Scoot off with thewayfly as she adventures by little red Vespa through the Tuscan countryside. Navigate by good old fashion paper maps and spatial instincts to find a small castle town and meet two delightful Italian men, one who gives you cappuccino and the other who gives you a tour of his castle!

Outside the window its blowing like a snow globe, fat fluffy flakes moving at the tempo and direction of the fickle wind. I love it.  And feel content and cozy in my room, wrapped up in a soft robe and the duvet’s jungle vines.  I’m reading The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, a staff writer for the New Yorker, and my Skillshare Creative Nonfiction workshop host. It’s one of my favorite writing styles, historical nonfiction told in a visually descriptive storyteller’s prose. She’s writing about the adventures of orchid hunters in the Victorian era, and it’s making me dreamy of old world adventures and discovery through travel and writing.

It’s also reminded me of my tour through a particularly impressive palace filled with the treasures of a world-travelling Italian Alabaster trader.  I stumbled upon the palace during the Italian leg of my seven-week solo backpacking trip across the Northern Mediterranean from Spain to Turkey. Rather than staying in Florence proper (which is a must-see if you haven’t been) I opted for the Tuscan-countryside this time and booked a farm-style hostel with a large-shared kitchen perfect for preparing meals of hand-cut pasta with the freshest tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.

I had a vision of riding a scooter through the sun-kissed sunflower fields that Tuscany is famous for. While I was too early for the blooms, I did find a hot red Vespa for rent in the Renaissance town of San Gimignano (San Jimmy as the locals call it.) The main square is surrounded by stone towers making me feel like I had landed in a stage set for Romeo and Juliet. I kept waiting for a merry band of velvet panted men to strut through the arcades.

Navigating by feel on a little red Vespa

I purchased a folded paper roadmap from the scooter vendor and sat down on the wide stone steps to study the lay of the land, scanning the map for an interesting landmark.  My finger landed on a symbol of a castle on a remote hilltop. I thought, “Oooh a ruined castle, that looks interesting.” After memorizing the pattern of the road I wanted to take and setting my bearings, I put the map away and zoomed off in search of my castle.

It felt so free. The wind in my hair. The yellow morning sun and yellow ribbon of the open road beckoning me forward.  Off on a true adventure! This wasn’t my first time on a scooter. I owned one in my previous life as an urban dweller in downtown Houston. Feeling comfortable on the bike allowed my mind was to relax and wander as I zoomed along the contours of Tuscany’s rolling landscapes brushed in strokes of the viridian green, yellow ochre and burnt umber hues of June. With hardly another driver on the road, I felt as free as a bird.

Landscape views of the Tuscan countryside, scooter pitstops;-)

 When I came to an intersection that felt familiar—instincts of traveling before GPS —I pulled over to check the map. Sure enough, the little road to the left curved up and around the tight contours of the hilltop landmark. The hill was just a blip on the landscape, an aberration of rock and tree above the blanket of cropland. I wound my way up and around the forested slopes and emerged into the sunlight on the stone streets of an ancient Etruscan hamlet.

The castletown, Mazzola, was tiny, just a handful of homes clustered around the central square.  I parked the Vespa outside the Tratoria Alabana with hand-painted lettering advertising cappuccino, yes!  In the frame of the doorway, the aproned barista was chatting in that Italian sing-song way with a handsome middle-aged man. They took one look at me and of course inquired who I was and how on earth I ended up there. I told them excitedly of my adventures and showed them the map. Somewhere between the smiles and broken Italian and English we understood each other. “You have a very good nose!” the barista said. And a moment later the other gentleman invited me to tour his castle. Yes! He was the owner of the little landmark on my map, not a ruin but an active villa.

Facade of the Villa Mazzola. In search of the castle landmark on the map, I ended up meeting the owner of the Mazzola Villa who invited me on a personal tour of the castle and grounds!

Private Castle Tour? Yes, Please!

Franceso Viti strolled me through the gardens and the reflecting pond where they hosted wedding ceremonies and the grand stone hall where the reception parties were held. However if I really wanted to see something impressive, he said, I should visit his family’s palazzo in the town of Volterra.  Volterra was only another 8 km to the east, and a much larger walled castle town whose 19^th century prosperity was partly due his family’s alabaster trading empire run by his great great grandfather Giuseppe Viti.  As it was getting close to lunch time, I was starting to feel famished, and Franceso recommended I choose the wild boar pappardelle (the region is known for its wild boar and boar hunts) at an Etruscan restaurant near the palace. The Ristorante Etruria did not disappoint. I order the both the boar and the creamy gnocchi pasta and believe I cleaned both plates! (Tip: always ask the locals where to eat;-)

Palazzo of the Traveling Alabaster Trader

A few meters from the restaurant, down Via delle Prigioni, I found the Palace—a three-story stone façade snapped right from the Italianate architectural history books from my undergraduate coursework.  I could almost hear my professor’s lilting voice wax poetically about the stone pediments of Quattrocento Florentine palazzi just before lighting up with delightful memory of the little gelato shop around the corner with a glint of dewy nostalgia in his eyes.

The palace has been in the Viti family since 1850, when Giuseppe Viti acquired it from the Inconti family upon returning from his wildly successful alabaster ventures in Asia.  Giuseppe was the son of a wealthy alabaster craftsman and traveled as a young man to the U.S. to learn English and study business. His entrepreneurial and adventurous spirit led him to pursue trading ventures in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and later set his sights to the East.  In Northern India, Giuseppe so charmed the Oudh Raj of Lucknow that he was appointed the king’s personal advisor—and later the Emir of Nepal!— before finally returning home to Volterra.

The descendants of the Viti family (Francesco’s relatives) still reside in the palace’s lower levels.  However, the upper level has been frozen at the height of Giuseppe’s’ alabaster trading empire. Twelve rooms preserved in the state that visiting kings, queens, prince and princesses would have seen. Each small room like a little jewel box, with hand-painted wall coverings, silk-upholstered furnishings, and the finest and unusual hand-crafted treasures (paintings, vases, chess sets, sculptures) from Asia to South America.

This is a picture of me kicking myself that I didn’t take but two pictures of the inside of the Palazzo Viti! Just a Claude Monet haystacks oil painting hanging casually in a salon.  You can thank me later for not spoiling the surprise with a bunch of photos. Go see for yourself!:-)

Finding Hidden Gems

I felt like I had stumbled upon a rare hidden gem. While throngs of tourists stood in long lines to enter the Florentine museums, I literally had the palace all to myself. I could not believe my incredible good fortune.

Even in this modern age you can still have great adventures by venturing a bit off the beaten path. I’ve found that one of the greatest benefit of traveling solo is the ability to follow your own nose and choose your own adventure. Sometimes you need to put the map away and just let your instincts be your guide. And when someone invites you to take a tour of their castle, please, say yes!