The only thought that could mar the prospect of a weekend in Italy - missing the start of the football season - begins to recede as soon as I arrive at Pisa. I feel my bones, resigned to an English summer, warm to the welcoming Tuscan sun.
I and my fellow travellers - a collection of women who, thankfully, are not as rabidly anti-football as I had feared - are headed for Norcenni Girasole Club, a camping park in the hills between Florence and Siena.
After successfully navigating Italian motorway drivers (who fully deserve their reckless reputation) and the far more pleasant, if only a little less hair-raising, sheer mountain roadways, we arrive at our destination. The Norcenni Girasole, perched above the small town of Figline Valdardo, commands Tuscan-fantasy views of the rocky green mountains. Eurocamp, our hosts, first came here 12 years ago.
Our suntanned couriers quickly emerge to guide us to our holiday homes located further down the terraced hillside. As we trek down the steep incline, shouting toddlers and their older siblings, laden with various bright inflatables, pant up the path towards us.
Rows of shady tents, caravans and camper vans are broken up occasionally by the more uniform lines of company-owned mobile homes. Outside them parents relax at plastic tables, enjoying al fresco snacks and the absence of their children. Where the terrace path begins to wind steeply and erratically is a section of cream and green Eurocamp mobiles we will call home.
The interior of my two-bedroomed Venezia model - the most basic design offered by Eurocamp - is an extremely compact 26ft by 10ft. The neatly organised kitchen is fully equipped with a fridge-freezer and gas oven, and the decking outside provides a cool retreat.
The first bedroom houses a double bed, while a twin bunk and single bed are squeezed into the second. An economical bathroom leads off the living area that separates the two bedrooms. It's snug, but a very affordable way for families to holiday in Tuscany.
In any case, the facilities at Norcenni Girasole make it unnecessary to spend much time in your mobile home. After a climb back up the hillside you arrive at the park's central complex, which houses four varied restaurants, a bar and supermarket. Below the restaurant terrace two large swimming pools, suspended over the cup-shaped valley, look extremely inviting after a day of hot travel.
The principal attraction of the Vecchio Ristorante, with its airy terrace overlooking the swimming pools and the valley below, is its open-fire grilled meats - including the regional speciality, bistecca alla Fiorentina. The Norcenni's chef, Paolo Arnetoli, moans to us that the combined forces of BSE and the EU have conspired to ruin the dish by forbidding the serving of beef on the bone from animals over one year old. Although I have no complaints, I nod sagely.
The nearby restaurant Lo Strettoio also has a very good, slightly less traditional menu. Tuscan favourites like chicken liver crostini and wild boar sausages are mixed with some international dishes, and the wood-fired Italian pizzas are excellent.
Also surrounding the flag-stoned courtyard are a cheaply-priced takeaway restaurant and a gelateria that serves home-made ice-cream and crepes - a veritable child-magnet.
Despite this concentration of facilities, the area manages to avoid a Center Parc-like atmosphere of enforced holiday convenience. The cuisine at Norcenni, overseen by its enthusiastic chef, gives little reason to search for restaurants off-site, and the ambience is that of an Italian family-run villa - unsurprisingly, because that is what it is.
The next day Paolo gives us a cookery lesson, interspersed with more passionate asides on the virtues of traditional Italian food. The dish we are going to prepare, he tells us, is a Tuscan classic with layers of sliced steak, potatoes and porcini mushrooms, followed by tiramisu Norcenni style. Having collectively decided that Paolo is himself a bit of a dish, we endeavour to look as if we're drooling not over him but over the ingredients. As these include a bowl of the fattest fresh porcinis I have ever seen, it isn't too difficult.
After gorging ourselves yet again, we are treated to a round of wine-tasting in the Norcenni's well-stocked cellar. First we try Vernaccia di San Gimignano - a wonderful dry wine that is unusual for being one of the very few well-respected whites produced in Tuscany - before moving on to the reds that made this area famous.
Chianti Classico, made from the renowned local Sangiovese grape, is an obligatory tipple in Tuscany. More unusual but no less delicious is the chilled Torgeo - the cleansing fruity red must be served cold, we are told, because of the unusually young age of the grapes.
If sought, there is more delicious food available just off-site. A short drive further up into the mountains takes you to the villa Palagina - a luxurious hotel with more breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside. The food there is less rustic than at the Norcenni - traditional Tuscan dishes are lent a more modern flair - but the taste verdict is not drastically different.
Used to the price of eating out in the UK, I continue to be amazed by the cheapness of the wonderful food and wine. With the strong pound helping to lower further the cost of what has always been good value in Italy, you can eat out in Tuscany for about £15 each - in an equivalent UK restaurant you would expect to pay around £25 a head.
Given all this, I begin to welcome the steep slog up from the mobile homes to the centre of the site as the saviour of my waistline. However, there are other ways to burn the excess calories - besides the two main swimming pools (one reserved for children) and water slide, there are tennis courts, pony trekking and a small gym. Providing an alternative source of relaxation to sunbathing around the pool, the Girasole spa is equipped with masseurs, a steam room, sauna and jacuzzi.
Since young families dominate the site's clientele, hyperactive children are also well catered for. The price of the holiday includes long child-free hours thanks to Eurocamp's four kids clubs: the three-tiered Fun Station provides fully supervised activities and sports for four to six-year-olds, seven to nines and 10 to 12s, while the separately branded Base attempts to entice teenagers with a more informal programme of social events.
But it is its location within striking distance of many of Tuscany's most famous cities that is the Norcenni's greatest plus-point. The art treasures of Florence are 30 miles to the north and Siena, another major centre of Italian culture and home of the biannual bareback horse race, the Palio, is 37 miles to the south. It isn't even essential to hire a car to get around - in fact Florence is easier to see by train or coach as the Norcenni offers a daily bus to and from the centre of the city as well as guided excursions to Siena, Pisa and Rome.
Less well-known sights include the Etruscan city of Fiesole, in the hills above Florence, and the perfectly preserved mediaeval city of San Gimignano, situated high to the north-west of Siena. The city's many towered profile stands out from the lush Tuscan countryside like something out of a film set, but along its steep, high-walled alleys, you are brought with a bump back to the 21st century by the presence of shops selling luxury Italian leather goods and the nastier kinds of tourist knick-knacks.
Back at the ranch, wine on the terrace proves a perfect way to end a day's sightseeing. And the bar sports a perfectly serviceable large-screen TV - on which, of course, I got to see the football after all. Perfection.
Getting there
14 nights in a Venezia at the Norcenni Girasole Club during the summer (including Dover to Calais ferry crossing) costs from £1,129 to £1,485. Contact Eurocamp, 0870 3667 558.
Sally Bolton flew with Ryanair from London Stansted to Pisa
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