In May 2024, we were the lucky guests at Podere Piandarca. Between the glowing reviews and their ideal proximity to Firenze, we chose it as our home-base for the four days we were in Tuscany. We considered a stay at an agriturismo, and while Podere Piandarca is not an actual working farm, their charming setting among the Tuscan vineyards and their expansive yard filled with flowers and edibles along with the meandering chickens, cats and dog added to the Tuscan farm feel. Also, they had a hilarious drone video on their website at the time and I caught Ryan rewatching it over and over again…these are creative people and we wanted to stay there with them.

Podere Piandarca is family operated, with a few hired hands. They have a restaurant/event space, offer breakfast to guests and cater events, like the first communion party that occured one day of our stay. They also have a keen eye for beauty, style and design that is evident by walking through their propery.

On our first evening at Podere Piandarca, we opted to eat dinner on-site and because of that amazing experience, chose to have dinner there every other night of our stay. It felt so exceptional to have a private home-cooked feast, and to get to do it a few more nights, was not a hard decision to make. Not only the food is a work of art, but the dinner space is a feast for the eyes, located in an old greenhouse filled lovingly with an array of antiques, eclectic furniture, books, plants and glass jugs. Down the center is a long farm table grounding the room with a smaller table near a wall of collected tuscan wine bottles, and on the other side, a pool table and sitting area. Music filled the space and through a side door the staff would magically appear with culinary treat after treat.

Spinach and ricotta “meatballs”. Fiorentine steak. Pasta that made my daughter’s eyes roll back in her head in delight.

If we had thought dinner was decadent, it was because we hadn’t experienced their breakfast yet. In the morning when we arrived at the table, there was fresh milk, granola, yogurt, bread . . . and that was just the start. Soon, a basket of gluten free breads and croissants (for me), followed by a plate of bacon, a tomato and cheese layered pastry, a strawberry tart, hard boiled eggs, a plate of local salumi, fresh fruit, homemade preserves. I’m certain I’m also forgetting something. Breakfast served also as lunch and afternoon snacks as we were too full to consider lunch and they declared the leftovers ours to take back to our apartment.

We took this day first day off in Tuscany off as we had been going non-stop since our arrival in Switzerland over a week prior. I joined Sebastian in the pool and we played ball with Milo (Meeelo in Italian), the resident springer spanial pup who loved our attention. Mira found endless fun picking up the chickens and awkwardly holding them out in front of her and visiting with all the cats.

Ryan and I left the kids to rest in the afternoon and we explored the commune of Terranuova Bracciolini by taking a lovely country walk to Traiana, a charming old village between Arezzo and Valdarno (the valley of the Arno river). Upon our approach into the village we have a view of the lovely and interesting bell tower of Chiesa dei Santi Fabiano e Sebastiano. We saw locals outside watering plants and witnessed touches of modern lives. And then . . . it was time to eat again!