This past weekend was the first weekend we have had the opportunity to travel on our own and we definitely took advantage of that! Some girls went to London, a few to Sicily and 10 of us traveled to Tuscany to relax on a ranch for the weekend. We actually found out about Ranch Ricavo through word of mouth from some past students who absolutely loved it! (They went back multiple times!) After hearing about how much they loved it, we had to check out why they fell in love with it.  Little did we know, the ranch ended up being a little piece of heaven. 
From the minute we walked off the train we knew it was going to be an amazing weekend. We were greeted with open arms by the owners Silvia and Marco who made us feel at home right away. Pulling up to the ranch was breathtaking; it is located in the Tuscan countryside and surrounded by gorgeous rolling hills. After we all got situated we had our first wine tasting followed by a horseback ride through the countryside. During our ride I thought about how what we were doing was literally a once in a lifetime opportunity; I mean who gets to ride a horse through the Tuscan countryside? At that moment I felt at peace and the most relaxed I have been in a long time. After returning from our ride we had our first dinner (or should I say feast!). We had homemade carbonara followed by chicken and roasted potatoes and then to top it off we had homemade chocolate cheesecake! It was all so amazing and you could tell it was made with love!
The next day we woke up and went for another ride then had a cooking class with Chef Ivan! We made homemade ravioli from scratch then a molten lava cake, which we were able to have for our dinner. Needless to say, it was heavenly.
This weekend was one filled with laughter, great friends and unforgettable memories. I am so thankful we had the chance to get to know the staff from Ranch Ricavo. They truly want each person to get the most out of their vacation and they do that by putting their heart and soul into everything they do. We even vowed to return in 10 years for a reunion!
 
Ciao Ciao
Emily Horne