Wild herbs and weeds for lunch

Country lore and the table

The 4th Sunday of every month a small organic market is held at Greve in Chianti where almost all the produce is local. The market is called Il Pagliaio which literally means straw rick or stack.

Fresh bread and other baked goods, herbs and spices, preserves and jams, cheeses, wine and oil are all on sale. One or two stalls also sell their farm-grown vegetables. And one stall in particular, run by two soft-spoken farmers, husband and wife, specializes in fresh herbs and edible 'weeds' gathered in the countryside. 

strigoli, clematis vitalba sprouts and wild asparagus

Spring Report

abundant clematis armandii: and the perfume!

It may seem trite, but the joys of spring, the return of vitality to our world never cease to delight. A small record of it seemed in order. 

Chamois of the Alps in Chianti

On Goats and Cheese at 

Podere Le Fornaci

first glimpse of Podere Le Fornaci from a cypress-lined avenue which leads to Villa Calcinaia and Podere Le Fornaci

Since the year 2000, 30 hectares of farmland just north of Greve in Chianti have been home to an increasingly large herd of chamois goats. 

 

the podere (Tuscan name for farm) with its goat huts below the hills

the farm from near the river flats where a large basin (right) has been created to collect floodwater from the Greve river; otherwise it is used for grazing

the younger of the only two billy goats at the farm; the beard and the thicker horns are the giveaway. This individual is one year old; his name is Canederlo; the older one is called Elvis

Lucca's Garden Show

Verdemura, 

the annual greening of the city of Lucca

camelias sitting on grass; a simple but effective display

Lucca is a city famed for its magnificent walls. At the end of March each year these walls become the venue for a delightful gardening and outdoor living market and display called Verdemura, Green Walls.

For the first time visitor to Lucca it is the venue which is most stunning. Lucca's walls were built from 1504 to 1648 and were never used as military fortifications although they were considered a deterrent to the ambitions of Florence and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. They stretch over 4 kilometres to enclose the entire historic centre. 

Equinox celebration

Saying it with flowers

apricot blossom

a Small Spring Miracle

the 

 Daffodils

Le Ripe is lucky to be set in the middle of 30 hectares (74 acres) of land, mostly comprised of woods. However at the bottom of our hill, along the Pesa river, are two large meadows, separated by a small rise.

 

the campo di sotto, or bottom meadow, one of two near the river

We don't often go down there but we do keep the fields clear of brambles and other invasive plants. 

The sweet side of Siena: ricciarelli

Almond Complex

pretty well the archetypical ricciarello

A good ricciarello (richyarello) is thickly dusted with icing sugar which is cracked on the surface; it is  lightly crunchy on the outside but soft and melting on the inside. It should have a definite marzipan (or bitter almond) taste and be quite sweet. It traditionally appears at Christmas to be consumed with vin santo or other sweet wines but nowadays we can indulge anytime of year.

these ricciarelli look perfect; they also look homemade as they do not have quite the 'boat' shape of the commercial ones

The ricciarello would appear to go back a long way, to the time of the Crusades, or so the Sienese would have it. A returned crusader called Ricciardetto della Gherardesca (a mouthful in himself), legend says, had tried these tasty Middle-Eastern morsels in the Holy Land and introduced the recipe to his hometown.

The Cradle of Genius

Leonardo da Vinci's childhood homes:

Anchiano and Vinci

 
Leonardo da Vinci bequeathed us two anecdotes concerning his childhood: ostensibly memories, it has been argued that they might be parables or accounts of dreams.

Vinci

The first involves a bird. Flight always fascinated Leonardo da Vinci: many pages in his notes and 500 sketches are dedicated to the study of birds' wings, including experiments real and hypothetical with potential flying machines, (the ornithopter being the most spectacular), parachutes, ascending devices and keen observations on the gliding flight of birds.

Bird-winged apparatus with partly rigid wings, 1488-90, pen and ink. Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France

The Sword in the Stone and the Open-Air Abbey

Chiusdino, Montesiepi and  

San Galgano

Chiusdino today

An hour and a half's drive south of Le Ripe, in the Val di Merse, lie several medieval treasures which attract visitors all year round.

reconstruction of Chiusdino as it might have looked between the 12th and 13th centuries, around the time Galgano Guidotti lived there

The medieval nucleus of the hilltop town of Chiusdino, the Hermitage of Montesiepi and the Abbey of San Galgano are linked by their association with a 12th century knight who said farewell to arms in order to become a hermit.

San Galgano, Ambrogio Lorenzetti 1338-49,Sala dei Nove, Palazzo Pubblico Siena

The Birds are Back!

Coming for dinner, not coming 

as dinner

blue tit - cinciarella - Parus caeruleus

For two winters now we have mourned our little birds, the ones that in the winter of 2012 came so merrily to feed on our new bird tables.  

no takers?

We wondered where they had disappeared to: was it the unseasonally warm weather which kept them in more northern climes; was it the scoundrel cat which had discovered it could access the goodies on the bird-table by jumping from the old hay-cutter (goodies signified birds and bird-feed, two for the price of one jump)? 

What happened at Villa il Focardo

 The Einstein Family Tragedy at
Villa il Focardo, Rignano sull'Arno

Some might be surprised to learn that in the 1920s and '30s the family of Albert Einstein had Tuscan connections. Sadly, these connections were to end in tragedy during World War II. 

This is the story of the events which unfolded at Villa il Focardo near Rignano sull'Arno, to the south-east of Florence, in the summer of 1944.

At the end of Italy's Second World War, while the Germans were retreating from the peninsula, the Allies advancing north, these softly undulating hills of the Arno valley were just one of many locations caught in that ghastly endgame.

Monteriggioni Meditation

Doves, horses, donkeys, geese - and yoga

 

The drive from Le Ripe to Monteriggioni is one of Tuscany's finest, along the 222 to Castellina and then west down through open, rolling vineyards, olive plantations and wheatfields to the Val d'Elsa.

Monteriggioni is unmistakable, sitting on its hill above the highway like a crown, to paraphrase Dante. From this small hilltop town you can continue on to Siena or deviate to San Gimignano, as the pilgrims of the Via Francigena used to do; the signs are still there today for those who wish to retrace the pilgrims' path.

And yet, if you are searching for peace, quiet and a different perspective on life you might decide to turn right toward Gallinaio along an unsealed road.