This series is about our trip to Italy we took in September of 2026. We rented a car and traveled the “road less traveled”. Other pages in the series listed at the bottom of this page and will have links as I write them.

A couple months before we left for Italy, I broke my sacrum (its an unusual bone to break so for reference, its basically the bone that connects your backbone to your hip). I was walking sorta okay but still in a decent amount of pain and needed to rest and walk a bit slower than typical. For the last few days, I had pushed it a bit outside of where I was comfortable, so I was looking forward to our day at the Saturnia Thermal Baths.

Originally, we had planned on going to the public and free park with the thermal waters. Why pay for it and also it was important to immerse ourselves in the authentic Italian culture. Our HomeExchange hosts though encouraged us to go to the nearby “spa version” as they said the parking availability at the free park was very limited and I may have some issues entering the waters with my restricted mobility (the edges could be muddy and slick).

Again, so glad we had the advice of our hosts. We passed the thermal water public park on the way and the parking lot was packed! Finding the actual spa area was a bit tricky but after going down what was likely the wrong way down a small road, we found the entrance. You are required to have a white robe to walk around the spa waters so we rented the spa package which included the robe and two lounge chairs and umbrella. The total cost for all of it came to about $50 US Dollars each so not bad for a full afternoon in a beautiful setting.

We were handed our spa package and directed to the men and women locker rooms where we could change and use our assigned locker. After we exited to the pools, an attendent took our ticket and asked us where we wanted our umbrella. There was a more lively spot near the bar and a more quiet area on a back lawn. We chose the back lawn where he set up our umbrella and chairs. So nice!

There were multiple pools including one that was in a courtyard area amidst the building, a large open pool, multiple smaller areas where people congregated to chat, and a few waterfalls and shallow areas. All were about 100 degrees or so and most led from one to the other without getting out of the pool. There is a slight sulphur smell because it is a naturally heated water and there is bits of algae floating that is also used in the spa’s beauty treatments. It sounds like an odd thing to enjoy (a warm pool with algae?) but its wonderful! There were very few American tourists there (really few tourists at all) and its peaceful and relaxing and makes the body feel great. I loved walking slowly from pool to pool listening to Italians chat away and enjoy themselves.

After we left the resort, we started heading back towards Pitigliano, but we stopped for our dinner reservations at L’Altro Sapore Organic EVO Oil, an olive farm and agritourism restaurant, located not far outside of Pitigliano. The owners were delightful; the food was great and the farm and atmosphere wonderful! Edoardo met us at the door and gave us the option of sitting in the garden or on their lovely screened porch. We chose the porch just in case of bugs since it was getting dark. The garden was lit with twinkly lights and the sun was just starting to set. Once he knew we were interested in the agriculture, he gave us a tour of the olive trees and explained some of the processing. So nice!

We then took our seat and ordered a wonderful meal that I completely forgot to take a picture of because it was so good! We had a beef tartare that came from his brother’s cows, a steak and Gnudi, a traditional Tuscan dish that is made with ricotta and spinach. All of it was tasty but the tartare was oh so good. Honestly, I’ve never had raw beef and never even had the urge to order it. It just doesn’t sound like it would be good. I was wrong. This was so good. It was infused with the olive oil from the farm and was just perfect. All the food is made by his wife, Eleonora. She is quite the master chef!

The restaurant is at their house and during dinner, their young son arrived home from soccer (calcio) practice and got his own meal in the kitchen. It was nice to know we were supporting a young hard working agriculture family who was passionate about the food they were crafting. During dinner, Edoardo gave us an olive oil tasting of four of his oils. He explained they were all cold pressed virgin oils but each had a distinctive flavor. After we took a “shot” of the oil, he said to suck it air through our teeth to distribute it throughout the mouth to get the full taste. Wow! Some of them had quite the bite to them which surprised me. He explained the more robust ones were typically used on meat so they could hold up to that flavor. All were delicious so we of course, bought the full flight to take home.

All in all, a really lovely day in the Maremma region of Tuscany.