Still Tuscany…

We’re entering our final week in Tuscany and it’s warming up.  We spent three days in Chianti and Florence (sleeping in another Airbnb south of Florence…more on this trip in a minute). I must say we were happy to return to our nest above the bar in Trequanda.  I think they even missed us!  We’ve become regulars for Aperitivo at the bar and Rick has accomplished one of his goals for this trip.  We can now walk in and ask for ‘the usual’ and they know what we want!
        

There are a few other ‘regulars’ with whom we often share a table and conversation.  These include Gianna, who teaches in the village and is working on her English and with whom I am now Facebook friends,

And our 80-year-old neighbor, Sergio, whose wife invited us for dinner.  He is a former diplomat and general assigned to NATO who tells us that his memory isn’t so good anymore, but who has some fascinating stories.  He usually comes into the bar with his little dog, Rosa.
       
Sergio, Vittoria and Alessandra, their daughter are wonderful hosts.  We shared two meals together and the conversation never lagged. They have a home in Paris and we plan to see them again in mid-February when we’ll be back in our favorite city for a few days.

We have also become regulars at THE restaurant in town.  Il Conte Matto is run by Davide and his mother and sister. They welcome us whenever we arrive and David always has a new local wine to recommend.  It also gives me a break from cooking dinner at home (which I really enjoy, but it is nice to have a night off once in a while…)
      

One other curiosity worth mentioning is the public Water Dispensary.  Our host told us that the tap water here is not very good (“it won’t kill you, but it’s best not to drink it…”).  To provide for the needs of the town, there is a little wooden structure in the parking lot below the town where, for a nickel(!), you can get a liter of fresh water, either ‘naturale’ or ‘frizzante.’  The water is great, and a lot cheaper than buying bottled water.  And I love having fizzy water in the fridge (I miss my SodaStream…).
       

With the help of  John Fusciello, a wine salesman friend in Baltimore, Rick was able to make appointments at two wineries in Chianti.  We first visited Selvole, where Guido Busetto, the owner, gave us a wonderful tour while filling us in on the history of the region and its wines.
    
This is a modest property that produces a wonderful Chianti Classico and several other varietal specific wines, including Cabernet Franc. We tasted and chatted with Guido after touring his cellars and, when we left, he gave us the opened bottle of Chianti Classico Riserva and a bottle of Cabernet Franc, which we had mentioned was one of our favorite grapes.  He refused to let us purchase these.  Such generosity of time and product!
   

Our second stop was Fontodi, a much larger operation.  They produce twice as many bottles as Selvole and everything here is quite streamlined.  Silvano Marcucci spent a couple hours with us, explaining how they make their wines and showing us an experiment they have begun – aging wine in terra-cotta amphorae…just like the ancient Romans did.
          
We tasted their Chianti Classico and their Super Tuscan called Flaccianello (which is 100% sangiovese). Both were spectacular! We also tried a Sauvignon Blanc, unusual for this region and very good, and a Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir), which was not exactly Burgundian, but very pleasant once the tannins softened.
   

We spent the following day exploring Florence.  This city where the Renaissance began is filled with beautiful architecture, world-class art & sculpture and lots of tourists (even in January). We parked outside of town near a tram stop and took the tram to the train stations.  Then we strolled through the San Lorenzo (leather) market where Rick bought a belt and I bought a really pretty pair of gloves. They’ll go well with my red boots…

We saw the iconic Duomo with its white, green and pink marble facade, and the Palazzo Vecchio, with a peek inside the beautiful courtyard.
    
         
We then observed the Orsanmichele Church and walked through the Uffizi Courtyard to the Ponte Vecchio.  This strip of gold merchants glitters for the tourists but you wonder how much real business they do! Beyond the fancy windows, the structures are a bit shabby.  One interesting feature – new to us – was the Vasari Corridor that spans the bridge one story up. It was constructed to give the Medicis a way to escape across the river to the Pitti Palace in times of threat.  It recently housed some of the best 17th and 18th century art but.sadly, it is closed indefinitely because of structural problems.
       
Finally,we perused the Mercato Centrale (Central Market).  The first level houses merchants selling all sorts of produce and meats.  But the upper level is an Eataly, one of several in Europe and three in the US (New York, Chicago and Boston).  It’s a combination of restaurants and food stalls with every kind of Italian food ( and wine, of course) that you could want.  A great place for a meal and for people watching…
       

On our third day, before heading back to Trequanda, we stopped by the new (2012) Antinori facility.  It is huge! and quite a striking architectural piece, but lacks the old world charm of the previous facility that the Wine and Food Society visited in 2001.  We opted not to pay for a tour but did walk around the reception area that was filled with odd shaped places to sit, and the museum that is ‘all Antinori, from time immemorial!’  Even Italy has corporate wine makers…
      

From there, we drove to Isole e Olena, a family run winery that Rick had visited with the Wine & Food Society in 2001.  Marta de Marchi spent hours with us, showing us the expansion of the cellars that was underway on Rick’s last visit and evidencing her passion for the wines that they produce.
       
She & her husband Paolo, who was in San Francisco during our visit, took this property over from his father in 1978 and have made many improvements since then, but they still maintain some of the old ways, such as drying the grapes for Vin Santo on reed mats.

She shared several of their wonderful wines with us, including the Vin Santo (current release is the 2005!), which I think is the best sweet white desert I’ve ever tasted!  Needless to say, we came  home with a bottle of that and a few other souvenirs.  I think we’ll have enough wine for at least the next week! And Rick made friends with the winery dog…

We ventured into Umbria to visit two more hill towns, Civita di Bagnoregio and Orvieto.  Each is perched on top of a high hill formed by ‘tufo,’ a light colored volcanic rock that erodes as centuries pass, and that lends itself to amazing caves and tunnels.  Civita can only be reached by walking close to half a mile downhill from Bagnoregio and then across a long footbridge and back uphill. Whew! Surprisingly, the town was alive and restaurants were open to accommodate several hundred tourists the day we were there. The area around the hilltop looks kind of like the moon…
        
We reached Orvieto by parking at the train station and taking a funicular up to the edge of town and then a shuttle bus to the ‘centro storico.’ The facade of the duomo (cathedral) here is almost as spectacular as the duomo in Florence.  It seems that there was much competition over the decades to see which city could have the tallest tower, the biggest cathedral, etc. We had lunch in a small trattoria run by an enthusiastic chef owner who was very excited to know that we had found him in our travel book.
        

Tomorrow we head out of Italy through France and into Spain…destination Barcelona!