Life: Toscano

I fell in love with Italy last year when I was working in Venice, so I couldn't wait to return this year with my best school friend Anna.

We used Airbnb to book our accommodation - a flat in Benabbio, a tiny village nestling in the Tuscan hills. The road up to Bennabio is not for the faint hearted as it's full of narrow hairpin bends.

Our flat was absolutely amazing - beautifully clean and fresh and very reasonably priced at just £55 per night.

There were beautiful gardens too - full of vines, hydrangeas and olive trees.

But its real draw lay in the view which was absolutely stunning. We spent every evening watching the sun go down over the mountains. It actually ended up being a really reasonable holiday moneywise as we wanted to eat at home every night so that we could look at the view! Plus Italian food is so fresh and delicious - all we needed was some figs and antipasti to make a large delicious salad washed down with the best prosecco I've ever tasted.

We went walking in the mountains on one of the days. We were dressed completely wrongly - I was wearing a playsuit and converse and it poured with rain and we saw tonnes of leeches. But all the same it was amazing - more incredible views and some of the best echoes I've ever heard.

We also visited Lucca (an ancient walled city) and walked the whole way round on top of the city walls. I was happy to spot my favourite Italian Gelateria Grom and loved my pistachio and melon ice cream.

A visit to Northern Tuscany couldn't be without a visit to the leaning tower of Pisa. It was so touristy around there so we didn't stay for long.

Have you ever been to Italy? What's your favourite city?