The owners of the B&B have been so very nice and helpful and the location is ideal. Other than very hard beds, it was a delight to stay at the Roman Residence. 

So much about the city of Rome reminds us of New York; the traffic, dirty streets, graffiti, uneven sidewalks, homeless people, walking over subway grates, people standing on the sidewalk smoking or just stopping suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk (not a good idea when Kim and I are on a roll 🤣). Then there is so much that compares to nowhere else in the world; food, food, food, the ancient ruins, marble sculptures, fountains, art, did I mention food?

We are off to Tuscany. The train to Grosseto will take about an hour and a half. 

Train station walkway. 

Departing Rome. 

In the first few minutes, already the scenery is changing to little villas with clay tile roofs and vineyards on one side 

and the Mediterranean on the other.

Cruise ships are running here. 

Someone pinch me please.

We arrive in the city of Grosseto (gruh say’ to, be sure to roll the “r”) where we are met at the station by Francesca in a little VW that we struggled to get our two suitcases in. Mine rode in the backseat with me.

The 4 solo storage tanks are an olive oil producer. 

There is a gun, farm, hunting expo going on in this little village. Cars are parked everywhere. Francesca said it used to be held outside of Rome but they moved it here a couple of years ago and people come from all over to attend. 

Olive trees. 

Driving up to the village of Roccatederighi, in the heart of the Tuscan Maremma region.  Residence Il Ciliegio, located at the foot of the medieval village, is our base for this food adventure. My oh my, where to begin. 

Our Inn. 

Back of the Inn. 

Patio. 

One flight down to the patio. 

One flight up to our room. One flight is two sets of these stairs. 

Amazing ceiling. 

Our kitchen

Welcome tray, some of which is gluten and dairy free. 

Two different types of local cheese and a fig compote with Greek yogurt made from figs grown by Oli and Flo, our hosts for this adventure. 

Hand made toiletries by Flo: honey lavender lip balm and a natural bug spray. Olive oil and bay leaf soap made from a lady in the village and a natural sponge.

What a treat!but wait!

Look at these homemade jams and honey. Jo Anne, the local farm grown eggs are wrapped in the paper. 

Our room. 

Living area. 

Wild blackberry pies also made by our hosts.

View from our room. Slightly different from the Rome view. 

View from the patio. 

We walked up to the Main Street in the village for lunch. 

Oh yeah. That can’t happen in Europe without steps,

and more steps,

and even more steps. 

First sign of fall 😁

The little trattoria is run by a man and his daughter. The mom was sitting at a table and kept putting her head down on the table. It was nap time. 

They bring out bread (pane pronounced like pan) so you can taste the local olive oil. 

Here’s the menu. I’ll let you figure out what we had. 😁

On the agenda this evening is a tour of a local winery and a dinner prepared by chef Oli. I’m going to go ahead and post this because our dinner is going to be late and I won’t be able to stay awake. I will post about tonight’s activities in the morning while you are all sleeping 😁. Ciao!