Day 9: More wine tasting and Tuscan castles!

It was our third day in wine country. We woke up and had breakfast outside.  We then departed for Castello Verrazzano- a short ten minute drive north of Greve on the SR 222. It is located in Greti.  See my review here. 

We arrived without any issues and waited a few minutes for the entire tour group to show up. After about fifteen minutes our group was there.  It was quite large, with about 30 people waiting to tour the Tuscan castle. We first toured the gardens.  Our tour guide was quite humorous, but his accent was so thick, he was somewhat difficult for us to understand at times. He briefed us on the history of the castle. Giovanni da Verrazzano, celebrated navigator and discoverer of the bay of New York and the majority of the east coast of America, was born here in 1485. The famous bridge in New York was named after him in 1964.

Wild boar are common in these parts, and we could hear them as we walked through the gardens, but could only see one sleeping off in the corner.  Next we received a tour of the cellars and learned more about the wine-making process. 

The Cellars

We were escorted into the restaurant on the premises, which was very elegant. We sat at round tables of eight.  We ended up sitting with four girls who were on holiday from studying abroad in Rome, although they normally attend school in Florida.  Also at our table was a couple that we got to know fairly well.  Jack and Vanessa were from Calgary, Canada, and we ended up having a lot in common. They were a very nice, fun couple with many of the same interests as us.  In fact, Jack is also a fifth grade teacher so we had many stories to share!  It was interesting to compare the differences between living and teaching in Canada verses the states.  He informed us that teachers with my experience and education make an average of $120,000 per year! He almost convinced us that moving to Calgary would be an excellent move... 

The wine tasting at Castello Verrazzano! 

The restaurant at Castello Verrazzano

The wine tasting was excellent!  We tasted several different Verrazzano wines, as well as their grappa in coffee (yikes!). That stuff is SO strong! They also served us a traditional Tuscan appetizer which included several different meats, salamis, pecorino cheese, homemade honey and balsamic vinegar, and bread.  Evidently one of the meats provided was wild boar, but I have no idea which one it was. Vegetarian plates were also available upon request.  I was looking longingly at the fresh cut veggies on the plate across from the table from me.  They looked so good and refreshingly different. 

Traditional Tuscan appetizer

We were at Castello Verrazzano almost three and a half hours!  (Many people left about an hour earlier, but we were so wrapped up in our wine and conversation!) We bought a bottle of their rose and headed back to our room at Casa Nova La Ripintura in the mid-afternoon and proceed to drink more wine on our terrace until we were nice and toasty.  We had great conversation as we relaxed. 

Later that evening we again walked into town and headed to the co-op one last time to stock up for our train ride tomorrow- Pringles and pineapple juice. We ventured through the scenic piazza and then headed to dinner at our favorite spot- La Bogetta del Moro.  It was just so good. Again, we split the bold bruschetta.  We then shared the wonderful lasagna and the risotto with saffron and zucchini. It was all excellent as usual. 

We walked back to the agriturismo, fed the ducks and nutria once more, and eventually went to bed. It was a very hot and uncomfortable night. 

Day 8: Wine tastings in Chianti

We woke up on Sunday after a very hot and restless night.  We went downstairs and had breakfast on the back porch, which was very nice. They had cereal, fresh milk, fruit, and yogurt at a buffet and then we were served juice, coffee, and toasted croissants. 


We tried to verify directions to our destination with the employee on duty, but I think she was German and there was a definite language barrier.  However, she was very nice and wanted to be helpful.  So we studied the map for awhile and took off in our little Panda. Our first destination was a scheduled wine tasting at Casa Emma in San Donato in Poggio.  The drive only took a little over a half hour on the very windy small roads of Tuscany. We thought we were lost when we finally came upon it.  


