As my journey and Italy dwindles  down to the last month, I have been very lucky to have an abundance of family visits to savor my remaining moments in Italy. For my Aunt Barbara’s trip,  I planned a four-day road trip through small hill towns in Chianti and the Val d’Arno. Our itinerary was derived from Eyewitness Travel’s “Back Roads of Northern and Central Italy.” My aunt rented a stick-shift Lancia which drove wonderfully on the windy roads across the countryside. Impressively, she had not driven stick shift in several decades but still managed to conquer the roads with finesse!

The Val d’Arno region (east of the Arno River) was our starting point, and the first stop on the itinerary was the Ponte Buriano, which apparently appears in the background of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Unfortunately, the riverbed was almost dried up, which detracted from the supposedly picturesque view…