Imagine seven days of twists, turns and
perfect two-lane roads
in the gold and green hills of Tuscany,
Italy.
When we say this is a moveable feast, we really mean it.
June 14 - 21, 2008 - Cost: $5,300.00
per person Double Occupancy,
Single Rider Bike Cost - $1,200
Not Included: Airfare
•
Includes Motorcycle Rental, One Bike Per Couple
•
Castle Wine Tour With Tastings & Lunch
•
Artisan Bread & Pizza Making Tour & Lunch
•
Dinner in a Typical Tuscan Countryside Trattoria
•
Hands-On Cooking Lessons
TRAVEL ICONS
The Bikes
• Suzuki V Strom 650
• BMW F650 GS
• BMW R1100R
• YAMAHA XT660 MOTARD
• KTM LC4 690 SUPERMOTO
• BMW F800 GS
• KTM LC4 690 ENDURO
Choice of motorcycles is “first come , first serve basis” - upgrades available for bikes
We’re really putting the GO in GOurmet this year and we think you’ll like what’s in store. Imagine seven days of twists, turns and perfect two-lane roads in the gold and green hills of Tuscany, Italy. Did we mention you’d be aboard some of the finest motorcycles built today?
We’ve teamed up with Blue Strada Tours to bring you the excitement of the open road combined with the culinary delights of Tuscany. When we say this is a moveable feast, we really mean it. Each night, after a relaxing journey to an ancient hilltop village, through the undulating countryside of Chianti, or to the home of a formidable bread maker, you’ll come ‘home’ to a private villa, where you can kick off your boots, sit by the pool with a glass of local wine, and tell tales of life on the road.
Join Laura in the kitchen as she prepares your gourmet feast that will be enjoyed around a convivial table with new friends and local flavors.
Bring your experience and your positive attitude (you may want to loosen your belt buckle too), and GOGOurmet this summer like you’ve never gone before.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
Blue Strada Tours is the brainchild (and longtime dream) of Bill Kniegge, a motor sports and motorcycle industry veteran of some 30 years. Bill's involvement with brands like Bell Helmets, Husqvarna and ATK Motorcycles, Ford Motor sports, and his love of riding and competing since the age of 12, has given him the knowledge and desire to put together these premier two-wheel experiences. Bill is passionate about your adventure and will be your motorcycle guide in Tuscany. He promised to get you back in time for your gourmet dinners and guarantees us you will not have bugs in your teeth at the table.
The Food, Oh the Food
Tuscany
a revered food lover’s paradise and our villa on the outskirts
of San Gimignano has the perfect kitchen for cooking together or
enjoying a glass of Tuscan wine. Relax by the pool or walk in the
woods surrounding our beautiful private estate.
Our kitchen stove is bubbling with a traditional and creative spins to the region’s robust cuisine. The abundance of fresh vegetables, herbs, meats, fish, and local farm products is the first ingredient for nightly antipastos. In our villa kitchen you may join our chefs in the kitchen for lessons and in preparing some Tuscan favorites like Duck Breast in Ragu with Baked Mascarpone Polenta or “The Torta” a decadent pasta pie layered with homemade Chinghai sausages, ham, mushroom tortellini cheese, pine nuts and spices. Try your hand at rolling pasta for a tagliatelle with porcini and cream or the decadent Zucotto soaked with hazelnuts, chocolate and liqueur.
The Tuscan breakfast table each morning begins with dark rich coffee and buttery brioche, anise flavored “brigidino”, crostatas, fresh fruits, sausages, thick ham and eggs or frittatas. The rustic breads make excellent toast for special jams, honey and fruit compotes. Plus there’s always goodies and from the pasticceria or little surprises like baked nectarines with amaretti.
