There are about six hundred thousand breathtaking places in Tuscany. Most of the family restaurants and households sale rated red wine for around 15 euro and white ones for around 10 euro.  And all of the households have rooms for the ones tired from the city.

For a special occasion we were up for the best five star hotel in Tuscany: a swimming pool with a proper service, a bed like at home, vineyards and house 90 + wine.  Yet, in the end of the day we found out that there are only five places like that and they are usually fully-booked for 2 months in advance.  We kept on looking and suddenly we found a place just for a couple of nights. It’s called Borgo San Felice and they produce their own 8 red wines and 3 white ones. 75% visitors are from USA, the rest is old Europe (I mean some old people from Italy / France / Scandinavia).

OK, so what impressed us about this place the most was outstanding Osteria del Grigio for the lunch and the unforgettable Poggio Rosso for the night, and some madly delicious breakfast, not to mention the Italian standards for the food.

Morning.  Airy brioche right from the oven, just slightly cooled. Fruits just like in my beloved Dorogomilovsky market in July. Various types of cheeses including brilliant local ones. Salami, mortadella and bresaola just like at my butcher’s in Via Orti during my wild Milanese student life.  Draught Franciacorta. Unexpectedly 6 types of milk and 7 types of yogurt + toppings (for those 75%). And again by surprise yet understandable… 6 types of honey including honeycombs. It’s because at the cheese table there’s a basket with a whole sphere of perfect Ricotta. And it does smell of fresh milk. It was cooked just couple of hours ago at the nearby farm. Let me tell you how to eat this miracle: you do it with a scoop filled with honey and berries, which are placed by the Franciacorta. I would give it a go three times every morning, Masha – two.  And they used to change the honey. That was a whole new experience.

The afternoon in Il Grigio. Facacccia perfetta – with buffalo and aubergine / with vitello tonnato (with their house Vermentino) – convinced me that Naples is the only place to have pizza; pastas perfettas, in particular, cacio e pepe and penne with boar ragout (together with their house Pugnitello); each drop of the sauce to be collected with the non-finished focaccia crusts, strategically placed exactly for this purpose.

Some Americans at the table were very entertaining.

“I’d like a bottle of your house red.”

“We have a wonderful Chianti Classico from our vineyard.”

“I don’t know Chianti. Is it like Cabernet?”

We spent the evening at the Poggio Rosso. You can have a set menu for the night or you can have something from their regular menu. Again pasta, during the last 10 days in Italy I haven’t had anything like it – Duck and Fois Gras Ravioli / Tagliolini with Porcini and Local Truffle. An explosive poached egg in pecorino-hollandaise sauce, vegetables stuffed with ricotta, couscous or capers. For the main course, there was chicken ficatum. This type of chicken is raised whether like wagyu cows or foie gras geese, I’m not sure, but everyone is going on and on about it – the meat’s much more tender and juicier. I was so intrigued that for the first time in my life I ordered a chicken in a restaurant. I didn’t regret. Poggio Rosso Chianti Riserva (100% Sangiovese) was perfect for the dinner.

Well, it’s time to sleep because tomorrow we can repeat the circle of a wonderfully tasty day.

The only problem were the wasps. Assholes. Unlike the bees whose honey is poured on ricotta in the morning. These ones are very much legit dudes!