Our last stop on our way back to Rome was Sienna, and hitting up the Tuscan country side was right up my alley. We had a bit of an adventure finding our B&B in Sienna, because you can’t drive into the actual town that is surrounded by a large brick wall.

Stay out! Only local cars were allowed past this point.

So finding a parking spot for smarty and making it to the B&B really wore us out. We decided to keep things pretty simple, just strolling around town and scouting a good place for dinner. After having some of the best food in Cinque Terre and Varenna, I didn’t think we’d find something as good. Boy was I wrong. In trying to find our B&B we passed a cute little restaurant called Zest, so when we were walking around town Erin and I decided that we’d try to recount our steps and find Zest.

We had some of the best food of our trip at Zest, if you ever make it to Sienna you MUST go for a meal. We started with some amazing wine

Along with a savory mushroom and gorgonzola cheese tart, sort of like a quiche. It came with the most delicious pesto to dip.

For dinner Erin enjoyed one of the specials of the night, a paccheri pomodoro pasta with fresh tomatoes and sweet ricotta cheese.

Erin said it was her favorite meal by far. I enjoyed a Papardelle pasta with lamb ragu and rosemary. It was a perfect balance of hearty and rich. I loved it.

We were having so much fun that we shut the place down!

The next morning it was raining in Sienna, so we did just a little sight seeing before heading back to Rome.

The Duomo

The Tuscan countryside is breathtaking!

After sightseeing a bit, we decided it was time to head back to Rome and we were on the road one last time.

We got back to Rome in the early afternoon and it was so nice to be back on Erin’s home turf and relaxing. We had a great last dinner at Eataly and I headed to the airport at 4 in the morning for America.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the opportunity to eat and drink my way through Italy, and doing it with my best friend was a dream come true. It was a whirl wind, a beautiful one that I will never forget. I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure, hopefully there will be many more to come. Now I am back in Austin, getting into the swing of normal again so it’s back to our regular homemade recipes from my tiny kitchen.

Arrivederci Italy!