Back In Our Villa Kitchen
For many the recipe for perfection can be found in the open-air markets where late spring is the season for artichokes, strawberries, asparagus, squash blossoms and arugula. Using the finest and freshest ingredients – is one of the secrets to preparing Tuscan food. Ask any Tuscan what their favorite dish is and many will say a two-pound T-bone of Chianna beef quickly charred over a wood-burning flame. To the beef connoisseur, few cuts of meat are as exceptional as those from the cattle raised in Tuscany’s Chianna valley used for the bistecca
ala fiorentina and about as tender and flavorful a steak you will eat. The open fire grill in our kitchen is perfect for grilled the steak and vegetables with a light balsamic glaze. At the Enotecca in Greve we’ve learned how olive oils are blended using certain olives to create the desired color and fruitiness. For us nothing is better than a warm bruschetta with melted Pecorino, diced ripe tomatoes, piled high with arugula and drizzled with extra fruity oil.
Moto Heaven
Hop on your bikes and head out in the warm sunshine. Picture yourself on a tour of the surrounding country side will lead you to the hilltop town of San Gimignano, one of Tuscany’s most charming villages and a treasure trove of gourmet shops for buying salumi at La
buca di montatuto, pecorino, olive oils, and goodies from the pasticceria Lucia
and Maria’s. Within the old walls is the Musceo della Collegiato in the famous eerie Benzzo Gozzoli frescos of Judgment Day worth of a stop. And the gelato shop in the town square has some of the best noccicola (hazelnut) we’ve ever eaten and definitely not to be missed. Another favorite is the chocolate maker who’s balsamic and pepper filled chocolates are incredibly unique and a great take home present. Enjoy a stroll about the town before heading out with Bill.
Itinerary Samplings:
Serving Great Lunch Stops & Sumptuous Picnics
Tuscany's warm clear blue skies, twisting roads and a few hairpin turns tossed in for good measure make for an exciting week in one of the most beautiful parts of the world...the gold and green hills of Tuscany. Sounds too good to be true? There are so many fantastic routes possible, a buffet as endless and as delicious as the Italian cuisine we'll eat along the way. So… loosen your belt buckles, grab your gear, and get ready for the ride of a lifetime this summer.
There are so many routes to choose from in Tuscany, but here are a few of our favorites. When you arrive, we'll discuss the routes the night before and decide together. Your ideas are always welcome.
VOLTERRA & MOUNT AMIATA
If your taste is volcanic ruins and Etructian hills this day trip is one you'll want to experience. Roll through the historic towns of Volterra, San Gimignano experiencing the sights, the flavors, the sounds, and the smells of Tuscany like never before.
Rolling on to the ruins of Abbey of St. Galgano and the Sword in the Stone
APUANE ALPS
This day trip takes you on a picturesque ride through the high hills to the North of Tuscany through areas you may have never seen! During the day you will see little-known towns), high mountains and dramatic countryside of the White Tuscany region of Garfagnana. Bring your camera!!
VAL D ORCA
The riding is spectacular here! Through the Crete Senesi, an area of Tuscany to the south of Siena that was once a Roman road to the south. It consists of a range of rolling hills and woods among villages and views of Montepulciano, Pienza and the picture perfect landscape Tuscany is best known for.
CHIANTI HILLS
In the Chianti countryside the eye can range far across the unfolding of gold and green hills for which Tuscany is famous. This ancient wine region of is a "must do" for wine lovers and motorcycle enthusiasts alike, and the idyllic scenery is sprinkled with castles, hill top villages and vine-covered valleys.
UMBRIA, BOLSENA LAKE, ORVIETO
Discover the almost unknown region of Tuscia and the lake of Bolsena; this land bordering on Tuscany, Umbria and Tyrrhenian Sea, includes several nature parks. Honestly this may be one of the best areas for motorcycle tours in all of Italy.
MAREMMA & THE COAST
The Maremma also has a rocky part to its coastline, composed of peninsulas where the hills extend to the sea, interspersed with beautiful bays, many of them ideal for swimming. Castiglione della Pescaia is probably the best known of the fishing village beach resorts. Vast pine forests border many of these beaches and there are marshes protected as wildlife parks, the most famous of which is the Parco dell Uccellina. These areas teem with wildlife, most notably a wide range of spectacular bird species. To view these areas by motorcycle is unparalleled.