At Casa Emma we had an 11:00 scheduled tasting. Unlike the U.S., tastings here usually should be scheduled. There were about 8 of us total in the group- a couple from Sydney, Australia, a couple from Orange County, California, and a mother and son from Louisville, Colorado!  We were so excited to meet someone from our old stomping grounds and were exchanging stories about familiar places and the devastating fires in Colorado.  Our tour guide, Carlotta, was amazing!  She was very fun and knowledgeable.  The wines were pretty good, but their sweet balsamic vinegar was sensational!  After the tasting, we had a brief tour of the wine cellars. See the review here. 

Casa Emma Winery 

Casa Emma Winery 

Casa Emma Vineyards

Chianti Classico

Sam tasting wine

Leslie and Sam in the cellar at Casa Emma

After our visit to Casa Emma, we decided to take our time driving to our next destination, Gaiole in Chianti, where we would visit Castello di Brolio.  Our tour and tasting here was scheduled for 3:00 pm (15:00) so we had plenty of time to get there since it should only take about 45 minutes to an hour to get there. We wrangled the map and set off in the direction of Gaiole in Chianti.  By the way, it is much easier to simply follow the signs through this area and refer to the map as needed.  Maps in Italy should be used loosely.  They are not that accurate, nor can they be considering all of the many windy roads. 


We found Gaiole and then searched for free public parking so we could venture into the main piazza in search of some lunch.  We knew it was going to be challenging to find somewhere open at 1:00 pm (13:00), but we did find a restaurant with a nice shaded patio open and ready for business. When we sat down at La Sfizio di Bianchi, there was only one other table, but obviously several others had the same idea as us, and it filled up quite quickly. The service was something to be desired, but I think it was due to the fact that the server was new and overwhelmed.  Sam didn't get his meal until after I was done eating.  We had fried dough filled with cheese and wrapped with prosciutto.  I had pici- like a thick spaghetti, and Sam (eventually) had trofie with truffles. The food was average, but better than the service.  See the full review here. 

Fried cheese dough wrapped with Prosciutto

Pici with tomato, parsley, and bacon

Trofie with truffles

Although we sat down with plenty of time to kill, by the time we finally got the check, we were short on time. So we jumped back in the car and took off for the castle.  Luckily, we were closer than we thought.  As we pulled up the hill towards Castello di Brolio, we saw a sign for free public parking, and we figured this is where we should park.  We ended up walking up the entire hill to the castle and many, many steps.  It turns out, we could have actually driven all the way up and parked directly next to the castle.  Now we were really hot and sweaty!

Castello di Brolio

In the 12th century, the powerful feudal family of the Ricasoli took control of the Castello di Brolio and their ancestors still own and reside here during the summers. The Castello di Brolio played an important role in the history of the Chianti region. Being strategically placed in the province of Firenze, but within view of Siena, it often switched hands in feudal battles.   The castle rests in boundless vineyards, from which since 1141 the Ricasoli distilled their famous wines.

The Chapel

The Tower

View from the Castle

Our tour group included ourselves and three other couples. First we toured the personal chapel and crypt on the castle ground and then explored the tower- the oldest part of the castle built in 1009 AD! We then surveyed the gardens and enjoyed the gorgeous view overlooking Siena.  In some of the pictures below, you can see some of the damage the castle suffered at the hands of the Germans during WW II.  As the story goes, the castle was stumbled upon and taken during the German retreat.  The family and several individuals were temporarily taken hostage in the house while soldiers enjoyed the bounty of wine they found in the cellars.  

Marks in the wall left from WW II bombs

This tree was bombed, suffered interior damage, but still lived! 

The view toward Siena from the castle

After we toured the castle, we were told to drive down the hill to the new winery production center.  When I told the tour guide that our car was all the way down the hill, and it might take us awhile to walk down there, a really nice Irish couple offered to give us a lift down the hill to our car.  We rode with them and got the scoop on Ireland.  Maybe that will be a future trip! We entered the winery and toured the bottling facility and the cool cellars downstairs with a multitude of wine barrels! Overall, it was a pretty lengthy tour, eventually ending in a sleek banquet room donned with wine glasses.  Here we had a tasting, featuring only three of the Ricasoli wines.  It was very classy, but I was somewhat disappointed that we only got to taste three wines after all that.  Overall, it was a fun experience and a really interesting landmark. See the review here.

