Poggio Etrusco in Tuscany

 From Florence, we headed to the Tuscan countryside for a an Agritourism experience at an working  organic farm while sleeping in a 1600's farmhouse originally part of the estate of the noble family Contucci. Located nearest Chuisi-Chianciano train station.

Named, Poggio Etrusco for "Etruscan Hilltop" owners Pamela Sheldon Johns, cook book author and Johnny Johns, artist, were our gracious hosts for 8 days.

We had a choice for our itinerary and selected three days of cooking with Pam. Learning how to make pasta and many other dishes, discussing the Italian regional artisanal pantry to better understand traditional ingredients vs industrial. A visit to the local market and seeing first hand the bringing of olives to market. Kudos to Karen for having the vision to visit this beautiful area and experience the taste of Tuscany.

We also included three days of personal tours of the area which will follow in the next blogs.

It was hard narrowing down the best of photos to describe my experience. Fortunately I took lots of photos and had the chance to paint plein air on the property between all our excursions. So I've included some of my paintings in a previous posting on Nov. 3 and now few sketches to share with you.

AgriTourism in Tuscany

1600's farm house Poggio Etrusco

Our 2 bed, 2 bath Apartment gathering area

Breakfast dining every morning

Always a fresh egg, fruit, pastry and coffee

Farm workers

Door Bell

Rose Hips

Grape Vines around the property

Olive Groves my favorite

Every farm  must have a truck

Pamela at home in her kitchen

Sylvia gathering grapes for foccacia

Sylvia helping with garden

Time for Autumn Crocus

Yes fresh saffron and herbs from their garden

Ravioli with Peposo di Guanciale (Peppery Beef Cheeks)

Risottoc/porcini

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake and Ricotta  with berries

Homemade pasta-  Pici al Aglione

Always some Procesco

La Ribollita (Tuscan Bread Soup)

 

Crostata di marmellate with Ricotta and Chestnut Honey

Salsicce de Pollo e peperonata (Sausage and Peppers)

Plus Johns Famous Coffee Bar

There were many more dishes and appetizers but I'm afraid no photos survived between scarfing down the tastiest nibbles.

Note-Thanks again K=Jeannie for the traveling sketchbook. Came in very handy.

More information at www.FoodArtisians.com  and www.Poggio-Etrusco.com

Florence in Tuscany

 Here's a few of my favorite photos of our stop in Florence. We spent 4 days walking around the historic city center taking in all the great architecture and shops. Not to mention tasting a lot of great food along the way. My traveling partner Karen arranged a half day tour to several artist workshops exposing us to some master artisians. We had both been to Florence before (me almost 50 years ago) so we chose not to stand in line for the big galleries and sites and dug a little deeper

My first painting of Florence the Ponte Santa Trinita. over Arno River

Ponte Vecchio

Evening sky line

Wine Windows from the Past

Negroni an italian apertitivo

Every corner has a gelato shop

Fresh orange juice at the market

Preparing for the lunch crowd

Cheese and deli counter

Street Artists

Gallery show Helen Frankenthaler

 

Chapel artwork

Street musician

Modes of travel, bike and elevator tube

                                                    

Frame restoration business

Just another highend vendor

Custom made frames on the premises

Fancy perfumery

Mosaic Workshop

Mosaic like a painting

Leather Artisian

Exotic materials

Paper store

Marbeling paper demo

Arrivederci

Two weeks in Tuscany

Morning view in the Tuscan countryside getting ready to paint

 Still resetting my internal clock back to Central Time after a couple of weeks in Italy. By the end of this year you'll probably be tired of hearing about the trip. I'm currently going through over 2000 photos to make sense of it all. I'm planning a show in Oct. of 2025 that will be held at Elmaro called From Tuscany to Trempealeau. After I assemble my blog and get to organize my thoughts, the details will be revealed.

New Guerilla Painter 8x10 Cigar Box setup for Traveling

In order to paint I had to consider several factors. Luggage space and transportation, Regulations on taking products through TSA and making sure to have time to paint. It was important to get my color notes for future paintings from photographs. I did six plein air paintings while there and numerous sketches.

Fortunately all went well and no surprises or mishaps. My souvenir treat to myself was a visit to an art store in Florence. I looked up where to go to buy some solvent for my painting days and discovered Zecchi's . I purchased a wooden box full or dry pigments to experiment with in the future.

Best present ever, set of dry Pigments & Earths

Florences oldest Art Supply Store since 1300. Under new ownership of course.

Hope you'll enjoy the upcoming series of blogs covering Florence and many small cities in the countryside. Plus a lot of local artist workshops.

In the meantime I'll be catching up on some commissions before the holidays in my studio.

Colleen