Sunday, June 1 (Florence) – I know I say this a lot, but I love the power of friends-of-friends and word of mouth – particularly via Facebook. Emily M from my equestrian team in college (NYU) saw that I was going to Italy and gave me the best recommendation of where to ride! She had studied abroad in Florence and went to this place on a weekly basis, so I knew it wasn’t one of the tourist trail rides + wine tastings that I wasn’t particularly interested in, but would settle for if it got me on a horse.
I hopped a train to a town called Montevarchi-Terranuova where I was picked up and taken to the Rendola Riding center. I was greeted by Jenny, an older English woman who runs the show, and a handful of people from around the globe who were staying at the facility for a multi-day holiday (similar to what I did at the Crossogue Equestrian Center in Ireland). Since I shipped my riding equipment home weeks ago, I was happy to see they had extra boots and helmets that I could borrow.
I hopped a train to a town called Montevarchi-Terranuova where I was picked up and taken to the Rendola Riding center. I was greeted by Jenny, an older English woman who runs the show, and a handful of people from around the globe who were staying at the facility for a multi-day holiday (similar to what I did at the Crossogue Equestrian Center in Ireland). Since I shipped my riding equipment home weeks ago, I was happy to see they had extra boots and helmets that I could borrow.
I got on a beautiful mare named Carmen and five of us started going on a 2.5-hour trail. We walked, trotted and cantered through olive groves and in between rows of grapes in different vineyards! It was stunning (wish I had my camera but I had nowhere to put it!) and the weather couldn’t have been better.
After the ride there was a little down time to relax and I met a young couple who was staying there via Airbnb, not to ride, just to relax in the beautiful countryside (great idea for non-riders who want a day outside of the city). Then we had a delicious, multi-course lunch which had some of the best pasta I’ve eaten in all of Italy – it had a cream sauce with a touch of mint and some cheese.
I went back to Florence completely relaxed and so happy. I highly recommend any rider who comes to this region of Italy to stop by Rendola for a couple of hours to see the real countryside!
I went back to Florence completely relaxed and so happy. I highly recommend any rider who comes to this region of Italy to stop by Rendola for a couple of hours to see the real countryside!
Note: when I was invited to stay for lunch, I originally couldn’t because I wanted to make it back to the city for a bike tour and I had left my mom in the city. But when Jenny seemed disappointed I changed my plans. I said I would stay. When she had given me prices for the ride, she said nothing about the meal and from the way she invited me, I thought it was part of the price. So I was caught a bit off guard when I paid her and she asked for another 20 Euro (which could have gotten me another hour of riding!) for the meal. It was a lot of food and delicious so of course I was happy to pay for it, but I was completely caught off guard and would not have paid that much for lunch or stayed that long if I knew in advance. So keep that in mind – in general in Italy, it is always important to find out all the costs up front (food at the bar vs. at a table, gelato, leather, etc.).
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