Wine, Dine, and Ride in the Tuscan Countryside

2024 Dates:

September 30-October 4
October 15-19
October 26-30

Duration:

5 days / 4 nights

Difficulty:

Intermediate/Advanced

Rendola is a traditional Tuscan home and riding center. Your stay will include horseback riding, wine tasting, olive oil tasting, a tour of the winery, pecorino cheese tasting, and more.

Horses

Rendola was founded in 1969 originally as a riding school, and became one of the first agriturismos (farm-holiday centers) in the region.

The horses, all trained in the English style of riding, are sleek and fit and even those which are stable-kept spend some hours in the paddocks every day if they are not ridden.

Riding

Intermediate-Advanced

Riders should be able to ride comfortably at all paces, and spend several hours in the saddle daily.

Accompanying non-riders are welcome!

Tack

Riders will ride English, and should be prepared for several hours in the saddle daily at all paces.

Accommodation

Accommodations will be in Jenny’s 400-year old Tuscan home in the Chianti countryside with a wonderful view over the Arno valley. Outside, it has the typical characteristics of a seventeenth century farmhouse (actually parts of it may be older), with its small tower, arches, outside staircase and a balcony adorned with geraniums; while inside the floors are of terracotta and the ceilings have oak or chestnut beams.

Rendola has six bedrooms for guests, each with its own bathroom. In the evening guests can gather in the comfortable sitting-room to read, chat and, when the weather is cool, enjoy the log fire.

Dining

While this may be a riding tour, the real reason you visit Italy is for the food, of course! Meals will consist of farm-to-table ingredients, perfectly paired local wines, and exquisite cuisine all around. At Rendola you will enjoy delicious Tuscan cooking, known throughout the world, at its very best.

Itinerary

  • Arrive at Montevarchi. The train comes into platform 1 and Jenny will be there to welcome you. It takes just ten minutes to drive up to her 400-year-old typically Tuscan home near the tiny village of Rendola. Settle in and then enjoy a chat over a glass of Chianti Classico wine. Local wine is served at all main meals.

  • Breakfast and morning ride (about two and a half hours) with your English-speaking guide Eraldo through vineyards, olive-groves and woodland, passing near an 18th-century villa and a 14th-century church. On your return go to a local hostelry for your Sunday lunch. Walk home for a cup of tea and then join your host for a hilarious lesson in Italian pronunciation which will prove useful over the following days. Choose your pizza pronouncing all the ingredients correctly and enjoy it for dinner, followed by cantuccini, a Tuscan almond-flavoured biscuit, dipped in vinsanto, a delicious dessert wine.

  • Breakfast and morning ride in the valley east of Rendola, scattered with charming hamlets and traditional farmhouses. After lunch go on a short journey by train to the ancient city of Arezzo for a guided visit to the main sites of the city and the fascinating, world-famous frescoes of Piero della Francesca of which your host has made a special study. Then enjoy a relaxed coffee or an aperitif in the picturesque main square made familiar by the film “Life is Beautiful”. There is a chance to do some shopping, too! Dinner at Jenny’s home.

  • Day ride and picnic in the Chianti hills south of Rendola. During your ride you will pass the medieval tower of Galatrona, a lake and the castles of Cennina and Lupinari. When you come back have either some wine-tasting at a local farm producing biodynamic wine or a cooking lesson with Isabella, which includes learning to make pasta fresca and tiramisù.

  • Breakfast and then a ten-minute journey to Montevarchi station to meet the train back to Florence. Own arrangements for your onward journey from Florence. For those going to Rome there is a direct and inexpensive train from Montevarchi and you can buy your ticket at the station.

Dates

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Price Includes:

  • All accommodations

  • All meals indicated in the itinerary

  • All riding activities, including tack and equipment

  • Admission to activities/sites indicated in itinerary

  • Transportation between riding locations

  • Train station pickup/drop off (Montevarchi)

Does not include:

  • Airfare to and from Italy

  • Transportation to/from the airport

  • Travel Insurance

  • Visas

  • Gratuities and personal expenses

  • Additional excursions or activities not included in itinerary