This is the possibility that the myth of the sword in the stone, tied to the saga of Britain's King Arthur, could have originated right here in Tuscany and Sword in the Stone of St. Galgano, by a twelfth-century Tuscan hermit.
Food Lovers Detours:
Pasta Making With Francesca
During this journey you'll have the opportunity to roll up your sleeves and share their first hand knowledge of the Tuscan cuisine and way of life. Laura welcome’s our accomplished local Tuscan chef, Francesca into our kitchen for pasta making lessons and lunch. No pasta machines here! Francesca will demonstrate hand-made pastas, sauces and baking. The abundance of fresh vegetables, herbs, meats, fish, and local farm products is the first ingredient for this robust cuisine. We will add both classic and creative spins to our repertoire, including Tagliatelle with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Tortelli with Spinach Ricotta and Sage Butter; Gnocchi Nudi, and Cantucciini.
Artisan Bread Making
This will be one of your most unique experiences. Ride up the hillside and back to a different era where you will meet Viola, a unique artisan that answered the “call” to return to the soil she explains and to find a simpler life for her and children. Growing and grinding her own grains might didn’t sound simpler to us at first either, but watching the loaves rise in her old stone oven was a about as rewarding as any experience we’ve had. Viola will show you how to make bread from scratch, using the products on her land. There is nothing quite like the smell of fresh bread pulled right out of the oven, is there? In one form or another, bread has been one of the principal forms of food for man from the earliest of times. Here in Italy, there is no exception. Like ages ago, the making of fresh bread is a tradition that has passed from generation to generation, and Viola secrets will be passing on to you. Delicious rustic breads with rosemary and olives and pizza with fresh mozzarella, squash blossoms, and vegetables are on today's menu. She’ll also share some tips on using old bread so it doesn't go to waste. Lunch with Viola is next with; you guessed it, bread and pizza!
Serving Great Lunch Stops & Sumptuous Picnics
Tuscany's warm clear blue skies, twisting roads and a few hairpin turns tossed in for good measure make for an exciting week in one of the most beautiful parts of the world...the gold and green hills of Tuscany. Sounds too good to be true? There are so many fantastic routes possible, a buffet as endless and as delicious as the Italian cuisine we'll eat along the way. So… loosen your belt buckles, grab your gear, and get ready for the ride of a lifetime this summer.
There are so many routes to choose from in Tuscany, but here are a few of our favorites. When you arrive, we'll discuss the routes the night before and decide together. Your ideas are always welcome.
Crete Sensei Pecorino
One of the most famous of all Italian cheeses is pecorino and a visit to the ancient "Jewel of the Renaissance" village of Pienza whose streets are heavy with the smell of cheese, is a true gourmet’s dream. This is the Crete Senesi capital and tasting all the different types of Pecorino cheese produced here will astound you. Just wandering the shops filled with mushrooms, pastas, honeys, jams, cheeses and oils is a feast.
Just outside the village is one small producer whose fragrant cheeses are considered to be the best. The delightful patron loves visitors and a chance to explain the methods she uses to create her wonderful specialties scented with truffles, grappa, herbs and spices.
Wine tour Options, No Bikes allowed
Castle Wine Tour
In the Chianti countryside the eye can range far across the unfolding of hills, all offering a spacious spectra of color and a land offering some of the best vines in Italy. This ancient wine region of is a "must do" for wine lovers and the idyllic scenery is exactly how we think of dreamy Tuscany, sprinkled with castles, hill top villages and vine-covered valleys. The best wines of Chianti Classico are rich red wines made with the native Sangiovese grape and today passionate winemakers have educated us far and beyond the old days, of a red checked tablecloth and a candle dripping from a bottle in a basket.
Giulio arrives after breakfast to lead us on an exclusive Castle Wine Tour. This ancient 15th century fortress whose foundations were erected in the year 1260 was a medieval stronghold on the border between the territories of Siena and Florence. It is now a private wine estate rarely open to the public for a visit. Once owned by a noble Florentine family and now producing exceptional wines we enjoy a special tasting and lunch. What would we do without our local experts in Tuscany?