Bottling production line 

The Wine Cellar at Brolio

Wine tasting with a personalized and dated place mat!

We then drove up the SR 222 up to Greve in Chianti.  We relaxed for an hour and then walked back into town to go back to La Bogetta del Moro for dinner.  We figured we liked it so much the first time, we would go back and try it again, but this time we would go all out.  We shared two 1/2 liter carafes of the house white wine and started with an appetizer of the zucchini pie.  This was delicious!  It was similar to a zucchini quiche drizzled with balsamic vinegar.  It was small, but I loved it!  The owner then brought out some thin pieces of fried bread to tide us over, although our meal was not taking especially long.  We ordered two meals and shared them. We had the ricotta ravioli, which was ok and the chicken with capers in carrot sauce, which was outstanding!  Instead of dessert, we opted to order the bruschetta which we were eyeing at the next table.  It was the best bruschetta I have ever had!  It was garden fresh and salty. Overall it was a very good meal, and still very affordable. See the review here.

Complimentary fried bread "chips" 

Zucchini Pie

Ricotta Ravioli

Chicken and Capers in Carrot Sauce

The BEST bruschetta on our trip

We then walked home, stopping for gelato along the way.  I didn't write down the name of the place, but it was decent.  It is right next to the co-op on the SR 222 in Greve. Sam had black cherry, and I had fior di latte, which was heavenly.  It literally means milk of the flower.  I wish I had been getting this flavor all along, as it is common. We walked along the stream and watched the coypu or nutria, similar to a beaver without the big tail, and ducks in the stream for the second night in a row.

Here is a video of the nutria.  One of the shop owners nearby gave them the day-old bread.

Day 7: From Florence to Chianti: Car Rental Craziness, Tuscany, and Pringles

We overslept somewhat on Saturday, considering we wanted to fit in the Accademia in the morning before we departed for Greve in Chianti.  We awoke at 8:30 am, and I am sure people were already lined up outside the Accademia to see the statue of David.  However, our Firenze passes would get us in quickly with little to no wait.  


Our original plan was to head to the the Accademia, come back to the hotel and pack up, and then head to the train station to catch a bus to the airport where we would pick up our rental car by noon.  But considering our time crunch, we decided to go ahead and have breakfast at the hotel.  (By the way, we were now officially sick of eating prosciutto, cheese, and croissants everyday and were madly craving eggs.  They would have made them for us, but we didn't want to pay extra for it.)  We then packed up, checked out of the Hotel Hermitage, donning our backpacks, we walked up to the Accademia, risking security would let us through with our packs. Luckily they did, although Sam had to leave his bottle of lemoncino at the front door with security and pick it up on the way out.  No big deal.  We were just happy they let us in with our packs on.  


We immediately entered the museum and headed straight for the Michelangelo's David.  It was phenomenal!  It is so much bigger than I realized!  And beautiful!  One thing I noticed is that his hands are disproportionate to the rest of his body- they are huge!  Unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures in the museum, but I have included a replica of David where he originally stood outside the Palazzo Vecchio.  

Replica of David outside Palazzo Vecchio

We continued to wander around the museum, which contains mostly sculpture.  This was much more our cup of tea than the Uffizi!  The Accademia is fairly small and we were able to conquer it in about an hour or a little less. 

When we left the museum, we had a fairly quick jaunt back to the Santa Maria Novella train station of Florence.  We were not catching a train, but the "Volainbus" bus that would shuttle us to the Florence airport in about 20 minutes. The bus itself simply lists "aeroporto", and it departs from the train station every half hour. After much research, I learned that this bus is operated by ATAF, the city public bus system, which is supposed to be included in the price of our Firenze card.  However, the bus driver  simply looked confused when we showed him our cards and shrugged.  I seriously think he did not know if they were valid for use on this bus or not.  We both paid  €6 each for the ride to the airport (He even gave us change, which they don't usually do!), we scanned our tickets to be validated, and off we went! It was a very bumpy cobblestone ride. 

