Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Relais Villa Petrischio (Via del Petrischio 25, Farneta, Cortona, 39-0575-0610316, www.villapetrischio.it) is a four-star villa and restaurant located at the top of a hill in the village of Farneta. The 18th-century complex is situated near a restored abbey and features a large terrace and a pool that overlooks the valley. The restaurant is glassed in and has an impressive wine list.

What to Do

The Toronto-based company Butterfield & Robinson (416-864-1354, 1-800-678-1147, www.butterfield.com) offers custom-designed tours in 34 countries for groups or families. Activities such as biking, walking, kayaking and horseback riding are tailored to specific needs and ages. We combined cultural activities (guided architectural tours of Tuscan towns) with cycling, interspersed with fabulous food. B&R’s planners and guides make all the difficult aspects of travelling overseas effortless – from transporting and fixing bikes and keeping your children occupied to finding good restaurants and gorgeous villas – and allow you to simply chill. The travellers’ favourite Karen Brown’s Guides series includes the volume Italy: Charming Inns & Itineraries. Among its seven itineraries is one on Romantic Tuscany that starts in Florence and takes in the surrounding hill towns over one week.

Resources

For a taste of Italy, Marcella Cucina by Marcella Hazan not only has recipes for earthy, simple Italian cooking but also explains the philosophy of the cuisine in a not-too-precious way. And if you too feel contempt for the film adaptation of Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun, you can still enjoy her lifestyle book Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy to recapture some of those golden memories when you return home. For literary explorations of Tuscany as leisurely as the pace of the region, pick up The Collected Traveler: Central Italy, Tuscany & Umbria compiled by Barrie Kerper or A Thousand Days in Tuscany: A Bittersweet Adventure by Marlena de Blasi. Since my family stopped in Florence, three other books I read before going were Florence: A Delicate Case by David Leavitt; Art and Architecture Florence by Rolf Wirtz and Clemente Manenti; and Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King.

Getting There

Air Canada offers daily direct service to Frankfurt from Montreal, Toronto and Calgary. From Frankfurt, travel to Florence with Star Alliance™ member Lufthansa. Air Canada also offers non-stop service between Rome and Toronto.