always avoid Sundays at the beach:  no parking, too many beach towels, too much noise, too much queuing up for ice-cream - basically too many people.  Unless you talk winter in Tuscany. At that point Sundays at the beach mean c lear skies, warm and sunny afternoons, long walks on empty beaches and... queue-free ice-cream.  Winter walk on Castiglione della Pescaia's north beach

Most people who live in a bustling city know this one. The weekend on the horizon you study your city's Time Out guide (or similar), you read up on a few events, your partner or friends circle a few other options and after hours of discussing which theater/film/concert to go to... you open a bottle of wine and watch an old dvd. This is what could happen to anybody who travels through rural Tuscany during July and August (mind you, not during the rest of the year, when good live concerts are turning into a rare species). The list of events to contemplate for this Saturday (July 16) makes me tear my hair - why all in one night?! Below my top 5:

I know you are all ready to jot down an address in Rome, Florence or Venice. Sorry to disappoint the foodies between you, but the best Italian ice-cream is neither to be found in the eternal city nor on a canal in Venice.  The prize goes to a little gelateria (a shop that only sells ice-cream, gelato in Italian) called  Oasi del Goloso , with a a fig/ricotta ice-cream to die for!    

Never heard of my favorite bar in the beautiful Tuscan coastal town Castiglione della Pescaia? Understandably. Even though the bar is in prime position in front of the small harbor, there's not much else to be seen than the odd Fishermen having a quick drink before unloading his boat and a few holiday-makers strolling up and down the harbor front. And that's exactly where the charm of this bar lies. Perfectly unspectacular - bar il Porto, in Castiglione della Pescaia Why bother with crowded bars in Portofino or Capri if you can sit in front of the much more authentic  Circolo Marinai? With the elderly couple who runs the bar service can a bit slow and the interior design hasn't been changed for ages. So what? Sit down, have your Campari (or an alcohol free Crodino) and you'll finally understand what the concept of Dolce Vita is all about. Where : Castiglione della Pescaia, in my opinion the most beautiful town on the Tuscan shore.  When : The bar is normal...

Starting the day with caffè shakerato (ice coffee) at Fiumara Beach No doubt, my favorite time to hang out at Fiumara is the early evening. Grab your Prosecco and wait for the delicious fish to arrive whilst everybody else is swearing under their holiday apartment's lousy shower.  Fiumara's beach can get busy with locals and tourists during the day, but it is an oas is of calmness at aperitivo time (happy hour). Kite-surfers leave once the wind drops in the early evening, and everybody else seems to desert the beach once it's not sizzling hot anymore (I'll never understand it). Perfection really: with the wind gone you'll have the ideal te mperature for an early evening swim and once dried off a marvelous view and sunset  all to yourself.  Even the shower has style Should you not be able to get a table for dinner try for lunch, which is a simpler DIY affair from the counter, but food tastes still great and nobody worries if you look a bit dishevel...