La bella Italia

We left Schwangau early in the morning, even before they started serving breakfast at the hotel. We were supposed to reach Firenze by 2 PM and leave our luggage at the house that we had rented, and then go collect our friend from the airport. The journey proceeded pretty fast through the marvellous Austrian landscapes, although we began to grow a bit tired of all the driving. It was nice to know that this was the last long driving session before the week's holiday in Tuscany. 

After another six hours' drive we were getting close to our final target. I thought I already saw and recognized the house with it's surrounding wall up on the hill. There was a dilemma about how to get there, though; our GPS showed a curly route, which apparently was the shortest way, but Google Maps advised us to take a slightly bigger road around the curly one. We decided to choose the small curly road as we had often driven small country roads before and enjoyed the change of scenery and atmosphere. ...oooooh what a mistake it was! The road got tinier and tinier and soon our car barely fit through the bushes. There were only signs on the ground where a tractor or a jeep had previously driven; there was a steep rise and loose rocks on the ground and we seriously thought our car couldn't make it up the road. The motor was yelling and the tires just barely touched the ground anymore.. Dear lord. After a few more turns there finally were some houses and the road got better and driveable. 

When we got to the house, our landlady looked at our car, which was covered in dusty stripes, and shook her head with a sad look on her face. Yeah, poor car..

The house is just as magnificent as it looked in the pictures. A huge villa from the 1700th century, which has been restored and modernized without destroying the original elements. There is still a huge oven in the kitchen and the bedroom doors very much look like they could be original; they have beautiful paintings on them and on the ceiling of the master bedroom there is even a fresco!

I have never seen quite a place like this. And imagine it, they have the heart to rent out this wonderful apartment! (The 200sqm apartment is just a part of the whole villa and the owners live in the other parts of it.)

A view from the garden:

Later that night the master of the house, Leonardo, cooked us dinner for a very convenient price. Antipasti, primi piatti and secondi and mouthwatering tiramisu for dessert; simply lovely!! 

Antipasti (nearly already eaten):

Tiramisu:

The owners of the house are warm and welcoming and we have really enjoyed it here so far!