This really is a magical time of year to visit Tuscany , the sun shines brightly and gives off a genuine warmth but the fields and trees are still bright with a new growth as yet unafraid of the ferocious heat that will burn them to a crisp when full summer arrives!
Our trip started with an impromptu visit to the Piazzale Michelangelo , built in the early 1860’s whilst Florence was still the Capital of the newly united Italy , this platform still gives the most perfect view of Florence , including all the key bridges across the Arno , that it is possible to imagine – and at that early hour it was possible to take photos without having to queue!
In the sunset it is also a romantic place to visit with a loved one to sit on the steps and dream of returning to the magical city of Florence together!
We continued onwards to Impruneta – the town of terracotta that furnished architect Brunelleschi with the best possible tiles to enable his Duomo dome to withstand the alternative extremes in cold and heat that characterise the Florentine seasons.
We were able to watch Tiziano, a man who joined the company as an apprentice 37 years ago , make full use of his experience as he built a pot from rolled snakes of grey terracotta before our eyes!
We also saw the father of the family wearing one of his newspaper hats – he makes three or four a day to protect his hair from the terracotta dust!
Notice that the pots going into the kiln are still ash grey – they only become the famous red colour after they have been cotta (cooked) in this kiln at a high temperature for 24 hours – and it is only this extreme treatment that makes Impruneta Terracotta resistant to cracking practically forever.
As this was a wine tour it was soon time to move on towards actually drinking wine – and we get get the barest whiff of it in Greve – before we paid another history visit to the country home of the Vespucci family in the walled hilltop village of Montifioralle. Their villa is still marked with their family logo – a vespa (wasp) hangs over the door – perhaps to warn visitors that they might sting?
As this is a hilltop hamlet there are spectacular views from every little side pathway.
Just after midday we went to our first Vineyard for a wine tasting with our lunch at Monterinaldo – where everyone wanted to join the queue to stay in their chicken coop shown below – surely the finest hen house in the world?
After generous amounts of wine to wash down a delicious four course vegetarian meal we did a tour of the vineyard and well , not compulsory but it seemed like a good idea – we bought some more wine to take home!
Finally we went to our second Vineyard – another Monte ….(it is not a coincidence that vineyards are build on hilltops – drainage is very important for vines because they don’t like standing with their feet wet!)
This monte was called Montagliari and here they not only make wine but also a sweet “Vin Santo” , which is a sweet dessert wine – usually served with cantucci biscuits – Yum – and as you can see below they make a lot of it!
Their unusual speciality is a delicious aged “salsa di mosto di uva trebbiano” – aka balsamic vinegar – but we cant call it that because it wasn’t aged in Modena – but sweet as a nut and perfect with strawberries and ice cream!
My thanks as always to Filippo Fattori of Tuscany Car Tours for driving us safely and with impeccable timekeeping across Chiantishire.
I think we had a great day out!
All captions for above photo welcome – my cousin’s suggestion was “And you can have a hangover THIS big!” – which of course we did not!
We have two spaces for our next tour in Chianti on 30th May – please contact me if you would like to join us……!
