Tuscany Day 8: Chianti Wine and Food Safari

One of Steve's top-priority requests for our Italy vacation was a wine tour in Tuscany. We booked the Chianti Wine and Food Safari offered through Walkabout Florence--and it was hands-down one of the highlights of our trip. Even for me, and I don't particularly care for wine!

Fortunately for us, September is grape harvest time. The postcard-worthy scenes everywhere we turned were made even more picturesque by the fact that all the vines were heavy with ripe grapes! 

After a long, exhausting introduction to Florence, a guided tour for our second day was exactly what we needed. It was so relaxing and fun to show up at the meeting time, get on a minibus, and not have to make any decisions or figure anything else out the rest of the day--just enjoy wine and food, learn about the region's history and culture, and absorb the beauty of our surroundings. I literally have over a hundred pictures from this day, so it was a challenge to choose just a few to share with you!

This minibus is smaller than the picture makes it look, I think. There were probably around two dozen people on the tour.

Our guide, Martina, was everything a tour guide should be: funny, charming, knowledgeable, full of interesting stories, hospitable and quick to put everyone at ease. Listening to her all day was a delight! Many people on our tour had been on other tours and said this was by far the best. 

This is the only decent photo I have of Martina, and it's misleading--she was much more cheerful and upbeat than she looks here!

Our first stop was Villa Le Corti, a wine estate owned by one of Italy's most prestigious aristocratic families (Principe Corsini).

After a guided tour of the historic wine cellars...

...as well as a tour of the olive mill, where we learned all about olive oil production, we tasted three Chianti wines paired with Pecorino (sheep's milk) cheese. Martina has received extensive training and certification as a sommelier, so she had lots to teach us about the wines and the art of wine tasting. In order to be called a Chianti, the wine has to be produced in the region and made from at least 80% Sangiovese grapes.

Before leaving the estate, we toured the gardens, and then we got back on our bus for a drive through the countryside on remote, winding roads. The scenery was spectacular--vineyards and olive groves, farms and churches and monasteries.

Our next stop was La Cantinetta di Rignana for a traditional Tuscan lunch and three more Chianti wines to taste. That incredible meal deserves a post all its own, but here's a taste of the atmosphere at the restaurant, which overlooked this vineyard:

From there we drove to Greve in Chianti, a little village where we had about an hour to wander around the piazza at our leisure.

Our guide bought a variety of salumi (cured meats) from one of Italy's most famous butchers for us to taste later in the afternoon. We had fun exploring the butcher's shop, Macelleria Falorni:

 

I'll spare you the photo of the very, very fresh rabbit for sale...but here's a snapshot of one of Florence's most famous foods: bistecca alla Florentina, a massive steak served very rare and large enough for at least four people. (We never did try it; Steve had gotten to try it on his work trip to Italy in March and not been all that impressed--and at that size, it's definitely not cheap!)

My hand (which is large) in the photo for scale--and what you can't see is that it's also as thick as my thumb is long!

Of course, even though we were still stuffed from lunch, I had to find room for a tiny cup of dark chocolate gelato :)

Our last stop was a smaller winery called Villa Cinciano, also picture-perfect. 

Here we tasted three more wines and also got to sample the cured meats: salami, prosciutto, and cinghiale (wild boar sausage).

Our tasting/meat sampling was in this wine cellar

I seriously cannot say enough about this tour. It was our one big splurge for the trip and totally worth it! Even though I didn't love any of the wines we tasted, Steve enjoyed them, and the food was amazing. In addition to the scenery, we both geek out on history and culture, and Martina told us dozens of funny and/or fascinating stories about Tuscan/Florentine history. And as I said before, a guided all-day (about ten hours) tour was exactly what we needed as a break from planning and executing each day's itinerary ourselves. We highly, highly recommend it! 

Florence Day 7: Piazzale Michelangelo (and Hitting the Wall)

The only time we ventured out of Florence's main historic center (other than our group tour out in the Tuscan countryside) was to walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo, a public square and gardens on a hill across the river.

photo credit: flickr.com/lukask

Everyone had said that it was a can't-miss sight, with spectacular views of the city.

photo credit: flickr.com/shanelin

So for our last adventure on our first day in Florence, we wandered across the Arno in hopes of seeing the sunset from this overlook. It sounds wonderfully romantic and dreamy--yet I have to confess that sadly, this evening ended up being the low point of our entire trip!

