Fattoria Il Poggio

We had the option of adding on a «traditional farm dinner» as part of our tour experience. The tour guide raved about how good the food was at this place and we totally got our hopes up.
To start, we were herded in on a «tour» of the vineyards and olive oil making machines. We didn’t get to see any part of the winery and the only olive oil making machines we saw were ones that don’t even get used anymore.
As for the dinner, the french fried potatoes were literally the best part of the meal, no kidding. Okay, and maybe the barley soup was pretty tasty. But, the pasta was nothing special and the meal went downhill from there. The chicken was dry and overcooked, the steak tips were tough, and the ribs weren’t worth trying. As for dessert, a few pieces of almond biscotti, again nothing that will make me want to come back again. For 62 euros, we wish we would’ve just caught ourselves a taxi into the city and had a real Tuscan meal.

Chinese & Italians are from a common heritage when it comes to food & drink! A Tuscan House of wine, olive oil, and food. This was not enough to earn my vote to visit this vineyard. Luckily, my Hoya friends knew better and outvoted me. Fattoria il Poggio is a throwback to a simpler time. It is not the factory that you may find in Napa or Sonoma in Californian lore. It is a smaller family run operation that produces a dry red wine of modest, but outstanding quality and at a bargain price. When I say the future of food is street food, I did not truly understand that this started in farm homes thousands of years ago in Italia! Our Tuscany – Family style lunch would have been fit for Bob DeNiro or Big John Thompson! Olive Oil, bruschetta, purpled, prosciutto – Wine Tastings!!! My favorite was the pancetta dessert – World Class! Sometimes Old School & Old World is Best! The service is wonderful. It is not the kind of Millennial special service that many Unilocalers look for. It is more like your grandparents, aunts, and uncles give you when they invite you in to their home for an afternoon. Italia! It does not get any better than this! Food is about Family!

Mamma mia! Where do I even begin with this review?
If your tour guide offers you the chance go to Fattoria Il Poggio for a ‘real farm house dinner’ DO IT! Not only will it be extra money* well spent but it’ll end up being one of the best meals you’ll have in Italy.
The property is beautiful. Trees everywhere, gorgeous old Tuscan buildings, little hidden hide-​a-​ways all over the place for a romantic moment.
We started with a tour of the farm. Our guide, one of the owners of the farm, took us to view their rows of grapes and olives. And then we got to see exactly how the olives are pressed to make the oil. Full of little stories and jokes, he was just adorable. Plus he was rocking a NY Yankee t-​shirt — so that’s even more reason to love him.
After our walk around the vineyard we came back to a large dining room w/​a barn feel, and designed to look like a wine cellar. Inside were at least 6 large community tables. Our group occupied three of them and as soon as we sat down the wine started flowing.
Included in our dinner were a total of seven wines. Each better than the last. And the bottles seemed endless — as soon as our table finished a bottle another one was open and in front of us.
Food was brought out soon after we were given a run-​down of each wine. And the food — well the food was phenomenal.
Make sure you try everything:
Traditional Tuscan bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Did you know that traditional Tuscan bread is not made with any salt. So the sprinkle while you’re eating is not only necessary but brings it to a new level of deliciousness.
Olive spread. Bruschetta, Meat/​cheese platter.
Barley Soup. Why did no one ever tell me how good and comforting barley soup is?! Yum!
Freshly made Pappardelle pasta with a nice bolognese sauce. Unbelievable dish — my favorite of the night. Meaty sauce, sprinkle of fresh parmesan. Looking back on it I should have requested another bowl… ya never know — they may have given me one.
Pork /​Chicken /​Sausages. All seasoned and cooked to perrrrfection.
Potatoes. More like French fries — but they were actually pretty tasty.
Biscotti and shots of Grappa. Make sure you sip the grappa, it’s strong. Luckily the semi-​sweet biscotti will be there to counter the boldness of the liquor.
After all that wine and food it was time for dancing. A DJ set up on the patio — groups of tourists coming together to show off their moves. So much fun.
The whole evening was a blast. There is just no way that you’re not going to love your visit to Fattoria Il Poggio.
*Cost per person was around 50euros.