After the twenty minute ride to Pertola/ Amerigo Vespucci Airport (which is surprisingly small for an international airport), we learned that we had to take yet another bus to get to the recently relocated rental car lot.  We waited for the small van and crammed on with several other people.  The drive took about 5 minutes, but it was crazy how many turns and lane-switching was taking place.  The car rental lot was hidden beneath a bridge- almost hidden. Here is the car we drove for three days- the tiny Fiat Panda! 

Yes- it WAS actually tinier than my Scion xB. 

Once we arrived at the rental car lot we quickly requested our much-anticipated GPS.  We were regretfully informed that there were no more cars with GPS available.  What?  Seriously?  We were counting on this.  Like a lot.  Everyone advised me to simply ask for a car with GPS when we arrived- that there was no need to reserve it in advance.  Yeah right.  Here is a word of advice:  When renting a car out of the country, RESERVE GPS IN ADVANCE.  No joke. So- it is what it is, and we continued with our reservation.  Upon departing, I asked for a map.  I was expecting a map of Florence- something that would at least direct us to the Autostrada (highway) where I could then follow directions to the farm house where we were staying in Chianti.  Riiiight.  When we got in the car, I learned that the map they gave us was an entire map of Italy!  That was just as good as giving us a map of the U.S. when you are navigating your way around L.A.  Sigh... and so the journey began. 

This was by FAR the most stressful hour and a half of our entire vacation. No joke. We did not know how to read Italian road signs.  We were in the middle of a large city with crazy roads- no perpendicular roads exist here.  People, as you may have heard, drive like bats out of hell in Italy so people were cutting us off left and right, driving between lanes. Motorcycles and scooters zipped around us at insane speeds while we tried to navigate out of the city, constantly merging form the far left lane to turn here and then to the far right lane to merge there.  I am not exaggerating. In fact, I am not sure how to even describe it accurately.  Meanwhile, we were trying desperately to avoid the ZTL (Limted Traffic Zones). These are areas that you can physically drive into if you don't know better, but are limited to residents only of downtown or historic areas.  They are avidly camera-enforced, and I have read many stories of drivers that received $1,000 of dollars in tickets months after their return to the states.  We are still crossing our fingers that we do not receive any mail from the City of Firenze... 

After about 8 turns and at least 10 near misses (no joke), to get our of the airport rental area, we were unsure of where to go next and were scared that we were headed toward the city center.  We stopped at a gas station where no one was working.  (Big surprise- it was in the middle of the afternoon.  No one works in the middle of the day in Italy.)  We asked someone getting gas how we get to the autostrada, and she didn't know.  Not a good sign.  Meanwhile, Sam's anxiety level continued to rise. 

I forgot to mention that he is driving because he actually has the skill set to drive a stick, unlike me.  To get an automatic was several hundreds of dollars more since they are so uncommon in Italy due to their inefficiency. Gas is very expensive here! So far in 2012, gas is at an average of 1.82 euros per liter, or $9.17 per gallon.  This is why Italians drive small cars! In the end, we only filled up once before we returned the car after driving all over Tuscany three days and only paid about €35. 

So we continued down the street to yet another gas station where someone was working.  We bought a map of Tuscany (Florence and the surrounding region) and then asked her how to get to the autostrada.  Fortunately, she was able to give us directions and we weren't that far off.  

