It’s Thursday, so that means its move day! We woke to really bad weather, rain and wind, with the hilltop of Orvieto enshrouded in clouds! You could barely make out the small city.
We made the drive towards Tuscany, leaving Umbria and passing through Lazio. The 2 1/2 hour rural route took us through olive groves, ancient villages, farms and vineyards.
The weather improved on and off, but pretty much remained cloudy and rainy. We arrived on Monte Argentario and we were able to check into the hotel. The Boutique Hotel Torre Cala Piccola is perched on a cliff in the western portion of the peninsula.
Monte Argentario is connected to the mainland by three “spits” of land, all with roads. In the 4th century, the peninsula was seeded to the Catholic Church by Constantine the Great. In the Middle Ages, it became into possession by a monastery in Rome. Spain acquired it in the late 16th century, which is obvious by the architecture. In 1851, after Napoleon’s defeat, it was handed over to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany. During World War 2, the area was bombed with many losses, included the port which was destroyed.
The area is very popular with Roman elites, as its 1 1/2 hours away, and many have second homes here.
Monte Argentario allows easy access to the island of the Tuscan Archipelago – Giglio, Giannutri, and Montecristo. CNN profiled the area i 2019 and called it “Southern Tuscany’s Best Kept Secret”!! And we can see Giglio from our balcony!!!
The hotel has many Spanish influences in its architecture and style. There is a seafront infinity pool and its own rocky beach club – which closed last week for the season, unfortunately. We hope to sit by the pool on Saturday when it’s forecasted to be sunny.
We are having dinner at their restaurant, which we are looking forward to. We have a few bottles of wine we have left over from our winery escapades, and we are hoping we can bring one to dinner without too much scorn!
Update: We went to dinner at the hotel, where it cost double our usual salad and pasta, and someone feared the scorn and did not bring the wine. Flip side, Mary ate healthy with sea bass!!! It’s pouring as we write this, hoping for better weather tomorrow.
