Return to Florence, September 2013

Well here we are back in Florence once again, for our third year. Clearly, we have fallen in love with Italy in general and with Florence in particular although there are so many wonderful places and so many adventures we have had here since last updating our blog in June of 2012. Eventually part of this new blog will be dedicated to recapping some of those highlights.

This time we are living in a charming house just off of Piazza Tasso on the south western side of the city, one street over from the old city walls. It takes 15 minutes to walk to the Ponte Vecchio yet is a quiet and untouristed area, filled with fascinating shops and restaurants. The map shows a green space on the lower left-hand corner -- we are just on the other side of the street running past that space.




Florence - Piazza Tasso at left

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures of our lovely house.

 

 

 

Our first week was busy getting settled in and welcoming our friends Nick and Kim for their first visit to Italy. Serious Francophiles, they decided to branch out and explore Tuscany for a few days with us.

 

We all enjoyed a wonderful wine tour through the Chianti area sponsored by the Tuscan Wine School with Bernardo, our excellent guide. The Chianti region, south of Florence, is a beautiful area of softly rolling hills filled with cypress and umbrella pine trees as shown on all the postcards of this part of the world.

 

Our first stop was the Corzano & Paterno vineyard near the town of San Casciano for a wine and cheese tasting. The grapes are grown naturally here. i.e., without any chemicals.

 

Bernardo, our guide

 

 

We then headed to the town of Panzano where we enjoyed a lunch at the famous butcher shop of Dario Checchini (we also reported on this experience in our earlier blog). Dario is know for his high quality meats, particularly beef, and his small restaurants here.

 

 

Outside Dario's butcher shop

 

 

 

After lunch we turned northward toward Greve and visited the Villa Calcinaia vineyard owned by the Florentine Capponi family for over 500 years. Another wine tasting and then back to Greve for a brief visit before heading home.

 

 

 

 

Because Kim owned and ran two Italian restaurants in Maryland, it was fascinating to get her insights and perspectives on the Florentine cuisine. Through a colleague she know of a super restaurant not far from our house and so on Saturday night we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Mama Gina's eating way too much and loving every mouthful.

 

 

Kim, Nick and Lee post dinner

 

 

 

Sunday brought us back to Greve for the wine fair and to visit the home (La Ventolina, the soft wind) of our friends Francesca and Uli who live on a magnificent hilltop with views extending forever. We shared a beautiful Sunday lunch reveling in great food from the garden, home-made wine and olive oil, wonderful company and amazing views.

 

Lunching at La Ventolina

A view of Chianti

 

Nick and Kim departed on Monday and we returned to getting established here. We will be renewing acquaintances with friends drifting back to Florence from summer holidays, taking art history classes at the British Institute and an architecture class at the Accademia dÁrte,  and visiting the fabulous line-up of exhibitions here over the next months. In October we will be cruising from Basel to Amsterdam through wine country of the Rhine and Mosel rivers.