Traveling through Tuscany. Sights of Florence and what to see in the surrounding area. Auto route for a two-day trip through Northern Tuscany. Enogastronomic routes of Tuscany Wine route around Arezzo

Chianti is exactly what you think it is. The wine fully reflects the characteristics of the region. Through it you can assess how sunny days in Chianti, how rich the aromas of its herbs are, how clean the air is and how measured life is. The landscapes of Chianti are endless vineyards, interrupted only by the houses of their owners, well-groomed greenery, hills lined with bushes one after another. For lovers of such idyllic pictures they even built special roads, which will take you through the best wine-growing lands directly to the homeland of the famous Chianti - Brolio Castle.

There are ancient towns scattered throughout the region, where the atmosphere of rural life in the sunshine has been preserved. Leonardo da Vinci appreciated the beauty of these places; it is hardly by chance that he painted the famous Mona Lisa here. According to one version, the Mona Lisa was from Chianti.

Flights to Chianti

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Calendar of low prices for air tickets

How to get to Chianti

By plane

The airport, which serves the Chianti region, is 1 km from the center of Pisa and 80 km from Florence. There are no direct flights from Moscow, so you will either have to settle for connecting flights through Rome or other European cities, or use ground transport.

By train

Net railways connects the cities of the Chianti region with each other and with neighboring provinces. Florence and Siena can be reached from Rome and Milan in a couple of hours.

Hotels in Chianti

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The Chianti region is dotted with hotels and guesthouses; the choice depends solely on the preferences of tourists and their transport capabilities. It’s convenient to move between towns by car, and then you don’t need to get attached to large settlements. In this case, you can choose a picturesque house away from the noise, feel like the owner of a grape plantation, wake up and watch orderly rows of plantings from the window. Many hotels are occupied by old mansions, where you can also pretend to be at least a duke. At the same time, it is not necessary to empty your treasury completely.

The minimum cost of accommodation in Chianti is from 40 € per night for two. For this money you can get a simple room in a house or hostel, for example, in Greve (Residence Casprini da Omero) or Gaiole (La Fonte Del Cieco, Villa Vittoria Gaiole In Chianti). In Gaiola, you can also stay like a king at the five-star Castello di Spaltenna Exclusive Resort & Spa (from 200 €), and there are several similar places in Castelnuovo Berardenga.

The cost of three-four rooms varies from 80 to 300 € per night.

Shopping in Chianti

Wine. Wine. And again wine. You can take it out even in boxes, the main thing is to check it in as luggage, meeting the standards of your airline. However, difficulties may arise when entering Russia. According to current customs regulations, you can import no more than 2 liters of strong alcoholic beverages per person into our country. In addition to wine, Chianti produces grappa, limoncello, and cognac. The marking - a red label with a black rooster in the center - speaks of high quality. Good wine costs from 10 €.

In addition to alcohol, you can bring local olive oil, cheeses, sausages and boar meat delicacies from Chianti.

Wine tasting in Chianti

Any establishment will offer visitors local wine. But some places enjoy special love among Italians and the interest of foreign tourists.

In Panzano, queues form for Antica Cecchini. This legendary butcher shop is famous for its Florentine steak, where the owner reads passages from Dante's Divine Comedy and pours homemade wine from his private cellars. In the shop of butcher Dario Cecchini there are autographs of fans of his creative approach to carcass and work: Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Elton John and other celebrities.

Castellina has two Michelin-starred restaurants whose chefs will prepare dishes that go well with Chianti different years harvest.

In Radda, you can visit the Volpaia Castle, where they offer tasting tours with a sample of freshly squeezed olive oil. Of course, they won’t let you go without a glass of wine either. The drinking place will be an ancient church turned into a bar, or a picturesque garden.

At Meleto Castle in Gaiola after a tour of the castle and winery They offer to taste wine, grappa, and cognac with an appetizer of locally produced cold cuts. There is also honey and organic olive oil. Everything can be bought right there.

