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Central Tuscany: Le Crete and the Val d'Orcia
Updated 2020 / 2021 Edition
The Val d'Orcia is the Tuscan area that provides many of the images in calendars, coffee table books, movie settings, and postcards: cedar lined drives, rolling hills of grain, and vineyards. Several world class wines and foods come from the area. With this guide, the most comprehensive in English:
Set up a base in one of the larger towns in the regions like Montalcino, Montepulciano, or Pienza and spend three or four days carefully exploring the beautiful scenery, hill towns, restaurants, museums, fortresses, and churches, finishing the day in a relaxing hot spring.
Guide information:
NOTE: The paperback version is in black-and-white. Send me an email and I will send you a color pdf version.
Praise from Readers for the "Second Time Around" Series
Book descriptions: www.stgbooks.com
Contact: scott.grabinger@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/scott.grabinger
Photo Galleries: www.stgimages.com
NOTE: The paperback version is black and white. For a color pdf version, send an email to Scott.Grabinger@gmail.com and he will send you the pdf. More information on the verso of the title page.
Author: Scott Tiezzi Grabinger
ISBN-10: 1507831706
ISBN-13: 9781507831700
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Language: English
Published: 02/02/2015
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d
My books feature less visited sites in southern Tuscany, recount my adventures and misadventures, and share authentic family recipes.
Why are my guidebooks unique?
Experience. My family and I have been traveling around Italy since 1992 learning the towns, sites, foods, language, and culture.
Slow travel. I focus on small towns and culture for the repeat visitor to Tuscany-places that most guidebooks cover in 30 words or less. To me, if you are returning to Tuscany you want to travel slower to engage more deeply in the culture rather than "collect" as many sites as possible.
Family makes the difference. My Italian cousins give me a unique perspective. They show me the real "Inside Tuscany," its hidden tiny hill towns, incredible panoramas, and restaurants and pizzerias known only to locals. I have visited sagre (festivals dedicated to a single food like steak, or porcini mushrooms) and antique fairs. They try to teach me how to "be Italian"-but it is still hard to eat dinner at 8:30.
I speak Italian. It's impossible to recall how often church caretakers or museum docents have opened up and taken me on private tours because I could understand them. Or the number of times I learned about specialties in a restaurant that aren't on the menu, or found the perfect Vino Nobile for the secondo piatto. Thanks to the the language I've learned to harvest grapes and olives to make wine and olive oil.
I live in Tuscany two months a year. My base is in Arezzo and from there I study Italian, branch out to discover new places and events, participate in festivals and daily markets, walk in the evening passeggiata, and make friends.
Now available, a book of true stories: Walking the Aqueduct: Tuscan Adventures and Culture. These are stories about my adventures and misadventures with insights into the culture along with smart travel hints. Available in both paperback and Kindle formats.
Social Media Book descriptions: www.insidetuscanybooks.com
Tuscan itineraries: www.inisdetuscanytours.com Contact: scott.grabinger@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/scott.grabinger
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scott-grabinger-3890b073
Photo Galleries: www.grabinger.com
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