Mama Margaret Newsletter

Chef Alberto with cooking students in Tuscan villa kitchen

Are you dreaming of escaping to a beautiful villa on a country estate in Tuscany or the Amalfi Coast area, where you hear only birds singing as you wake up, but are just a 10 minute walk away to a typical Italian town so you experience local life?

Where you cook with charming, fun loving local chefs and learn their cooking secrets? Where you taste local wines with experts, visit with locals off the tourist track and generally feel rather pampered?

Check out these new cooking tours at lovely villas on estates in Tuscany and near the Amalfi Coast for 4 nightsor for 6 nights and call us today to reserve.

Perfect for singles too! They offer frequent dates and gather food lovers from many sources so you’ll enjoy good times with like minded souls.

Santa Croce church by night

Recently in my annual or bi-annual visits to Florence, where I lived years ago, I’ve stayed at a different hotel or B&B each time, as if I’m searching for a home base once again. This May I found it!

The For Women Only B&B is between the Duomo and Santa Croce church on quiet Borgo Pinti. When I arrived, the friendly owner, Cristina showed me around.

This apartment of four pleasantly decorated, spacious, quiet bedrooms faces a garden so when I woke up all I heard was birds singing. How sweet is that? You have a sink in your room and share the two bathrooms with the three other rooms like you would at home.

For breakfast I put on my dressing gown, got my own breakfast out of the well stocked fridge and sat down at the kitchen table. I appreciated the fresh milk instead of the often used “long conservation” milk and the good quality muesli. I made my usual caffe latte with the top notch coffee.

In the kitchen there’s a comfy sofa and multi-channel TV too.

I’d been looking forward to talking over breakfast with women from around the world, but for five days I was the only guest. The last morning I had a fun conversation with a journalist from Venice who was convinced modern Florence was still stuck in the Renaissance.

I’m an early riser, always ravenous when I wake up. At hotels or other B&Bs, you have to get dressed and head to the breakfast room between certain hours. At the For Women Only B&B I can hang out in my dressing gown at any hour, get my caffeine shot sooner and avoid the dreaded sitting all alone in a breakfast room of couples, friends and families, where I never linger.

I found the For Women Only B&B online but Cristina has no web site. Her email is <infobeb@mail.cosmos.it> A double room for single use cost 50 Euros.

Near the B&B I discovered a range of good, down home style Tuscan restaurants.

At 7:45 p.m. in Piazza San Pier Maggiore at Ristorante I Ghibellini, the outdoor seats were already full. I was the first in the waiting line. The clever, hospitable owner gave me a glass of white wine and pointed to three chairs, where I took a seat. How kind of him! And how clever—I wasn’t going anywhere else after this little gift, was I? As others joined the line, they all got glasses of wine. I carried on a pleasant conversation with a Dutch couple for 5-10 minutes until tables freed up.

My simple meal of crostini misti, tagliatelle with mushrooms, and vin santo with contucci biscuits for dessert was excellent. At the table beside me, I talked with an Australian couple who’d never heard of vin santo. With my encouragement, they ordered it…and would forever more they said! I love helping people to enjoy Italy more!

At a rainy noon time on my way back home, I took refuge in the Trattoria Accadi on Borgo Pinti 56r. What a nice surprise! I dined on an appetizer plate of salami, finocchiona (salami with fennel) and prosciutto, spaghetti carrietiera (tomato sauce with a bit of heat) and spinach thrown around in a pan with garlic, olive oil and a dash of hot pepper, all washed down with red house wine. All excellent!