Traveling through the Chianti Valley and Siena in September is a great trip to the historical region of Tuscany.

Prices and options for Tuscan travel

• VISA TO ITALY - with delivery
• WHEN -
• TRAVEL INSURANCE ITALY –
• HOW TO GET THERE - the capital of the historical Italian province of Tuscany is Florence, this is where the airport is located, the area is entangled bus routes and railway lines. There is also an international airport in Pisa, from which you can always reach Florence in an hour.
• AIR TICKETS TO TUSCANY –
• TRANSFER —
• TRAIN TO TUSCANY - yes
• BUS TICKETS –
• TRANSPORTATION - while exploring the original towns of Siena and Chianti, you can walk or use public transport; to explore all the attractions of the area, it is still more convenient to rent a car.
• CAR FOR RENT –
• TRAVEL FRIENDS - to Siena and Chianti
• WEATHER - The climate of Tuscany is quite mild, it is warm here in September, and the average air temperature during the day rarely drops below +24 ... 25 ° C.
• WHERE WE WILL BE - Florence, Radda in Chianti, Badia a Coltibuono, Greve in Chianti, Siena, Collegiate, San Gimignano, Montalcino, Montepulciano, San Agostino.
• EXCURSIONS - to Greve, Gaioli, Florence, Siena, Radda.
• ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD - While vacationing in Siena and Chianti, you can choose a cozy tiny hotel in the cities of Siena, San Gimignano, or Greve in Chianti, accommodation is possible in picturesque rural guest houses-estates. There are many Italian restaurants open in Chianti, where you can get acquainted with national Tuscan cuisine.
• GUIDE GUIDES - .
• HOTELS - , or .

The luxury of Tuscany - the provinces of Chianti and Siena

You can explore the original corners of the Chianti region, explore the surroundings of Radda (formerly former capital League of Chianti Towns), there is a medieval abbey nearby called Badia a Coltibuono, and in the evening it is better to go to Siena and have dinner at a restaurant in Piazza del Campo.

Day 4-5 – Siena

Stroll through ancient Siena, visiting the Palazzo Publico, the Duomo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Civico Museum. On the fifth day, visit Siena's Pinacoteca, explore the interiors of the Church of Santa Catarina, and then head to the ruins of the medieval Abbey of San Galliano.

Day 6-7 - Collegiate, San Gimignano, Montalcino, Montepulciano, San Agostino

On the way back to Florence, visit the charming towns of San Gimignano, Collegiate, Montalcino, San Agostino, Montepulciano, Tuscan villages, and admire the vineyards. , then you can spend the night halfway and continue your trip to Tuscany in the morning.

Upon returning to Florence, our trip through the Chianti Valley and Siena was completed. We didn’t see much in Tuscany, so maybe we’ll come back again. New travels to you!

February 16, 2015 2:24 pm Greve in Chianti - Italy February 2014

We travel abroad by public transport. I'm somehow afraid to get involved with a rental car. I don't drive myself. My daughter drives quite confidently, but this is in the vastness of Israel, but in the vastness of others... In short, I’m afraid and that’s all.

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And if visiting big cities, the individual does not really need this car, then in order to travel to the open spaces of the countryside and suburbs, personal transport is necessary. This need is especially felt if you are in a region so renowned for its beauty as Tuscany. And where should a poor tourist go? That's right - order private tour. This pleasure is not cheap, but fortunately, I didn’t regret it for a second.

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Our dear guide, Elita, met us in the hotel lobby, put us in the car and we set off under a steady drizzling of rain, which decided to spoil our pleasure. But from this gray shroud of rain it became, on the contrary, for some reason very cozy and humble. You know, when peace descends on the soul, and it, wrapped in this peace, like a fog, without excessive zeal, but with sincere curiosity, watches what is happening.

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The gray day, under a rainy drizzle, could have been mistaken for autumn, if not for the almonds blooming in early February. The smell of pret, the sloping wet slopes, brought to mind the November wild boar hunt that the local population loves to indulge in, or at least about picking mushrooms in the pre-dawn morning.

