Day 20: Chiocchio (Chianti)-Florence
Before heading to Florence, we decide to take advantage of the sunny day and backtrack a bit to the Sunday market in Panzano. Panzano is a small town south of Greve in Chianti that has become famous in the past ten years due to the notoriety of Dario Cecchini, who is a butcher and has promoted Chianti meat and food for many years. He was featured in Bill Buford’s entertaining book "Heat" which deals the author’s apprenticeship in the restaurant trade.
This has caused a great increase in the crowds–especially English speaking visitors–in Panzano and at the market over the years but it is still fun to wander around the stalls and taste the salami, cheese and the new olive oil. When we step into his shop, Dario is in fact behind the counter wrestling with a cut of beef.
The detour is well worth it for the beautiful views and pleasant weather.
Driving into Florence isn’t such a difficult challenge on a Sunday afternoon and we navigate successfully to the apartment on Via San Gallo. More of a challenge is finding a place to park and we have to circle the block once before Mariangela–the owner of the apartment–gets the okay for us to park in the next door hotel’s loading area. We unload our heavy bags and get settled in the very comfortable apartment. Later, we even find a parking place right across the street…there are no traffic restrictions in Florence on Sundays. Mariangela briefs us on the apartment and the only hitch is getting the wireless internet to work but it eventually kicks in.
By the time all this is sorted out, we are hungry and decide to snack on the cheese, salami and bread that we have with us. After we eat, we take advantage of the sunny, warm weather and take a long walk through the center of Florence–past the Duomo, stopping in at the Orsanmichele church and then through the Piazza della Signoria; the streets are filled with people–shopping, strolling or sitting in sidewalk cafes with a glass of wine; it’s a great day to be in Florence. Our destination is our favorite gelateria–Neri–and the gelato is as good as we remember from previous visits.
In the late afternoon, we get into the car to drive to Vicchio, about an hour north of Florence to have dinner with Jane Nyhan, a guide in Florence with whom we have become friendly, and her family. It is dark for most of the ride and the road–although a main road–is quite curvy and we have to drive carefully. Once in Vicchio, we have to get explicit directions from Jane (what would we do without cell phones?) to get us to her house deep in the country.
We have a great evening with Jane and Carlo and their two children–Tommaso and Federica. Carlo is an excellent cook and he prepares a number of dishes with cauliflower fresh from his garden. We have a spirited discussion with Tommaso, the 17 year old son, who enjoys practicing his English and is very bright and engaging.
The drive back to Florence is much easier than the drive out and we even find a parking space just a few doors up the street from the apartment.
Tomorrow we have to move the car by 8 a.m. to a garage outside the ZTL (traffic limited zone) and then we will explore Florence.
This has caused a great increase in the crowds–especially English speaking visitors–in Panzano and at the market over the years but it is still fun to wander around the stalls and taste the salami, cheese and the new olive oil. When we step into his shop, Dario is in fact behind the counter wrestling with a cut of beef.
The detour is well worth it for the beautiful views and pleasant weather.
Driving into Florence isn’t such a difficult challenge on a Sunday afternoon and we navigate successfully to the apartment on Via San Gallo. More of a challenge is finding a place to park and we have to circle the block once before Mariangela–the owner of the apartment–gets the okay for us to park in the next door hotel’s loading area. We unload our heavy bags and get settled in the very comfortable apartment. Later, we even find a parking place right across the street…there are no traffic restrictions in Florence on Sundays. Mariangela briefs us on the apartment and the only hitch is getting the wireless internet to work but it eventually kicks in.
By the time all this is sorted out, we are hungry and decide to snack on the cheese, salami and bread that we have with us. After we eat, we take advantage of the sunny, warm weather and take a long walk through the center of Florence–past the Duomo, stopping in at the Orsanmichele church and then through the Piazza della Signoria; the streets are filled with people–shopping, strolling or sitting in sidewalk cafes with a glass of wine; it’s a great day to be in Florence. Our destination is our favorite gelateria–Neri–and the gelato is as good as we remember from previous visits.
In the late afternoon, we get into the car to drive to Vicchio, about an hour north of Florence to have dinner with Jane Nyhan, a guide in Florence with whom we have become friendly, and her family. It is dark for most of the ride and the road–although a main road–is quite curvy and we have to drive carefully. Once in Vicchio, we have to get explicit directions from Jane (what would we do without cell phones?) to get us to her house deep in the country.
We have a great evening with Jane and Carlo and their two children–Tommaso and Federica. Carlo is an excellent cook and he prepares a number of dishes with cauliflower fresh from his garden. We have a spirited discussion with Tommaso, the 17 year old son, who enjoys practicing his English and is very bright and engaging.
The drive back to Florence is much easier than the drive out and we even find a parking space just a few doors up the street from the apartment.
Tomorrow we have to move the car by 8 a.m. to a garage outside the ZTL (traffic limited zone) and then we will explore Florence.
posted by Jim Zurer at 4:35 PM
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