Our first week was centred around Toscana (Tuscany) because of course Diane Lane movie => Tourists => Tuscany, am I right? Your average tourist (from some places more than others) probably knows the name "Tuscany", and also knows Venice and Rome. So naturally, the tour ends up having almost a week here.

That's more an observation than a complaint for there is indeed much to see in the towns and cities (and countryside) of Toscana, and much of it is beautiful.

Rather than staying in one of the towns, we stayed at a resort spa in the countryside called Relax Hotel Aquaviva, about 4km out from a town called Casole d'Elsa (the population of which is around 4,000).

Unsurprisingly (if you've read other descriptions in my galleries) I'm writing this long, long after the trip occurred; January 2024. I found that Relax Hotel Aquaviva is "Permanently Closed", according to Google. The reviews on Trip Advisor show that there was a change of management in mid 2018, following which the reviews plummeted. The rooms weren't cleaned properly, and there was never enough food which is not something a package tour outfit like Cosmos would put up with for long since it would impact on their reputation as well.

The hotel apparently closed during the Covid period and while there were plans to reactivate it, they never happened. Or haven't so far. Thus I leave you with some shots that I took in and around the hotel, when it was still a charming and well serviced little place, back in the late summer of 2016.