My summary review of Montecatini is that it’s where you go when you can’t afford Florence. That’s the unfortunate truth about this leg in my tour with Globus. If you don’t opt for the «Tuscan Farm Dinner», you’re stuck in a boring town, one parading as something worthy of visit. I know that’s cruel but I’ll review the hotel where it’s appropriate. You have few places to go, and the interesting bits are a ways walk. Where am I going with this? Patience, Skywalker.
On the first day, you have an option to take an evening at a Tuscan farm. This farm is located in another town, Montecarlo (no, not that one). On the second day, you spend most of it in Florence. This may lead you to wonder, as I did, if you spent the majority of your time outside of Montecatini, why on Earth would you stay in it? Good question. I wouldn’t be making such a big deal out of it if our hotel had one of those wormhole machines from Contact – you leave for Montecarlo, spend the day, and return seconds after you leave. And that would be a proper use of an anomalous hypothetical warping of space-​time, thank you very much. Visiting alien worlds? Pfffft! Let me save a day traveling around Tuscany!
(How can you tell I just watched Interstellar… WOOT!)
You want details on this level of BS before reading about how awesome and worthwhile the Tuscan farm Fattoria Il Poggio is? I knew you would, so let me continue. Our tour took us past Florence from Rome to stay in Montecatini, we then drove to Montecarlo and back on the same day. Then we drove back to Rome to stay the day in Florence, passing over the same road thrice (that’s «thrice»). And as you might have guessed, the day after, we drove over the same road a fourth time (quarce?) on the way to Venice. Why not just stay in Florence and then drive to Venice? Globus wastes your time to save money on a hotel. The one saving grace in all of this thankfully is Fattoria Il Poggio, the farm resulting from this colossal detour.
I won’t lie, there’s a bit of paid DLC going on here, using a video game reference. Visiting Fattoria Il Poggio does cost an additional $ 70, which covers an impressive dinner with unlimited wine. You’re also taken on a quick tour of the farm. But no lie, they do have a shop where you can buy everything they make. Of all the times Globus did that on the journey (and they did it often), this was the one occasion where I didn’t notice and didn’t really care. The wine was free and ever-​flowing. The various dishes were amazing. And when we were all properly tipsy, the music started playing. Our boisterous host shouted and heralded her products with such charisma, you couldn’t help but buy her bottles. My mother snapped up wine while I olive oil.
Was it good oil? Let me put it this way: There’s a local business in my town I support wholeheartedly specializing in olive oil and vinegar. They are my go-​to place and remain it considering I don’t actually live in Europe. The quality of their products are beyond comparison. Having said that, upon my return, I emailed Fattoria Il Poggio and ordered fourteen more cans. I’m unlikely to do that again, but that still remains an impressive number.
Fattoria Il Poggio is also… sigh, look, I’m just gonna called it FIP from now on. Yes, I’m copy/​pasting each time and you know it, so let’s just cut that out move on. FIP is a restaurant, a hotel, a farm, a tourist attraction, all in one. It does each of those competently, servicing every tour group like they were special. Oh yes, I’m onto that; FIP is too out of the way to be a restaurant location, and the tables are all large, meant for oversized parties (though there are exceptions). I don’t know how many tours stop at FIP, but I imagine it’s quite a few.
The night was cool, and as the rest of my tour danced clumsily under the lights, I wandered around, snapping what few photos I could. We returned to our depressing hotel, believing that of all the optional excursions taken, FIP would be the eventual high point. It was eventually supplanted by Burano, but that was a tough call. Was it worth the massive inconvenience of this part of the journey? Honestly, no… but that’s the fault of Globus. If you happen to find yourself in Montecarlo independently, than a visit to FIP would definitely be a suggestion. There are probably a hundred over identical farms just like it, but I only know of this one… and it was good.
Food: ⁵⁄₅
Service: ⁴⁄₅
Presentation: ⁴⁄₅
Value: –/​5
Recommendation: 4.5÷5

(4÷6÷2014) Came here for a farm tour and lunch as part of a group tour package. It’s a lovely setting «under the Tuscan sun.» The setting is pastoral and idyllic. Really enjoyed the experience, seeing the olive groves and vineyards, and the explanation of how their olive oil is pressed. Lunch was a variety of regional antipasti, cured meats, Toscani Crostini, bruschetta, garlic toast, sundried tomatoes. Really enjoyed the biscotti (slightly chewy-​crisp, not too sweet, studded with nuts) with dessert wine. Food was plentiful, almost unlimited. Service very friendly. Wines were mostly unimpressive to me (thin and sharp), except for the Montecarlo Bianco and the Vin Santo. The kitchen is well-​adept to handle large groups (ours was 20+), and they were even setting up for a wedding while we were still there.

I have to admit that we had slight hopes that we would have a similar experience like Diane Lane’s character in «Under The Tuscan Sun» when she found her true love in Tuscany – of course minus all the drama that led up to that experience! Unfortunately, we did NOT find Raoul Bova (a.k.a. Marcello) look alike but we did fall deeply in love with our meal at Fattoria il Poggio! Here are our highlights:
Note: If you haven’t seen the movie then I highly recommend it because it is very good and will be referenced throughout this post!
THE FARM
This little Tuscan farm sits in an area called Montecarlo Lucca. It is just what I would imagine a Tuscan farm to look like. When we arrived we were given a very animated tour of the olives and learned a little bit about the farm. ‘Helena’ our crazy guide told us to forget about finding the hot men that we saw in the movie because the only men in Lucca are fat, hairy and have missing teeth! The other thing we learned from ‘Helena’ is that the fine people of Lucca really do not have warm feelings for Pisa. She was so passionate about it that I decided it was best to not ask why – I can always google it later. The farm produces both extra virgin olive oil and wine and both are delicious! We had to buy extra luggage to bring it back home.
OLIVES
I had no idea that olive oil could be so complicated. I knew it can be quite expensive depending on various factors but ‘Helena’ made sure we understood that under no circumstances are we to buy any olive oil that isn’t cold pressed and unrefined. Below are some the machines that are used at the farm for there delicious olive oil.
THE VINEYARDS
The wine, the wine, the wine! The wines produced here are from both Montecarlo DOC and IGT Toscana. They specialize in both red and white and they are quite good. My two favorites are:
— Vin Santo del Chianti — delicious dessert wine which is perfect for dipping biscotti
— Otium Montecarlo Bianco — refreshing white
If you stay for lunch or dinner just note that the wine keeps flowing and everyone gets louder as the meal goes on!
THE FOOD
Other than meeting wonderful new friends and learning all about olive oil, the most memorable part of our visit to Fattoria il Poggio was the food. There are several areas to eat and you will learn what Italian «family style» really means after this experience.
We have been back for just over two months and we are still thinking about it! We are actually trying to figure out how we can squeeze in a quick visit in the next month or so!
ANTIPASTI
They serve the traditional Italian first course items: cured meats, cheese, olives, etc. All were quite good.
PASTA
This was eyes roll back in your head and slap the table good. We had seconds, thirds and some even fourths! Pappardelle Braised Beef Ragu. Yes, this is my Marcello on a plate!