It had been a long day: an early alarm, navigating the chaotic Naples mass transit system one last time, a cross-country train ride, checking into a new B&B, touring the Uffizi Gallery and Santa Croce. In retrospect, our itinerary was a bit overambitious, especially for day 7 of our vacation. We were exhausted and overloaded.

The moral of this story/the photo above? Happy smiles in snapshots don't tell the whole story. Effusive blog posts gushing about Italy don't tell the whole story. Even dream vacations are shadowed by the sin and brokenness of this world. People you see online aren't perfect--their lives aren't perfect--and the fact is, perfect, unspoiled joy doesn't exist this side of Heaven, no matter how hard we chase it. 

After finally, mercifully, finding a restroom (never before had I been so glad to pay someone to use a bathroom) we staked out a spot to sit and rest on these steps. Unlike the photo below, they were absolutely PACKED with people. You could hardly pick a path through all the couples and groups.

photo credit: flickr.com/bigskyred

Steve was really, really quiet, and when I asked him what was wrong, he finally said, "Ten days is too long for a vacation." He was feeling weary, overwhelmed by all the newness, missing our boys...just generally out of sorts and longing for the familiar.

But I wasn't exactly sure what to do with this revelation, given that we had no choice but to stay in Italy for three more days...! So we watched the sun set over Florence, but it wasn't the picture-perfect romantic evening I might have imagined or longed for. We sat in silence, tired and grumpy and disconnected.

The view really was gorgeous, though:

Once the sun had gone down, we used our Firenze Card passes to get a free bus ride back to our B&B. It was a long, quiet ride, and we returned to our room and crashed.

Steve may have been the one in a funk this time, but I hit the wall myself a couple of days later. Never would I have imagined that ten days would be too long for a vacation, but it seems that it sort of was--at least the way we planned the itinerary. It turns out that the brain (or at least our brains) can only absorb so much. We saw SO many ancient ruins and Renaissance paintings and ornate churches with frescoes that we reached a limit where we were unable to appreciate any more.

It feels almost obscene, to think of being in the presence of such greatness and not enjoying or appreciating it, but I have to admit it is true. Even Italian food got tiresome! We didn't enjoy Florentine food nearly as much Roman or Neapolitan--and while some of that might be personal preferences for certain regional specialties over others, some of it was also that we just plain got tired of pasta. Our bodies were in rebellion from lack of vegetables I think!

So, lest you think we have this perfect life and enjoyed a perfect anniversary vacation...it was not without its bumps and frustrations.

After we processed a bit and had a chance to rest, we texted our host to ask where we could find good takeout pizza in the neighborhood. He immediately responded with a suggestion just down the street, so we ventured back out to grab a late supper: pizza from Tre Merli. 

 

The first menu we looked at did not have descriptions of the pizzas, only titles, and we were a bit confused to find both "Margherita" and "Napoli." In Naples, Neapolitan pizza *is* Margherita pizza (tomato, cheese, basil). So we decided to order both: Margherita con prosciutto crudo (basic cheese pizza with ham):

And Napoli--which, we then discovered, means "capers and anchovies" in other parts of Italy besides Naples itself. Well...we'd been told we *had* to try anchovies on pizza, so why not?

The verdict? Now we can say we tried it...one bite was all I wanted. SO SALTY. And just...no.

We took our pizzas back to our room and polished off both--with a glass of wine for Steve and a Fanta in a wine glass for me. Because I'm classy like that :)

We headed to bed relatively early, looking forward to a pre-determined guided tour the next day and having learned some important lessons. Among them: we would need to plan a daily siesta for the last two days of our trip so as to avoid further crashing and burning!

Florence Day 7: Santa Croce

When I heard Basilica di Santa Croce described as "Florence's version of Westminster Abbey," I knew it was a place I didn't want to miss. Our first glimpse was the striking facade, covered in multicolored marble.

photo: flickr/sidstamm

It was strange to see the ornate marble front contrasted with the plain stone covering the rest of the church behind:

Inside the main church, you see this view looking toward the main altar:

 

The main church holds six individual chapels, all covered in frescoes. Two of the most significant were painted by Giotto in the early 1300s, depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi and St. John. Incredibly, someone whitewashed over these, and they were not rediscovered until the 1800s.

