Tuscan holiday, day 1

The first day of a long-awaited holiday! After a very short and poorly slept night, we started out at 3:35 am and headed for the airport. We arrived in Rome-Fiumicino airport after 10 am local time and headed north in our rented car (after some confusion at the car rental).

First stop was Pitigliano (in the main photo), a small town with interesting history and geography. A walk in the old town (the Little Jerusalem as it was once a retreat for Jews escaping from hard times in Rome) and a coffee later, we headed towards Pienza. There was a detour on the main road soon after we reached it after an adventurous route via smaller mountain roads. From there we rerouted ourselves to a smaller road again. At first it didn't look like a great choice, slow and with not much visibility, by when we got down to the valley, driving under the beautiful trees (extra #1) swept the short night and the long day from our minds (if the Mediterranean sun had not already done so).

We arrived in Pienza around sunset and rested a moment in the hotel before a walk on the walls and around town (extra #2) and a delicious dinner.