At 10AM, a black posh Mercedes pulled up driven by a man in a fancy Italian suit-the driver Anne hired for our tour of Tuscan villages recommended by Rick Steves. We started out with Multepulciano- close to where we were staying. This medieval hilltop village had a parking lot at the entrance and as the roadways we narrow cobblestone paths between the ancient building, there were no cars inside the town itself.

Our next village was Montichiello. Again, the town was situated on the top of a hillside- a designated UNESCO site.

Our next stop was Pienza – a fortified mountaintop village established in the 15th century. It became the summer home of Pope Pius 11 who worked on updating the village. Didn’t realize until too late the the translation of the sign on the door said ‘no photos’

We also visited a very small village – Bagno Vignoni famous for its hot spring which is the main feature of the village.

Our last stop before Cortona- shooting location for “Under the Tuscan Sun” was San Quirico d’Orcia which sits on the pilgrimage path –

Last stop- Cortona which was pretty rushed as our drivers contract ended at 6:00pm and is was already 5:30. During that brief 15 minutes we found a cheese shop where we bought some of the famous Pecorini cheese.