However, once on the autostrada, we were once again a little overwhelmed.  Cars buzzed by at ferocious speeds, we weren't sure if we were even headed in the right direction or if we were even on the right highway.  (The A1 and A11 are merged here and then split at some point outside Florence.)  Once we determined that we were going the correct direction, we learned that the A1 is a toll road.  Ooops. Did not know that.  So we got our ticket, not really knowing how much we would owe at the end of this adventure.  After driving for almost 25 minutes or so, I realized that we still had not found our exit according to the directions from the owners of the agriturismo we were staying.  I had been looking avidly, but never saw it. I eventually recognized that we had now driven too far, adding to Sam's overall frustration.  But we continued to drive south of Florence and got off at another exit, east of our destination and followed the directions to the farm house as if we had come north from Rome.  We ended up going way out of our way, but eventually found it in about double the time than should be expected.  


I would recommend renting a car somewhere outside of a big city such as Pisa or even smaller if possible.  That way you could take the train out of the city and pick up the car in a more manageable place. 

We rolled into Greve in Chianti around 3:00 pm (15:00) or so.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, an agriturismo is basically a working farm that receives subsidies from the Italian government, enabling it to work as a bed and breakfast.  This encourages farming, as well as aids in tourism.  The agriturismo we chose is called Casa Nova La Ripintura.  They own two farms and offer rooms for rent in a bed and breakfast and have a private house for rent for bigger groups, but also work as a small winery and have olive oil production, which is common in the area. Read my review here. Here are pictures of our gorgeous room in the very old farm house: 

A terrace we shared with the room next to us. 

Great, roomy bathroom! 

Door to terrace

The first thing we did after checking in with the French owner, was buy a bottle of their house wine for  €5. It was delicious, and the price could not be beat! We sat out on our terrace, relaxed, and drank the bottle of wine. 

Around 4:30 pm (16:30) we decided to walk into the town of Greve in Chianti, which was only about a 10 minute walk down the hill.  We wandered along a beautiful dirt road, littered with vineyards and then an easy sidewalk led us along a stream into town.  

We were hungry since we had not eaten since breakfast. In Italy, restaurants and even many stores are closed between the hours of 2:30 and 7:00.  Many Italians eat dinner between 7:00 and 10:00 pm (19:00- 22:00). We discovered that the owner's wife managed a restaurant in town and we decided to venture there with hopes that we could find something to tide us over. The restaurant is called La Bottega del Moro.  See the review here. It is not in the main Piazza Matteotti  in town, but rather directly on the SR 222- the winding road leading through the wine country ofTuscany. We arrived at an odd time, but they were indeed open.  We stopped in and the current cook/server told us what she had available.  Everything was recently bought at the market and was being prepared fresh.  We decided to split a 1/2 carafe of the house white wine for €2.50 (Everything was much cheaper out here in the country!) and split a piece of lasagna since that it was she had available this early.  IT WAS THE BEST LASAGNA I HAVE EVER EATEN. I am not a big lasagna person, but this was awesome! Simply divine! 

La Bottega del Moro

Divine lasagna

After we relaxed in the shade of the patio at del Moro, we decided to wander about town.  We walked around the piazza and eventually stopped at an enoteca, or wine bar.  Since we were still hungry we shared some mediocre bruschetta with roasted vegetables and the house white wine. 

We then found the local coop grocery store and did a little shopping. We accidentally bought 2 large bottles of mineral water- oops.  We also purchased a bottle of local wine and Kit Kat bars- they looked good.  We also bought another can of Pringles.  After being to several grocery stores, we found that Pringles work well for travel.  Since they are in a can, they do not crumble as easily and they can be stored in your backpack or bag, eaten on the train or in your hotel room when you get the munchies.  This was the first of several cans of Pringles on our trip. And they have different flavors over there- like Paprika and Sea Salt and Pepper!  As for the Kit Kat, we were a bit overwhelmed after just a few bites, when we realized it was not made with milk chocolate.  Evidently, this is common over there?  We ended up throwing the rest away, as it was just too rich. 

I took a cool shower to help relieve the stifling heat and lack of air conditioning in this very old house. We planned our routes for the following day and then watched the stars from our terrace.