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The elite carefully and confidently drove the car along the wet road going up the mountain, where the first stop at Verrazzano Castle awaited us at an altitude of 348 meters. (You can get to the castle on your own from the Florence bus station (located in Piazza Santa Maria Novella near the train station) to intercity bus No. 365 (about 1 hour on the road).

Built as a fortress during the Lombard era (the name of this place was first mentioned in 1170 in a manuscript preserved in the Abbey of Passignano), in the 13th century it was transformed into the so-called “house of the signora”. And in the 16th century it turned into a classic villa with a typical Tuscan farm, surrounded by a beautiful garden. And these lands have belonged to the family since the 7th century.

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But the family recently sold the castle. I don’t know who. We were not able to enter the house, because the next day we were expecting the new owners to arrive, either for a name day or for their daughter’s birthday. And during the off-season they are even allowed inside. But we didn't succeed.

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But one could look around and admire the neighboring castle of Vicchiomaggio and the vineyards that fan out all the way to the forest estates. And in this castle lived none other than Mona Lisa Gherardini. It is believed that she was the one who posed for one of the most famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. The background for the image of the beautiful and mysterious Mona Lisa was the incomparable landscapes of Tuscany.

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And then they gave us a tasting, and it was completely free!!! We liked the wine. And I liked the youngest, two years old. We ate this splendor with bread and olive oil. And it’s even difficult to say what you liked more - wine or oil. Tart with bitterness, the smell of cut mint, and chrysolite gold, it spread over the bread crumb. We bought them there, without further ado.

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Yes, they also sell wine vinegar there. Its consistency is more like liquid marmalade. And its taste is sweet with a hint of wine. He matures 8!!! years in oak barrels. And by the end of the 8th year, the volume decreases by more than 2 times.

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It was here that the famous navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano was born in 1485. Served Jovania, however, the French crown. He was the first European to explore the lands of the eastern shore of the Atlantic, reaching New York Bay and Naragansset Bay. In New York, a bridge that connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island is named in his honor.

The death of the navigator remains a mystery. According to one version, he was killed and eaten by cannibal tribes from the Antilles. According to another, he was captured by the Spaniards and hanged as a pirate in Cadiz. But his fellow countrymen remember and honor him. In the neighboring town of Greve in Chianti, where we went after the castle, there is a monument to him.

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Of course, we went to this Tuscan town not for the sake of the monument to the navigator, but for the sake of tasting the local cellars. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the tasting room was closed. To be fair, it should be said that there was not a single tourist on the street of the town, not even a local residents hid somewhere.

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Greve is actually a commune with a population of about 14 thousand people. The town is tiny, but the buildings there are very old, XIV-XV centuries. In 1325, Greve was completely burned and was literally reborn from the ashes. It took almost a century to restore it, but now it is considered one of the main cities of the valley.

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In the main square of the city, of an unusual triangular shape, the Church of Santa Croce rises, this is on the sharp top of the triangle. And at the obtuse corners there are statues of the aforementioned navigator and this cupbearer god, who more closely resembles a quartered lover.

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As one of my friends said: “I fell in love!”

Despite its microscopic size, Greve in Chianti is the capital of the valley, the symbol of which is this lively black cockerel.

If you believe one legend, in the 13th century Siena and Florence waged armed disputes regarding their borders (in the end, the Florentine Republic absorbed the Siena Republic). And so it was decided, at dawn, with the first rooster crow, to send messengers from each city, and through the point where they intersect, to draw new borders. And while the well-fed, white and fluffy Siena cockerel was sleeping soundly, the Florentine messenger had already set off on his journey, thanks to the premature cry of a black rooster, who roared with good obscenities when it was not even dawn yet, because he had not been fed the evening before. It was this bird, and precisely for these merits, that was first placed on the flag of the Military League of Chianti Classico, and later on the labels of bottles of famous wine.