It gets to be overwhelming, the way every imaginable surface is covered in art. Even where there weren't actual paintings, many walls had patterns of colored marble:

 

The floor is covered in tombstones; you pretty much can't walk anywhere without stepping on one:

photo credit: flickr.com/averain

And then there are more ornate, prominent tombs for famous Italians like Michelangelo, Galileo, and Dante (who's not actually buried here; his is only a memorial marker):

After we left Santa Croce, it was time for our daily gelato stop, this time at Vivoli (I can highly recommend gianduia).

Giotto documented the life of St Francis (of nearby Assisi)and St John with emotional art that retold the stories of these significant saints. Remarkably, the works were whitewashed over and only rediscovered in the 19th century. Poor restoration attempts have lost much of the original lustre but they are still masterpieces to savour and enjoy. - See more at: http://travel-wonders.com/2014/02/25/santa-croce-basilica-florence-italy/#sthash.1oQzPfmE.dpu

Florence Day 7: Galleria degli Uffizi

After checking into our B&B, we grabbed a quick lunch (which was incredibly disappointing; avoid Crown Victoria at all costs--tourist trap for sure) and then set off to purchase Firenze cards. You can get these at various kiosks or ticket offices all over the city, and you'll want to bypass the one at Santa Maria Novella. All the tourists make a beeline there right after arriving by train, so the line was extremely long. (I believe we bought ours at Palazzo Strozzi, which was much quicker.)

It was definitely worth spending the money on the Firenze card, as it allowed us to bypass all the long lines everywhere--including at one of Florence's most famous attractions, the Uffizi Gallery. Housed in the 16th-century offices (uffizi is Italian for "offices") of the ruling Medici clan, the museum is home to centuries of celebrated art, including pieces by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Titian, and Raphael. 

A plaque at one point explained that "one of the Uffizi Gallery's most distinctive peculiarities--an approach cultivated from the outset--concerns the very concept of art history, which is seen here not as a sequence of different periods but rather as a seamless path stretching from the ancient world to the present day." The gallery is structured so that you generally follow a chronological path, beginning with 13th-century altarpieces and continuing on into 17th- and 18th-century paintings. Another wing leads you through Greek statues and portraits from the Classical era and then on to Tuscan 15th-century artists who were trained to emulate that ancient art.

Not being well-versed in art history, not to mention the fact that the museum's size makes it impossible to take in everything, it was very helpful to have Lonely Planet's Pocket Florence and Tuscany to point out some highlights. Even with this guide, it was still overwhelming. I was also glad I'd read Sarah Dunant's historical novel The Birth of Venus--although fiction, it provided me with a greater understanding of and interest in Renaissance paintings in Florence.

Annunciation (1333), Simone Martini & Lippo Memmi

The sheer volume of art depicting Mary was mind-boggling. I can appreciate that in the Medieval period, the only accepted subjects for art were religious...but for crying out loud, how many more thousands of Bible characters and stories are there to choose from?!

Madonna of Humility (1415), Masolino--yay for normalizing breastfeeding :)

In between admiring art, we admired the view along the corridors of Ponte Vecchio ("the old bridge") on the Arno River. 

View from the rooftop patio/cafe--with the Duomo in the background

One thing that particularly amazed me was how the colors on these paintings have lasted so long. Ghirlandaio's 15th-century Adoration of the Magi and Michelangelo's early 16th-century depiction of the Holy Family featured such vibrant, vivid hues, it was hard to comprehend how they could actually be five hundred years old.

Adoration of the Magi, Ghirlandaio (1487)

Tondo Doni, Michelangelo (1506)

I was particularly struck by the use of light in these more recent works (and by "recent" I mean "less than 500 years old"--that, in a nutshell, is Italy for you):

Adoration of the Child, Honthorst (c.1620)

Presumed Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, Largilliere (1710)

I don't really know why I even bothered taking so many photos in the Uffizi. Of course my shoddy photography couldn't begin to capture the beauty of the originals. I also wish I'd stepped back and taken a photo of all the people taking photos. It was kind of comical--in certain rooms, you didn't have to consult a map or a brochure to find the celebrated, famous painting; you just had to look where there was a large crowd of people gathered around, holding up their smartphones. I found this example on Instagram, showing the crowd in front of Botticelli's Birth of Venus (1484):

[Photo by Instagram user @fenii]

While overwhelming, the Uffizi was certainly a striking introduction to Florence. Next up: Santa Croce.