Baby on board for a break in Tuscany
Newsreader Emma Crosby proves a tour of Tuscany with a toddler CAN still be child’s play
TRAVELLING around Tuscany with a toddler? Were we a little pazzo in the head, as the Italians would say? And could we still have an out-of-thisworld experience, even though life’s more about Aptamil than Aperol at aperitivo time.
The website Ciao Bambino was a great starting point on what would and wouldn’t work with little Mary. We landed at Pisa airport armed with the encouraging advice that ‘all Italians love children’, and after a two-hour drive we arrived in Val d’Orcia, where rolling hills and rustic farmhouses abound.
La Bandita was our first stop. It’s a 200-year-old property, with an incredible hilltop setting, that’s been converted into a cool minimalist villa by a former US music executive. We even had a chef to rustle up delicious dinners, with fresh ingredients bought daily, including Mary’s first plate of spaghetti bolognese.
Armed with early holiday enthusiasm, we strapped our little one into the Baby Bjorn and explored the nearby town of Pienza. The local tipple around these parts just happens to be Brunello di Montalcino, one of Italy’s finest wines. So after building up a thirst, we dropped into a couple of local vineyards to taste a glass or two of this delicious red.
Most tourists bypass the beaches in Tuscany, but I wanted to dip Mary’s toes in the Mediterranean for the first time, so after a few nights in our rural idyll, we bundled back into the car and headed west to Forte dei Marmi.
With the Apuan Alps framing miles of wide sandy beaches, Forte dei Marmi is a stunning spot. Everybody cycles here, so the resort has a relaxed charm; the expensive clothes shops are the only giveaway that this a holiday spot for the wealthy.
In true Italian style, a day on the beach here is done with panache. There’s row upon row of immaculately kept, brightly coloured beach clubs with fantastic family facilities.
After being cooped up in a car for large chunks of the day, Mary loved being able to crawl around on the sand in the mid-September sun. Not wanting to venture too far from our beach spot, we stayed at Hotel Byron, right on the seafront.
It’s a fantastic family-run hotel, with a Michelin-starred restaurant. It’s upscale but not uptight. Call it cheating, but here we procured the services of the hotel’s nanny for a few hours.
Mary had a wonderful time being entertained by someone far more interesting, while mum and dad feasted on prawns and risotto. Everyone’s a winner! So far so good, but how about attempting a quick cultural pit stop in Florence, with the little one? Ha! Now the wheels were sure to come off. Surprisingly enough, they didn’t, and again the hotel made all the difference.
We stayed at the Four Seasons. Yes, it’s an expensive treat. But the hotel’s location, in the middle of the city’s biggest private park, was worth it.
Within spitting distance of the Duomo and the Accademia, we strolled out with Mary to see the city’s must-do sights and made a hasty retreat to our urban oasis when the crowds became too much.
The hotel’s a beautiful old palace that once belonged to one of the Renaissance’s most powerful families. But instead of noisily fretting that Mary would go barrelling into some Murano masterpiece, the staff could not have been more child-friendly. To finish off our trip, we headed back into the heart of the Tuscan countryside, near the town of Casole d’Elsa and within easy reach of Siena and San Gimignano. The scenery here, of course, is jawdroppingly gorgeous.
Even Mary stopped chewing on her breadstick to admire the sunsets. We stayed at Castello di Casole, a medieval village that’s been remodelled into a boutique hotel, with its own on-site restaurants and spa. And after a week on the move, we tore up our sightseeing schedule and decided this was the place to flop. We picked our spot by the infinity pool (heated so that Mary could splash around in the shallow end) and ordered a glass of pinot grigio to toast the view. Molto bene!