Jenny Walton's Insider Guide to Tuscany: The Best Pasta, Charming Beach Towns, and More

Welcome to Locals Only. In this series, we're tapping notable locals in the style space to share a tight list of their top recommendations of what to see, eat, and shop in their home city. They'll share off-the-radar recs that you won't find in your average guidebook, resulting in digestible mini guides revealing where the city's most fashionable residents are actually hanging out.

You may have begun following Jenny Walton for her impeccable taste in vintage fashion, her illustrations and paintings, or her 1950s- and '60s-coded wardrobe, but somewhere along the way, the Italian transplant became the blueprint for a life so many of us dream of: move to Italy, embrace slow living, and eventually buy a fixer-upper in a small town and live out Diane Lane's plot points in Under the Tuscan Sun. Now, with the arrival of her new book, Jenny Sais Quoi: Adventures in Vintage & Personal Style, the chronicles of Walton's cinematic life and inimitable personal style are heading offline and onto the page.

For the artist and author, that dream began in Milan, where she's lived for the past few years before calling Tuscany her new home. Naturally, then, we were after her list of beloved spots that have become her go-tos in the region. Whether it's the restaurant that makes her favorite traditional Tuscan pastas, the hidden-gem beach town that all the locals skip nearby Cinque Terre for, or the small towns off the beaten path that she insists everyone needs to experience in Tuscany, discover the Italian region through her eyes.

Tell me a little bit about the inspiration behind your book. What are some of your favorite tidbits you’re excited for your readers to glean from it?

I’m most excited for people to explore all of the different artistic ways they can have fun with dressing. There is an entire section called “Clothes as Canvas,” and it’s all about learning to have fun with dressing again. The way we did when we were just “playing dress-up” as kids. So much of dressing, and whether or not you have fun with it, is really determined by the mentality behind it.

I know that you (excitingly) bought a house in Tuscany. After having lived in Milan for several years, what drew you to this region of Italy?

I love Milan to pieces, and I’ll always make sure to spend time there. It’s such an inspiring city to me. However, after over 15 years of living in cities (New York and Milan), I wanted something in nature. I wanted a real yard for the dogs to play in and a home I could decorate myself.

What kind of packing advice would you give someone visiting Northern Tuscany?

In the summer, it’s all about the beach, and it’s quite nice because the cool stone houses in the mountains keep everything cool during the day and at night. In the winter, it can rain a bit, so bring a rain jacket. There are a lot of old small stone streets so definitely practical walking shoes (that of course can still be very chic). I am that rather annoying breed of person who has taken to wearing the jelly gardening shoes out and about.

What to Wear

"Agriturismo Casa Turchetti makes great traditional Tuscan food (which means in the fall everything is chestnut and perfection)," she effuses. "There are some great pastas like testaroli al pesto, and necci con ricotta is fantastic. It’s these chestnut flour pancakes rolled and stuffed with fresh sheep's ricotta like a crepe."

"My favorite place to be is by the sea, and Porto Venere is my absolute favorite. A few Milanese friends told me about it, and it’s perfection," she informs. "Skip Cinque Terre and go here instead. Same sea, less crowds."

"Villa Petriolo was a lovely place to stay up a hilltop and an easy drive to Lucca or Pisa," mentions Walton. "They do a nice wine tasting and aperitivo pairing—and there is a wonderful little town nearby called San Miniato that is well worth exploring too."

Tucked away in San Miniato, the tiny Tuscan town famous for its truffles, is a wine bar Walton adores. Opened by cookbook author Emiko Davies and Tuscan sommelier Marco Lami, Enoteca Marilu is a wine bar by evening and hosts cooking classes and culinary workshops by day.

If your idea of a perfect vacation in Italy includes long, drawn-out lunches with picturesque views overlooking the Mediterranean, then Walton insists upon Torre di Venere, a charming spot in Porto Venere that specializes in fresh-caught seafood dishes.

When Walton has a day off, she's typically spending the morning in the garden with her dogs, reading or writing. Then she's heading to the beach. "I love Baia Blu and that you have to walk through an olive grove and pine forest to get there," she muses. "I might end the night with dinner in Lerici or a small town like Sarzana."

"Caffè e Pasticceria degli Svizzeri knows my order by heart, and it’s always a caffè macchiato," she asserts.

As far as Tuscany's small towns go, Walton has plenty of recommendations far off the beaten path. "Pontremoli is a great town," she mentions, adding that it's known for "a wonderful museum of Stele statues—ancient, enigmatic sandstone sculptures created by prehistoric populations between the fourth and first millennium BCE in the Lunigiana region. They are absolutely mesmerizing."

The colorful beach towns of Cinque Terre may get all the fame, but Lerici is the under-the-radar gem that Walton prefers for an evening stroll and dinner.