Home Sweet Home
At night, there is nothing more to do than enjoy a hearty meal prepared together under a Tuscan moon, with a glass of local Chianti, in our beautiful villa. When you are not exploring the Tuscan countryside and the small villages, you will hopefully be beside us in our large country kitchen at Villa Montignoso, engaging in lively demonstrations, and immersing yourself into a recipe that was likely created by an Italian nonna decades ago.
High atop a hill approximately 2000 feet above sea level, your home away from home is located between two of the loveliest medieval towns, San Gimignano and Volterra. We are only about 20 miles from Siena, 35 from Florence and an easy drive to Lucca, Pisa and the seaside. Suffice it to say...the villa is perfect.
Villa Montignoso has been decorated with beautiful spacious rooms with their own bathrooms, and all are comfortably appointed. You'll find stunning terracotta tile and Italian marble throughout, and can admire the hand plastered walls and painted detail. Three fireplaces in the house make for delightful evenings of cheerful conversation accompanied by tasty selections of fine Italian wine. A laundry room, TV, telephone and swimming pool add modern comforts to this Tuscan oasis.
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• Suzuki V Strom 650
Blue Strada Tours is the brainchild (and longtime dream) of Bill Kniegge, a motor sports and motorcycle industry veteran of some 30 years. Bill's involvement with brands like Bell Helmets, Husqvarna and ATK Motorcycles, Ford Motor sports, and his love of riding and competing since the age of 12, has given him the knowledge and desire to put together these premier two-wheel experiences. Bill is passionate about your adventure and will be your motorcycle guide in Tuscany. He promised to get you back in time for your gourmet dinners and guarantees us you will not have bugs in your teeth at the table.
Tuscany
a revered food lover’s paradise and our villa on the outskirts
of San Gimignano has the perfect kitchen for cooking together or
enjoying a glass of Tuscan wine. Relax by the pool or walk in the
woods surrounding our beautiful private estate.
For many the recipe for perfection can be found in the open-air markets where late spring is the season for artichokes, strawberries, asparagus, squash blossoms and arugula. Using the finest and freshest ingredients – is one of the secrets to preparing Tuscan food. Ask any Tuscan what their favorite dish is and many will say a two-pound T-bone of Chianna beef quickly charred over a wood-burning flame. To the beef connoisseur, few cuts of meat are as exceptional as those from the cattle raised in Tuscany’s Chianna valley used for the bistecca
ala fiorentina and about as tender and flavorful a steak you will eat. The open fire grill in our kitchen is perfect for grilled the steak and vegetables with a light balsamic glaze. At the Enotecca in Greve we’ve learned how olive oils are blended using certain olives to create the desired color and fruitiness. For us nothing is better than a warm bruschetta with melted Pecorino, diced ripe tomatoes, piled high with arugula and drizzled with extra fruity oil. 
Hop on your bikes and head out in the warm sunshine. Picture yourself on a tour of the surrounding country side will lead you to the hilltop town of San Gimignano, one of Tuscany’s most charming villages and a treasure trove of gourmet shops for buying salumi at La
buca di montatuto, pecorino, olive oils, and goodies from the pasticceria Lucia
and Maria’s. Within the old walls is the Musceo della Collegiato in the famous eerie Benzzo Gozzoli frescos of Judgment Day worth of a stop. And the gelato shop in the town square has some of the best noccicola (hazelnut) we’ve ever eaten and definitely not to be missed. Another favorite is the chocolate maker who’s balsamic and pepper filled chocolates are incredibly unique and a great take home present. Enjoy a stroll about the town before heading out with Bill.
High atop a hill approximately 2000 feet above sea level, your home away from home is located between two of the loveliest medieval towns, San Gimignano and Volterra. We are only about 20 miles from Siena, 35 from Florence and an easy drive to Lucca, Pisa and the seaside. Suffice it to say...the villa is perfect.