TUSCANY! I'll be there one day..!

Tuscany Without the Crowds

Article by Danielle Pergament; Published: March 7, 2010

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/travel/07tuscany.html?8dpc

Tuscany in Winter

Photographs by Chris Warde-Jones

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/03/07/travel/20100307TUSCANY_index.html

Winter may be the best time to visit Tuscany, when the color palette shifts to bright green, cafes are filled with locals instead of tourists and the cuisine is at its freshest. At left, a view of the Val d'Orcia, known for the cypress trees that line its winding roads, in January.

Il Leccio, a trattoria, is best known for its wine cellar (4,000 bottles deep) and as the unofficial cantina of Tuscany's legendary wine producers. On any given winter day, you might sit next to the person who made the vintage on your table.

La Bandita, an eight-room boutique hotel, sits atop one of the cypress-lined roads that Tuscany is famous for.

Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona is a family-run vineyard that produces Tuscan mainstays: rosso, brunello and a supertuscan.