Borgo di Tuopina …..Arezzo our last day trip with a bonus village

October 2nd 

With the return of some better weather, we head out for some more touring of Chianti country, it is beautiful countryside and we are just taking it all in with rather modest objectives…

A sunny day and lazy lunch in Panzano in Chianti….it was kind of funny to watch a shimmering black Ferrari racing around engine howling as everyone in the resto would stop and look around when he passed by…no not racing, just looking for a parking spot..

October 3rd

Our final day trip this time to  Arezzo about 1.5 hours from our condo comparatively speaking, it was a bit of a boring drive for the most part.  Arezzo is a hilltop town in eastern Tuscany which is featuring an antique market and plenty of folks are there to enjoy the day. There is a nice piazza and several other churches and a fort while not a super stunner it is a pleasant town to visit. Probably 98% of the people visiting were Italians which made it feel like more of a local experience:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch was at a resto on one of the busy streets jammed with folks looking to get lunch … having learned from previous situations we do not spend much time gawking at menus but rather secure a table…

After lunch, we head for the Arezzo Cathedral with its hexagonal bell tower and intricate marble main altar…

The Church of Santa Marie della Pieve features a rather unusual configuration as you can see in the pics below…

On the way back another view of the bell tower of the Duomo with some nice examples of Italian stone pines…good looking trees that look as if they are trimmed.

An interesting feature of this town was a series of escalators eliminating the need to trudge up and then down…

 As we make our way back home we spy a hilltop village that looked appealing so off we went …Lucignano dates back to at least medieval times and was built in an interesting manner in a series of concentric rings sort of like a coil of sausage…not my pic but intended for context…

It is like a number of villages we have seen which are “live” villages with a mix of young and old: students, artists, entrepreneurs, and artisans ….the vibe is positive and energetic but at the same time somewhat laid back with seemingly a lot of focus on family life…

Back to the condo pack and get ready to move on tomorrow.