But besides wine, the valley is also famous for its pigs, from which all sorts of delicacies are made. These pigs are the product of selection by a restless person, but in this case, the good news is that the crossing took place naturally, and not through genetic engineering. So, a domestic pink pig was crossed with a wild free guy boar, and the result was the Sinta Sinese breed. We stocked our suitcase full of different types of sausage. It was delicious.

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For the next famous product produced in the Chianti Valley, namely Florentine steak, we went to the nearby village of Panzano to visit the famous butcher Dario Cecchini.

When the mad cow disease epidemic swept through Europe, the Florentine steak was banned in Italy because the causative agent of rabies was primarily found in the animal's spine. At this tragic moment for all the butchers of Italy, Dario organized a “bistecca funeral”, he was shown on all Italian television channels and he immediately became famous.

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This steak, Florentine in the sense, is made from local Chianina cows.

To be honest, we didn’t order a kilogram steak for each nose (you can’t have one for two, it’s the establishment’s policy). My pancreas is no stranger, it won’t tolerate such excesses, and I don’t like throwing away food. We ordered two portions of deli meats and one, well, hamburger. The first time I ate raw meat. I thought something terrible would happen, but nothing, the body did not protest either during the process of absorbing the reality or afterwards. True, tasty, but not a masterpiece, again.

We sat and chatted about life with Elite. We drank, ate, and paid. I like it. A kind of local Tuscan popular print flavor. Not true, it was good.

And the final point of our journey was the famous city-commune of San Gimignano. I was already in it, but my daughter was not. My first visit happened at the peak of the tourist season, when tourists rushed in a swarm along the two streets of this fortified city, spinning in Brownian motion around 14 medieval skyscraper towers.

We managed to come to the famous Chianti Valley in Italy not in the most better weather. You can never trust forecasts... This summer does not please Italy at all with hot and sunny weather, it should be noted. At first we were upset when we saw the sky in clouds. But gradually the blurry landscapes of Tuscany, blurred by high air humidity and periodic rain, simply enchanted us.

The views were like paintings by old masters! It’s as if the bright colors of summer have slightly lost their brightness over time...

I deliberately did not improve the brightness in the photographs using Photoshop.

The first breaths of autumn can already be felt in Italy.

It arrives at the end of October, but already at the end of August we saw slightly yellowed trees.

Endless vineyards with juicy clusters of almost ripe fruits and olive groves on the rounded Tuscan hills - this is the Chianti Valley.

The ancient Etruscans grew grapes here.

Medieval castles and farmhouses, which often house cozy hotels; small wineries where you can try all of the above wines, as well as local sausages and cheeses - you can get stuck here for a long time.

The Chianti Valley produces the famous Classico Chianti wines from Chianti grapes. As well as Brunello di Montalcino and San Giovese wines from San Giovese grapes. The taste of wine varies significantly in different parts of the Chianti Valley.

The Chianti Valley is located within the cities of Prato and Pistoia, and covers an area of ​​about 90,000 hectares. We drove through the central part, called Chianti Classico. In addition to the central part, there are several other areas in the Chianti Valley:

Chianti Montalbano is located near the town of Montalbano north of Florence.
Rufina is located in the northeastern part of the valley.
Colline Fiorentini - south of the central part, in the Siena Hills.
Colline Aretina - east and southeast of the city of Arezzo.
Colline Pisane is west of Chianti Classico, near Pisa.
Coline Montespertoli is located along the hills of Montespertoli in the western part of the valley.

The symbol of Chianti is the black rooster, depicted on all wine bottles and numerous souvenirs. The rooster was elevated to the rank of a symbol in the 13th century, when Siena and Florence were actively sorting out relations over the borders of their territories. Then the black rooster of Florence crowed before that of Siena, bringing victory to his city. (How simply territorial disputes were sometimes resolved in those days...)

After such a “cockerel” victory, the cities of Castellina and Gaiole united into the Military League of Chianti Classico and placed the image of a cockerel on their flag. We drove through the territory of this former league by car.

