Chianti, Italy
ITALY, COUNTRY, FAMILY
A DAY IN CHIANTI
What a great day! We bicycled through the hills of Chianti. Our private tour was organized by I Bike Italy. Our guide met us at the company’s Florence shop and then drove us a short distance to an old country house, up above Florence, where our bicycles were waiting for us. We hopped on and headed out onto a quiet road which winded like a fallen ribbon across the tuscan hills. We followed the ribbon.
When we were ready for a drink we stopped for hot chocolate and cookies in the small piazza of San Casciano. When we were ready for lunch, we rolled up to a winery and restaurant where a pretty table was waiting for us. Our lunch menu included all the Tuscan favorites, including our favorite desert: pana cotta, and various bottles of the region’s namesake wine. I loved the wine, of course, especially the classico. Throughout the day we passed rows and rows of these prized grape vines. We also passed farmers market tables piled high with just picked artichokes and fennel. Our guide walked us into some trees along the side of the road and pointed out wild asparagus, which we had never seen before. We discovered two different types of wild asparagus bursting forth from the ground. There were lemons too, so many lemons, and wisteria and olive trees and enough classical cypress and boxwood to impress a children’s fairy tale illustrator. I will always remember this day.
