For our first three nights in Tuscany, we stayed in a renovated farmhouse about 15 km outside of Florence.
Due to some distracting, on-train toddler shenanigans, we missed the stop where our host was planning to collect us. Thus far in the trip, we’ve resisted getting sim cards for our phones, which is generally fine. Occasionally, though, we end up in situations where a working cell phone would be immensely useful, such as when we find ourselves at a rural Italian train station with no way to reach the person who was expecting us at a different rural Italian train station.
There were no pay phones at the (wrong) train station and the next train didn’t arrive for another 40 minutes, so we started walking. We spotted a nearby bar and rushed in, luggage and toddler in tow. I used my extremely limited Italian to beg the man behind the counter to let me use the phone, while trying to not let myself become too panicked. (We quickly established that my limited Italian was more confusing than my just speaking English.)
The man let us use the phone, we reached our host, and she was kind enough to agree to drive to our new station to pick us up. I bought an espresso and tried to convey my extreme gratitude for use of the phone. (Of course, upon leaving the bar, I noticed that there was a sign with phone on it prominently displayed by the door, so the extreme gratitude was probably confusing.)
Anyway.
The farmhouse was lovely inside and outside. We particularly enjoyed the chickens and hammocks.