LifeStyle
ChI Drinks…..
Drink local!
When in Rome, Frascati, or the other golden whites of the Castelli Romani, or Est! Est! Est! from the borders with Tuscany and Umbria. Or Cesanese wine which goes so well with gnocchi alla romana or saltimbocca.
In Tuscany, Chianti – what else!? Drink the produce of the vines from where you stay. There are seven Chianti-producing regions but only wines produced in the Classico hills can be called Chianti Classico, and carry the seal of the Black Cockerel, that shows they are authentic.
Wine producers to look out for…..
• Castello di Prolio
• Monsanto
• Fonterutoli
• Castello di Ama
• Castello di Volpaia
• Castello di Verrazzano
• Vicchiomaggio
• Villa Vignamaggio
• Vistarenni
• Castello da Uzzano
Useful Link http://www.emmeti.it/Welcome/Toscana/Chianti/SanCasciano/index.uk.html
ChI Reads
• Il Gattopardo, Tommasi di Lampedusa (even though it’s not about Rome – but
“after Rome, Africa”, as they say….)
• Scandal Takes a Holiday, Lindsey Davis (and the rest of the Falco series)
• Seta, Alessandro Baricco
• I, Claudius, Robert Graves
• Counting the Stars, Helen Dunmore
Major Occasions
Weddings
Tuscany has become a favoured location for destination weddings, especially in “agro-tourismo’s” – the great Italian invention of working farms or vineyards, with their houses transformed party or entirely into accommodation for tourists.
The 50km between Florence and Siena is a landscape out of a renaissance painting – steeply rolling hills terraced with vineyards and olive groves, crenellated castles and bustling market towns.
Chianti-shire, as the Brits call it, is a great area to visit, and a wonderful location for a truly romantic destination wedding, despite the influx of Brits (and now Russians) who have bought houses there.
One great, stunningly beautiful venue is Castello il Palagio, www.castelloilpalagio.it in the Chianti area, surrounded by its own vineyards and olive groves, and close to the small town of Mercatale (so small that some maps don’t even show it!).
Nearby are lovely little towns of Panzano (12 km/15 min. drive south www.panzano.com ) and Greve in Chianti (12km/15 min. drive south-east - the unofficial “capital” of the Chianti region; www.greve-in-chianti.com ), and San Casciano (7km/10 min. north).
Il Palaggio - not only is the venue exquisite – but the romance of the wedding vows at sunset in the garden adjacent to the ancient walls of the Castello is hard to beat!
You can also organized a wine tasting and visit to the wine cellars, with their huge wooden barrels, for your guests, for the Castello’s own wines and award-winning olive oils.
The resourceful, committed management is very experienced at event-catering, from the casual to the formal, and not just for weddings, and will take the food and wine aspects very seriously. They even found a Japanese-speaking mayor to conduct a recent Japanese-Italian very international ChI wedding ceremony, as well as the usual florist, DJ, video film maker, etc.!
The Castello itself has multiple venues, from courtyards (for the dinner and dancing), formal gardens (for the champagne reception), to the wedding locale itself! Depending on the time of year, the air can turn cool in the evenings by mid-September, so warn the guests to dress accordingly!
A great morning-after brunch celebration venue is the Borgo Montefolchi, a private farm house that can be hired for special occasions, which has the most amazing panoramic view of the surrounding countryside.
There are many wine festivals in Chianti region in mid September, so if you plan to celebrate then, reserve accommodation well in advance, especially if there are a lot of people involved. Check them out via the management of Il Palagio chianticlassico.com , Tel (+39)055 821 8157 or 055 821630, fax (+39)055 821 8157
It’s best to book in the first quarter of the year, as by late April, holiday apartments (in agro-tourismo’s) in the region become booked up for early September. The situation for hotels and B&Bs can be a little better, but given the country-side setting, there is not a huge supply of hotel rooms in the immediate vicinity.