Let’s go to Vinci for a trip, it’s winter, it’s cold, but when the sun shines the need to go somewhere green becomes a must: Vinci is the winner city of this daytrip, a small town located on the Montalbano hills – and we’re obviously talking about the birthplace of Leonardo ‘da Vinci’. Vinci landscapes and Leonardo will be the protagonists of the following pics:
Vinci, TuscanyLeonardo SouvenirVinci, TuscanyThe Vitruvian man – Vinci view
here you can visit a sort of dislocated museum, in the sense that there are several units which are part of the ‘Museum of Leonardo’ in the city of Vinci.
The first visit to do is the Castle of the Guidi Counts in the city center: here you can have a taste of the exhibitions:
rotable crane – first model used to build the Florence’ s Domecrane in actionFour spindle spinning machineGold-beating machine, Vinci Museum
here you are the wooden series: instrumental tools and shapes, a tank model, Leonardo’s wheels studies applied to a bicycle
Wooden Tank model by Leonardo Da VinciMechanical wing model by Leonardo da VinciWooden structure representing the tool and crane used to build the top of the Dome of FlorenceShades and lights reflecting the Vitruvian Man
Then the series of work of arts dedicated to the painting and the study of perspective:
Reflection and perspective with Mona Lisa by Leonardo da VinciThe study of wheels – wooden machines by Leonardo
Here is the Leonardo’s painting in which he was able to introduce the power of linear perspective to go towards naturalism in painting. You can see the deepth of the landscape and natural pose of the characters by looking at it moving to the right, from Mary’s point of view: if you do so, you can enjoy the very point of view and right perspective:
Leonardo’s Annunciation
Trip to Anchiano, birthplace of Leonardo
Books and videos about Leonardo history by Archivio Luce
It was a funny discovery, it happened some days ago while I was searching for something to do in Florence – hopefully for free
So I ended up reading a city blog and, 5 minutes after, I was walking towards Palazzo Pitti, here you are what I found out:
It’s in Via Sguazza, the street were Lisa Gherardini – better known as Monalisa, La Gioconda, the wonderful lover of Leonardo Da Vinci was born. And she’s still there in her house waiting for being admired by the people of the world.
Monalisa, via Sguazza, Florence
Just in front of her there’s a new version of Monalisa, a contemporary picture created by Blub, a street artist in Florence whose paintings and creations are always totally submerged in the water:
After taking some pictures, I head ed towards the second lady of Florence, the less popular one, but it is worth it to tell her story too.
I’m talking about ‘La Berta‘ whose legend tells she was stuck in the wall by magic while she was screaming at a sentenced magician to not give any water to help him. While it was happening, the magician replied that she won’t be able anymore to move her head from that wall of the tower, and there she is:
La Berta, via Cerretani, Santa Maria Maggiore – Florence
You just have to look towards the highest part of the wall of Santa Maria Maggiore to see her stuck in between of the two highest windows:
If you fancy walking up and down the city, enjoy its uniqueness and discover these little pieces of ancient arts.
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!
The real Punch in Livorno is a sort of digestive that Italians use to have when they finish their meal – usually after dinner. In Tuscany – exactly in Livorno, there is a strong tradition about the ponce which obviously derives from the British one but it differs for 2 main things: IItalians use their coffee instead of tea, and they put a sort of mix of alcohol, sugar and caramel that is called rumme instead of the real rum.
To be precise, in Livorno it’s totally necessary put what they define as sassolino, a liqueour that is similar to the rum and it is used only for desserts. They also add lemon zest.
If you’re curious enough, you can taste it after preparing it by yourself! It’s not so difficolt, you just need the right ingredients:
Italian coffee (made by the Italian moka);
rumme (sort of rum)
Sassolino
sugar
lemon zest
Last thing: please use the gottino, a glass that looks a little bigger than the Italian cup of coffee.
Believe me, ‘Ponce alla Livornese‘ is a cure-all after big meals, the right remedy to enjoy digestive as a liqueur together with coffee!
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.
I was just thinking how to share some of the photos I took during last week. They are nice pictures, romantic views, panoramas, buildings, rivers and sun…
here you can visit a sort of dislocated museum, in the sense that there are several units which are part of the ‘Museum of Leonardo’ in the city of Vinci.
