When deciding to go for a weekend in a countryside of Tuscany means meet with several friends who have never been there before, don’t think about how many hours you’ll spend by going up and down the hills, but just think how lucky you are…
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, three days of fabulous landscapes, wine-and-food tasting, homemade products flavours, people who talks locally and you can’t understand, parkings, souvenirs and Google maps as your best friend: this is a free ride in Tuscany! Enjoy it 😊
Starting from Brunello di Montalcino at Perucà – in San Gimignano
San Gimignano main square, Siena – Tuscany
Here you are some of the popular towers of San GimignanoDome, Churches and towers of San Gimignano, near SienaTank of San Gimignano – ‘Cisterna’ in Italian
The Tank of San Gimignano has also been the inspiration of Escher in one of its architectural study!
another Tank’s viewTowers and other ancient details of the cityLetters, prints and mails: ancient ways of communicationSan Gimignano, view from the top
And here you are some arts and crafts and typical products of San Gimignano:
Handmade and typical productsHandmade bijoux
An ancient kind of door bell!Dragon door bellTypical ham, salami in ‘tagliere’
‘Vernaccia’ is the typical wine from San Gimignano, so you can’t avoid to have a glass of wine while tasting genuine salami – like the typical ‘finocchiona’ – olive oil and the special guest ‘yellow- saffron‘ which is the very typical feature of this city (which differs from other little small cities of Tuscany):
Wonderful typical Italian ham
Italian Olive oilSuper organic ‘yellow-saffron’
At the end, the almost 5 pounds gained will be very appreciated if thinking back to all the delicious things you’ve tasted and discovered!
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 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:
