Chianti Spectacular

Circuit routes through Chianti: 

the pick of the bunch - so far

Le Ripe is just opposite the river from Lucarelli which is 10 o'clock from Radda

Greve-Lamole-Panzano roundtrip

Vignamaggio, the villa and vineyard where the Monna Lisa was supposed to have lived and where Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado about Nothing was filmed

Fruit of the Month: the quince

The Quintessential Quince

one of our two quince trees

October is the month of the quince. At least it is at Le Ripe where the overall success rate in our orchard is somewhat limited: quinces abound this year but there is nary an apple.

quinces are very attractive but I store them on windowsills also to ripen them and to enjoy their lovely aroma

On the Way Home

The Flaming Cypress

A crimson glory vine (vitis coignetiae) sets fire to a solitary cypress.

Admired each year in October on the SP 76 between La Piazza and Molin Nuovo, Comune of Castellina in Chianti.

Festa Aprilante Panzano + Eroica

Panzano Allegro con Brio and Bikes

Giocondo Fagioli and his baskets made of rushes he gathers himself

In Panzano in Chianti every first Sunday of the month, every month of the year,  the Festa Aprilante is held. This is a market which stretches from the main square on the 222 all the way up towards the church and along the street where Cecchini the butcher reigns.

Change of Season

Autumn is icumen in

Time to bring in the tender pot plants, the gardenia, dipladenia (mandevilla), azalea, hibiscus, tiny cacti, cyclamen, gerbera and amaryllis. With temperatures at night going below 10 degrees, now is the time to protect these plants. Our two citrus trees (lemon and cumquat) will also be hauled to shelter.

So goodbye to the little crowd of pots under the fig tree opposite our front door and hello greenhouse vegetation indoors...

Staggia Senese Castle - La Rocca di Staggia

A Castle Full of Surprises

The parachutes draped from wall and tower should have alerted us. This promised to be not just another medieval castle. (For a list of all the castles in Tuscany, look here.)

These are just the ones in the province of Siena!

Only 40 minutes' drive from Le Ripe, Staggia Senese was familiar to us as a town on the way to Poggibonsi (yes, it is podgybonzy).  

Note: despite its delightful name, Poggibonsi is not worth visiting unless you need furniture, advice from a thermo-technician, light fixtures or electronic devices. As a local salesman once announced to us: "Poggibonsi has everything".  But it is not beautiful.

a flattering angle on Poggibonsi

Every time we drove through Staggia's narrow main street we were intent on a mission, uninterested in this seemingly dull town. 

the main route through Staggia towards Poggibonsi: the castle is visible in the distance, but usually one is so intent on getting somewhere else one misses it entirely

Castello di Brolio

The Iron Baron and his Fairy-Tale Castle

Visiting the Castello di Brolio there are moments when you might imagine yourself inside a fairy tale. Not the slick Disney sort of fairy tale, the real thing: think Perrault or Grimm. Bluebeard. Those harsh cautionary tales warning of life's pitfalls and dangers, softened by happy endings. Mostly.

As you approach from the north on the SP 484, the castle is invisible. The enoteca or wine cellar/shop stands out on your right, flanked by large lattice-windowed storerooms. Before you a road winds up the hill amongst tall, dark trees. You can park and walk or drive on to park a little higher, but still the castle is hidden from view. Some old stone steps take you closer. You catch a glimpse of crenellated grey walls, buttresses, a tower where Rapunzel might have languished.

Fruit of the Month: Figs

It's that fig time again

I wrote about figs last year but it is fitting to record this year's harvest of the most abundant, low-maintenance, stress-free gift of the gods we have at Le Ripe.

I predict I shall be bottling kilos of fig puree this season, but our guests will also be able to benefit from the bounty of our several trees.

To think that we did not have to plant, cage, prune, feed or spray these trees. Our only task is to harvest and eat.

Vino al Vino Panzano's Wine Festival

Wine to Wine

 a September Highlight

Every year in the middle of September Panzano holds its wine festival showcasing the local vineyards. In the main square of Panzano, right on the 222 between Florence and Siena you can buy a glass and pouch to carry it in for 15 euro and taste as many wines as you have a mind to.

There is live music, a festive atmosphere, the local shops and tradesmen are all open and welcoming and there are even things for children to do...

Maps and Representations of Chianti - and Le Ripe - through the Ages

From Ancient Rome to Google

Over the centuries Tuscany and Chianti have been depicted in many different ways. From the allegorical to the digitally photographed, each representation has said something about the era in which it was created and much about the importance of this part of the world.

The above is a detail from the extraordinary Tabula Peutingeriana, probably dating to the 5th century CE, which depicts all roads leading to Rome; this section covers Tuscany with Florence (Florentia Tuscorum) and Siena (Sena Julia) in the lower centre. For a look at the complete Tabula, which is glorious, see here.

The new Antinori Winery in Chianti

Twenty-six Generations under One Roof

Past and present: the timeless beauty of Badia Passignano from a model at the Antinori Chianti museum

Present and future: the grand plan for the streamlined winery to outdo all wineries

You have to admire the audacity of the Antinori family: to plan, construct and complete a project of this size and ambition in a territory where modernity is often anathema.

Unsung Local Heroes II

Enrico the Carpenter, Armchair Historian and Lover of Animals

The 'Evening Shadow' Etruscan sculpture from Volterra circa 300 BCE; Enrico has a reproduction of the sculpture in his house

We are very fond of Enrico and his family. They live in the village of Lucarelli, at the bottom of our hill, beside the river Pesa. A close-knit family of four, they have all been involved in our lives and work at Le Ripe since we first arrived. The son is an electrician and it was through him that we first encountered the rest of the family. Such was his involvement in the electrification of Le Ripe that one evening, when we turned off the outside lights the better to observe the stars, we received a call from him asking if everything was alright: from the valley he had seen the lights go out at Le Ripe and was concerned. Eventually his mother, highly recommended by our neighbours, came to help in the house, and her daughter, who sells her wares at local fairs and markets in her spare time, is a mistress of the cross-stitch and made our lavender bags. I trust I can say that we have become friends rather than just neighbours and beneficiaries of their skills and know-how.

 

little Lucarelli, beside the Pesa: the church was built in the 20th century, replacing the ancient San Pietro on the other side of the valley