Classic Tuscan landscapes with cypress trees have never left anyone indifferent.

We stopped literally at every kilometer to take a couple of shots.

The Chianti Valley has amazing, intoxicating fresh air.

In addition to its vineyards, the Chianti Valley is famous for its olive groves and the olive oil produced here.

Sometimes cities and towns suddenly appeared among the vineyards. The capital of Chianti Classico is the city of Greve. Without exception, all the grays in this area are called with the ending “in Chianti”, so most often when communicating in the valley this ending is omitted. seen from afar, it turned out to be quite large, some towers were visible in the central part. We will definitely visit someday!

First impressions are always the strongest. The Italian Chianti Valley in my memory will now forever remain in a shroud of rain.

The sun came out only once, showing what the valley looked like in bright light.

We will definitely come back here in sunny weather!

There are several places that you not only want to see, but also in which you definitely want to live, and not in a hotel, but definitely in a house, and if the house is old, the view from the window is wonderful. One of these places is Tuscany, more specifically – Chianti Valley. This region is strongly associated with Florence, Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, beautiful cities, where the great architects of the Cinquecento and other eras worked, but there is another Tuscany - rural, farming, where the main characters are vines, olive trees and an amazing, incomparable landscape. Hills, valleys... and again hills and valleys, and so on ad infinitum, stretching into the azure sky.

So, no overnight stays in Florence, only the Chianti Valley and only apartments in a beautiful old house. We have already had to book houses in Provence through the http://airbnb.ru/ and http://www.homeaway.com/ systems. I talked about this experience in detail in my article Our home in Provence. But it was August, super high season, and there were a lot of problems, but we arrived in Tuscany at the beginning of April and, as our hostess said, we were the second people to stay with her this season. Therefore, this time we simply booked through www.booking.com without any problems. The only problem was best choice, and, fortunately, there was no mistake - the farm turned out to be simply magnificent http://www.agriturismosanleo.it/.

According to the owner, the oldest buildings were more than 1000 years old. Now everything has been restored and prepared to welcome tourists. All apartments have their own entrance, a terrace with a table and chairs in the fresh air, each has a kitchen with a stove, dishwasher and refrigerator. Inside there are one or more bedrooms, air conditioning throughout, but the decor retains the style and spirit of a farmhouse. There are only 9 apartments and they are designed for different numbers of guests (from 2 to 6).

There is a swimming pool, but it was not open yet at the beginning of April. There are olive trees all around, some of them very old.

The farm specializes in the production of olive oil. The breakfast room has a winter garden and old olive processing equipment. You can book a tour during which you will be shown the estate itself and the modern oil production (45 minutes, 10 euros per person). The hostess speaks English.

Breakfast is not included in the price, but you can order it separately. Sweet Italian will cost seven euros, but by paying another five euros, you will get prosciutto, cheese, boiled eggs or scrambled eggs, olives. Everything is of very high quality and there is a lot of everything, but the price of 12 euros for breakfast is somewhat annoying, considering that the room has a kitchen, and the nearest supermarket is 5 km away.

The Internet is only possible in the “under the door of the owner’s office” option, but maybe this is for the better.

On Saturdays there is a dinner at the farm. For 25 euros you are offered a variety of snacks, chicken from your own poultry house and red house wine. But we took appetizers, wine and Florentine steak (Bistecca alla fiorentina) - a huge piece of beef (1 kg) for two. It turned out to be 35 euros per person. Everything is very tasty and very homely.

Result: Everything is just wonderful! This is how you should live in Tuscany – closer to nature. The only thing you need to be prepared for is that there are very winding and narrow roads here, constant ups and downs. I would advise those who get motion sickness to come to the Chianti Valley with a supply of anti-sickness medications.

If you want to go on a trip to Europe organized by me, look at the current offers for joining groups on my website www.dmitrysokolov.ru

Dmitry Sokolov

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