The Unique Experience of an Agritourismo in Tuscany Italy

An agritourismo - in Tuscany called agriturismo - is similar to a small hotel which grows its own vegetables. It is sometimes described as a bed and breakfast, but for me the term 'bed and breakfast' evokes staying in a home wherein the hosts serve breakfast.

Hotel Prategiano, also known as Rifugio (refuge) Prategiano, has a lot of the caracteristics of an agritourismo, but it is a 24-room hotel in Tuscany that is far different than a hotel, in which you are an anonymous guest, but nor is it a place in which you feel as if you are a guest in a person's home. This hotel combines the best of both worlds: a place in which you have the privacy of a hotel and the personality and friendliness of a bed and breakfast. 

You are known by name as soon as you arrive. The hotel is owned and operated by a family and you are treated as an honored guest with specific needs. You are given the option of including meals and activities, and the advantage of this is huge. When dining for breakfast or dinner in the beautiful, spacious dining rooms, which have spectacular views of the mountains and valley below, you are treated to authentic Italian food, as if you were in an Italian home with the professionalism of a restaurant. During meals it is natural to meet other guests from all over the word. 

Even more so, if you choose to go horseback riding, to a thermal bath, sightseeing, bike riding, quading, hiking, or any one of the activities available to you, you begin to form bonds with other guests. No matter what language you speak, there is always common ground to enjoy with other fun-seeking travelers. I always leave a stay at Prategiano feeling refreshed, invigorated, and part of a world of camaraderie and fun.

American kids first vacation in Tuscany Italy

My kids had never been out of the United States. They are 14,13, and 13. I wanted to to give them a vacation that would make an impression upon them for the rest of their lives. I chose a wonderful Hotel in Maremma Tuscany called Hotel Prategiano. 

They were immediately fascinated by the landscape, the trains, and the little towns made of stone perched on hillsides. Once they realized those little towns were occupied in medieval times, they could not wait to explore. Once we arrived at the Hotel Prategiano we were greeted by the super-friendly English-speaking staff. The hotel is owned by the marvelous Paradisi family. 

My son immediately wanted to start making videos for his friends at home. We went horseback riding with some of Prategiano's 17 horses, and even as non-riders, the boys were completely comfortable and thrilled to be traveling through the countryside of Tuscany on horseback! 

The hotel is a beautiful 45 minute drive from the beach at Follonica. The kids and I spent hours swimming in the warm, calm surf, swimming far out the long, shallow shelf, finding hermit crabs and sea urchins and building sand castles. The boys made instant friends with three Italian boys and made up a game without speaking one another’s language. 

On another trip to Follonica, we took a cruise to the Roman port of Isla Giglio. Seeing the coastline from the sea, dining on board with a feast of fresh seafood and pasta, and diving from the cliffs of the island made for another unforgettable day. Down the road from Follonica is Castiglione della Pascaia, where were explored a fortress and watched wind surfers. Another beautiful day trip was to the harbor of Punta Ala, where we made plans to go sailing on our visit next year! 

The boys couldn’t wait to go for another train ride, so we boarded a gorgeous 3-level train to visit the town of Lucca. Lucca is one of the rare cities that still has a completely intact wall surrounding the city. The top of the wall has been developed into a stunning park to bicycle around the entire town. We rented bicycles and cycled twice around the town, stopping at playgrounds and stunning views. 

All of these little trips from our home base at the hotel involved driving through some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. The vineyards and olive groves and sunflower fields are breathtaking. Just outside the pristine spot of the hotel are hiking trails which took us through forests and a fantasyland of time long long ago. We also strolled the picturesque cobbled streets of Montieri, the town in which Prategiano lives. Everywhere we went, we encountered tremendously friendly people who wanted to chat with Americans! The boys now know that their world is much bigger and richer than they ever imagined.

The Park Montioni in Maremma Tuscany Italy

Between the provinces of Livorno and Grosseto, there is the large Provincial Park of Montioni that, enclosed between the Valley of the Vornia River to the north and the Valley of the Pecora River to the south, protects a group of low hills dominated by Mediterranean maquis.

 Inland, we find the State Integral Nature Reserve of Poggio Tre Cancelli, which can be visited only for study with the previous authorization of the State Forest Ranggers, and the State Nature Reserve for Wildlife Popultation of Marsiliana, a pilot farm dedicated only to horse and Maremma cow breeding.-the Park of Montioni is easy to reach from both Follonica and the Val di Cornia.

In particular, a road splits it in two, towards the hamlet of Montioni. The area is crossed by many tracks that can be used for trekking, mountain biking and horse riding in Tuscany. Among the excursions, we recommend the one that goes from Podere La Beyyuga to the medieval church-tower of the Pievaccia, and the one that from Montioni leads to the ruins of the early 1800 French settlement and to the suggestive alum quarries of Poggio Saracino and Poggio Speranzona. In the hamlet of Pratini, in the Municipality of Follonica, there is a Visitors Centre that rents bikes and provides guided walking tours and bike tours. The worst season for long walks in Tuscany is summer, as the weather is very hot and it is easy to get bitten by painful horseflies.

 The Park of Montioni is a series of uninhabited woods that stretch as far as the eye can see, marked only by the reddish scars of firebreaks. Almost everywhere, you are plunged in the evergreen plants of the tall maquis, holm oak, viburnum, strawberry tree, heather and phillyra, which carry in the stumps fringed by suckers the scars of the repeated cuts that they suffered in time. In some spots, the maquis becomes lower and incredibly tangled, dominated by the tree heath and by the fearsome creepers of the stracciabrache that, with its curved thorns, can easily tear clothes and skin.

Nevertheless, it is just here that mushroom hunters try to slip in to find magnificent specimens of Porcino, with their very dark caps. It is very hard to meet oak woods or tall woods because the exploitation that these forests have undergone stopped only in the fifties of the 20th century. One of the few strands of tall maquis that is slowly shifting to holm oak wood is in the State Nature Reserve of Poggio Tre Cancelli. Walking in Tuscany along the tracks that cross the park, still today it is possible to see the most significant traces of the unbreakable bond between the wood and the people, represented by the kiln clearings that suddenly open u in the thick of the maquis, with their dark soil enlivened by the bright yellow of the beautiful broom. Come to discover this quiet region of Maremma Toscana. It is perfect for walking, mountain biking, cycling and horseback riding in Tuscany. You can stay at our Hotel Prategiano, which enjoys a central position, if you want to get to know this special part of Italy.