It was a long time I really wanted to spent hours breathing fresh air far from the city, totally sourrounded by nature, fields, trees, no noise. Hence I finally got to go for a walk up a little mountain!
The first meeting I had was totally amazing 😍 with there little and hardworking mules!!
Mules pictures
It was like an old frame from the past, staring at those little mules giunge up the mountain and discovering they are still used as a transfer way it’s unbelievable! So cute 😊
Here you are some other shots I took trying to go near them while they were having their lunch break:
Mules having lunch
…and these are the landscapes of the Southern Italy countryside:
Well, the autumn has started some days ago, but Tuscany doesn’t seem to be aware of it. So lucky. That’s the reason why, on last Saturday I decided to have a trip in the countryside and breath a little of freshness and smell those flavors and perfumes you can only have among the fields, trees, olives, grapes, under the sun.
It took just 1 hour to get there, in Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti – Florence area.
It was love at first sight, a very small village (like mine) on the top of a silent hill that looks like abandoned, a ghost village. I passed the day just in front of it, where a little family of farmers welcomed my friends and me to have a little tour there with a final wine tasting stop. Glamourous.
Tuscany – Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti countrysideVineyard in Tuscany countryside
It was lovely to spend hours just by staring at those colors: graveyards were half yellow, half orange, pale orange, and also red, maybe brown too. But the grass was so green that it was hard to think those leaves were going to fall down and cover it completely.
Also, while listening to our favorite team leader explanations and descriptions about the wine process and olive oil productions, it was impossible to not get lost in the surrounding… yes, everybody was always ahead toward the next explanation and room, but I took my time in order to have those souvenirs I’m gonna show you right now:
Tuscany Landscape – Greve in Chianti agriculture and cultivationTuscany farmers and avant-garde
The last one picture shows you a little example of how much the farmers of Tuscany are keen on new trends and technology: it’s not about how virtual they are, but it’s about how can they grew their business just improving little by little their activities, remaining still so nature. Anyway, what I want to say you it’s to pay attention looking at this pic: www.pastaalpesto.com and cooking lesson are the signal under the windows, so smart! Have a look at their websites if you’re interested in having cooking lessons about traditional Italian homemade pasta.
But let’s go further to have a look in the surrounding area: here we are the wine cellars, where the wine is stored, and the welcoming barrels which show you the trail for they called winery !
Wine cellar – MontefioralleBarrels – Montefioralle vineryGallo nero – the black cock guarantee
Maybe the Black Cock – or better Gallo Nero is one of the most recognized certified wine labels in the world. It is clearly related to the Chianti area but the cock is only for those wines from the premier central region – Chianti Classico is the best one. Why a black cock? Its origins are historically-based, here you are a great explanation and a funny old story.
Then, let’s see the most tasteful lines of this article: homemade products, bread, ham, chees and a refill wine card you can top with your money and use by enjoying several type of wines:
cheese cellarsmoked hamwine, bruschetta with chees and ham and special wine card
It’s extraordinary to see how these little villages build their business and help growing their tourism by taking care of the customers experience and its total engagement.
Yes here we are, the second part of out tour in the countryside of Tuscany (near Arezzo) going until the upper side of Umbria. Enjoy for example, this little fiorentina, fresh meat from poor Tuscan-rooted beef:
Fiorentina DOP from Tuscany
Then, it comes the best hamburger you can find in this area: Crispi’s Chianina hamburger. It looks like a classical McDonald’s one, but it isn’t, I swear it.
Chianina hamburger in Arezzo
let me also add this picture, it’s the one I prefer. It’s named ‘Lo sfondo’ that is to say you will have that sense of happiness while eating it and stomachache just after it 🙂
Chianina burger: ‘Lo Sfondo’
And now let’s stop thinking about food, and have a look to some souvenirs you can get while going all around: magnets representing those landscapes and fields you can find on your road, sign about famous films run in those areas (as the one shown in the picture below: New Moon, Twilight), postcards about cantinas (the place where wine is produced) and historical monuments…
Tuscan souvenirs: postcards, magnets, posters
and then the most particular picture: a poster about the different kind of glasses, with different shapes and glass: generally they are linked to a particular kind of wine. Wine experts always say that there’s a only kind of glass for a specific wine, have a look here:
poster about wine and glasses: the kind of glass you use is related to the kind of wine you’re going to drink
Finally, let’s have a good Italian coffee, together with some special chocolate becoming exactly from their best production known all over the world: baci perugina frim Perugia
Italian Coffee in Montepulciano (La Briciola restaurant)chocolate from Perugia (‘baci perugina’ are the most popular in the world)
Yes I was escaping, flying away from the city, just for a brief wend.
But it was like going back home, in the countryside of a wonderful area as Tuscany.
That’s why I want to share some pictures with you, to offer you an escape, going deepen in the fields and trees and sun and weird moments of life.
Let’s start the tour from a little town near Arezzo, named Civitella Val di Chiana (exactly where the popular ‘chianina’ is made). Here you are some little snapshots of a huge landscape:
Tuscany – Civitella Val di Chianapeace in TuscanyUnlimited fields of Tuscany
and then, something more particular and weird…
for example, think about those little towns that became popular thanks to their homemade products, as cheese and wine..
The following are Montepulciano’s ‘cantina’ views:
