Greve in Chianti and surrounding area

This morning, Marc, Mary-Sue and I are going to the Chianti region for the day.

Our first planned stop is Greve in Chianti which is a small town in the Chianti region. We decided to take the toll highway to just a bit south of Florence in order to save time. It was only 5.60 Euro. Well worth it. Now we are in wine country. We did not make it there all the way to Greve as last time I had seen some kind of war memorial as we were driving by. Wendy had said we can turn around id I wanted but I had said no. This time as soon as I noticed it, I told Marc pull into this place.  Am I ever glad I did. This one of the US memorials that is overseas. There was a book in the visitor center with all of them and there must be around 25 memorials in different countries, mostly in Europe because of WW2.  We walked up to the memorial wall. Very touching and sad to see all lives that were lost at such a young age.

Back on the road I had seen on the map a castle called Castillo di Verrazzzano that was between us and Grave. We tried to find it but were not successful. Saw sign for other one and also a store/wine bar for this one but no signs. We did see a nice vineyards and we pulled over. As we were getting out of the car, we saw 3 deer near the house/vineyard on top of the hill but no time to take pictures of them. We had seen warning sign for deer but figured we would probably not see any just like home.

Back on the road we make it to Greve and head to the tourist information which I hoped is open. Only 1 person with limited English there to help us. Did pick up a map of the Chianti Region. He suggested a small village that Wendy and I had already been at and the winery Castillo di Verrazzano that we try to find but now I have a better map so we should be good.

We had cappuccino and croissants in a small restaurant on the square. We sat outside in the sun as it was close to 20 degrees today. These were the most expensive coffee and pastry so far at 15 Euro. But I guess supply and demand as this is the only place on the square. The square is more like a triangle with the main church flanking the top of the hill and the triangle. The 3 other side are full of shops that are fronted with porticoes, like Bologna. This is the only other town we have really seen these like this. In the center there a statue of a person that was born nearby that explored the Hudson river in New York.

We did a quick visit at the church. A beautiful painting from way back of Madonna and child.

I need to improve my selfie skills

Heading back to the car I took a different street and a saw a sign for a wine shops with tastings. We headed downstairs to have a lot at what it was. This place was amazing. They had about 10 tasting stations with wine. If you want some, you buy a prepaid card and then select the wine you want and the size. Starting at less than 1 Euro for just a small bit to taste. They had 3 sizes to choose from. There must have been over 100 wines to taste and many more than that for sale. Would be fun to stay one night here just to be able to spend a good part of an evening tasting as I am sure there would be no driving once you were done.

We now head out to Montefioralle which is the little village on top of the hill. Only 2 km from the center of town. We debated walking it but wisely took the car. We did see some people walking it but it is all uphill from town and would take 1 hour out of our schedule. The views are just as amazing as last time. Only a handful of tourists in town as well. We did see the house of the person who gave America his name. Anyway that is what we were told by some German tourist that was told by a local. If anyone is really interested, Google it.

It was now 12:30 and we happened to walk by a restaurant, well the only restaurant, and decided we may be best to eat here as we are not sure when the next opportunity will be. We walked into the restaurant and there was nobody. We choose the table by the window and the views were amazing. They did charge a 2.5 Euro cover charge but we were happy to pay it. We had 3 pasta for lunch. Mary-Sue had meat sauce, Marc porcini mushroom and I had wild boar. My wild boar sauce was loaded with meat and was delicious. Mary-Sue and I shared 1/2 litre of local wine which was very good. I think the bill came to 55 Euro, not cheap, but worth every bit of it because of the views. We talked to the owners in the kitchen of the restaurant as we were still the only ones there on the way out. They said they start to get busy April 1st. Most be crazy in the summer here.

My view at lunch time

Wild Boar sauce - delicious

 We are now in the hunt for Castillo di Verrazanno. This time we see the sign as we are heading in the other direction. Only a 15-20 minutes 6 KM drive from Montefioralle. We stopped on the way down to take pictures of Greve and the hills behind it. The drive to Castillo di Verrazanno is all uphill from the main hill. Beautiful scenery along the way and there is another Castillo on top of another hill which is surrounded by grape fields. We got to Castillo di Verrazanno around 2 and the wine tour was only at 3. We decided not to wait for 1 hour as we would only be done by 4 and the drive home would be at least 1.5 hours. We took pictures and walked around a bit instead.

Town of Greve in Chianti Region

We then punch into the GPS the Antinori Vineyard which is supposed to be amazing. San Casciano In Val di Pesa was only 30 minutes away. The drive there is spectacular. Vineyards everywhere. Well we did not find the vineyards as we probably did not enter it right into the GPS but the views were amazing along the way. We stopped and asked someone how to get there but we got lost in those direction and ended near Florence at which time we decided to take the non-toll way home for scenic purposes. Got home around 5:30. A great day.

Through the window in the car - you would have loved her Jacinthe

We decided to go see a Puccini concert tonight which was held in Lucca. It was at the Cathedral Oratory which only seats about 50 people. In the tourist season they use a church for these concerts. I think there was about 20 people there. It was almost like a private concert. There was a pianist which we sat about 10 feet away. You could see his fingers hitting the piano keys and the reflection into the piano. There was also 2 professional opera singers. A tenor and soprano singers. They did pieces from Puccini and Verdi. Truly amazing. Puccini was born in Lucca and they have concerts here year round.

Back at the apartment, I extended the leftover risotto which we enjoyed with some wine. We enjoyed some dessert that we picked up on the way back from the concert. Chatted for a little bit and called it a night.