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Ten weird things you can do in Tuscany
  • Foodies looking for something different should book a table at the Fortezza Medicea in Volterra, near Pisa, a present-day working prison. Here, the convicts learn valuable skills in the catering industry by cooking and serving you dinner under the direction of visiting famous chefs. On the evening, you are walked through the steel bars of the fortress and led through to a large dungeon-like room with vaulted ceilings. Guards keep an eye on dining guests and reasonably priced meals are served with plastic cutlery. Guests can book online here: http://www.cenegaleotte.it/ Note: You must apply for a criminal background check two months before your dinner date.

  • When touring Chianti, you are bound to stop in Castellina, an attractive town full of wine cellars. One of the main talking points in this place is the popular Gelateria di Castellina, a parlour which makes some of the best ice cream in Italy. The owners are particular about the quality of gelato and balance of ingredients. Gelateria di Castellina offers a rich and varied menu of 24 flavours but they also offer an ice cream making class where guests can sample some more unusual concoctions including blue cheese ice cream...

  • The Garden of Bomarzo, colloquially called the Park of the Monsters (Parco del Mostri), is a monumental complex in Viterbo. This barren landscape is dominated by many larger-than-life monstrous sculptures which were created by Francesco Orsini when his wife died to help him cope with his grief. The sculptures include: a whale, a winged horse, a giant, a dragon attacked by lions and a turtle with a winged woman on its back. This garden appealed to the great surrealist Salvador Dali who discussed it at great length.

  • Ancient Greeks and Romans used to relax themselves by scrubbing their bodies with pulp and grapes after a warm bath, to release tension and rejuvenate the skin. In the heart of Chianti, at Castellare de’ Noveschi in San Sano, weary bodies can wallow in fragrant baths of wine which are said to revive the skin and senses plus reduce the problems of ageing. In a cosy cellar room, Castellare de’ Noveschi provides a whirlpool bath for two, where you relax in warm water and wine, surrounded by the natural scents of berries, rose, violet and orange. Each wine therapy session lasts about 45 minutes.

  • Florence has always been the home of culinary experience and authenticity. The Mercato Centrale is a huge two-storey market stall with some remarkably exotic food. Here, it is possible to buy bull’s penis and testicles.  You can taste these ‘delicacies’ onsite or take them away to cook at home and give your dinner guests a real surprise!

  • The sculpture of mountain god Appennino stands 35 feet tall over the grounds of the Villa Demidoff in Vaglia. This epic half-man, half-mountain colossus was created in the late 1500s by Giambologna and hides a wonderful secret – his interior includes several rooms with different functions including a space in his head for a fireplace which, when lit, would blow smoke from his nostrils and a passage for an underground stream in his left hand.

  • In southern Tuscany, Bagni San Filippo is a small village known for its thermal waters. The affordable thermal spa there provides flowing waterfalls and a restorative pool to bathe in as well as massage and mud treatments. You can also follow signs to Fosso Bianco, where free hot springs merge with pool and a waterfall in the wild. Here, you can choose what temperature you’d like as the lower down the springs you go, the cooler it is. You can also cover yourself in the mud and allow it to dry on your skin – the perfect natural exfoliant!

  • Today Tuscany is in peace, but the roar and smoke of battle filled this region in the summer of 1944, when the second world war raged. In order to preserve the memories of the events of WWII, a team of enthusiasts and researchers, who’re based in Scarperia near Florence, regularly organise vehicle rallies and meetings which reenact the pivotal historical moments.

  • The Tarot Garden (Il Giardino del Tarocchi) is an esoteric sculpture garden based on the tarot cards in the province of Grosseto. French artist, Niki de Saint Phalle, started the project in the late seventies, living onsite for several months during the construction of the garden. She built twenty-two monumental figures in the garden, representing her idea of the greater mysteries of the tarot. The sculptures can be walked through and are made of reinforced concrete and covered with mirrors and ceramic mosaic.

  • Most of us associate chocolate with dessert but the Italians have been adding it to savoury dishes for centuries, when cacao beans first arrived from the New World. Fine dark chocolate has an amazingly complex taste profile and, as well as acting as an emulsifier, it adds a lovely toasted flavour to a dish, infusing it with a silky finish. In Tuscany, chocolate is a key ingredient with venison and wild boar; it is possible to order this dish in several restaurants.

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