Tuscany, Italy - Crete Senesi

For Didditers that have explored this region or want to…this is 10++ on the ranking scale.

I believe when most of you think of Tuscany you think of roads lined with cypress trees. These roads are found mostly in central Tuscany in an area known as the Crete Senesi (pronounced KREH-teh seh-NEH-seh)…an area of wide open fields interspersed with the Crete clay cliffs.

Geographically this area is very different from Chianti to the north. The farmhouses and their cypress lined roads stand out against the stark backdrop of layered, open fields and hills woven with vineyards and olive trees. Other areas are wide open with very few trees, harsh rock formations, but soft rounded hills…a unique landscape. It is a stunningly beautiful area…and one of my favorite places in the world.

I knew I was forever in love when I realized I didn’t need a map anymore to drive the back roads between the hill towns. It was as though I had driven them my whole life.

The area is like a triangle…and oddly enough, I have always known when I have left it and when I drive back into it – no matter how long I have been away. I can’t explain it. It gets inside you. As a friend of mine said…”This area has a harmony that has the power to bring you back into balance.”

”There are no icons such as piazzas, cathedrals or castles that identify this territory. Only intimate corners like that cypress, that old smallholding, the curve of that dirt road, the window of that bed & breakfast. Or moments linked to powerful sensations such as the smell of sheep’s-milk cheese pervading a little grocery, the relaxing warmth of spa waters, the mystical simplicity of a small Romanesque parish church.”

Here are some of our favorite hill towns that we have visited and loved – in the triangle and just on the outskirts. I will start adding descriptions and suggestions in the future as well as a new Crete Sensei list of specific places – museums, galleries, restaurants – that we have visited and would recommend.