Category Archives: Pacific Reader’s Favorite Things

Sorano, the town we were staying in, was about 10 minutes away from one of our favorite towns during our trip, the charming wine town of Pitigliano.

Pitigliano is famous for their wine and well known for their Bianco di Pitigliano.  While we were there it happened to be there for the annual “Petilia Festival” that happens every last weekend in August.  During this traditional festival the wine cellars of the historic centre are opened and visitors are offered the opportunity to visit the cellars and try the high quality wines.  Local cuisine is also served and there is live music, entertainment, and dance.

Steve and I went to one night of the festival and were completely blown away by the 1€ glass wine, delicious food, loud entertainment, and no English speaking tourists.  We were out numbered by local Italians, but they made us feel very welcomed by filling our wine glasses to top, offering us food, and allowing an insight into their special celebration.

Here is a video clip of  of our wild night at the Petilia Festival…

The farm address did not translate well into the gps, and we were led to the middle of no where.  After circling for about 30 minutes, Steve pulled over and asked for directions in downtown Sorano.  He walked into a local bar and Steve said no one spoke a word of English, but one of the men in the bar seemed to know where Sant’Engle was and offered to show us where to go.

We followed his speeding SUV about 3 minutes away and then he pulled off the side of the road and pointed to a sign, our farm stay Agriturismo Sant’Engle!  We graciously thanked him, waved, and then he sped off with his dog.

Sant’ Engle an organic farm and Agritourismo is owned and operated by two Italians Erika and Alessandro.  The original farm structure was built in the sixteen hundreds and has been remodeled to “farm luxury.”  It is located in the province of Grosseto, in Maremma Tuscany, Italy.

The place was rustic, but hotel clean and had modern amenities like remodeled bathroom, wifi, organic breakfast buffet, mini frig, and tea pot.  The surroundings, scenery, and nearby farms were like pictures out of a book.

We ended up really loving our stay at Sant’Engle and stayed there for 5 nights.  We got 9+ hours sleep every night, were tv free, jogged the dirt roads in the morning, explored the nearby hill towns in the daytime, and even found an amazing restaurant about 5 minutes away that made the best pizza we had on our entire trip called  Ristorante Il Talismano.

Sant”Engle also has a restaurant that is open on Fridays and Saturdays.  We got to sample a three course dinner that was made with many of their locally grown items from the farm.

I highly recommend this farm stay to anyone who would like “farm-luxury.”  It is in the middle of no where, so an adventurous nature is highly recommended.