February 18, 2011
Last night was a late one! I still had some work to do before bed AND pack again. I woke up and had a leisurely breakfast with Rhyan and Seth, going over what the possibilities were for their first full day exploring the countryside. Luckily, it looked like the sun was going to come out so they could explore Pisa, Lucca and Viareggio dry.
Around 10 a.m., I left Villa Dianella Fucini, said my profuse thank yous and goodbye to Samantha, goodbye to Rhyan and Seth and made my way around all of the rotaries out of Vinci and headed towards Certaldo.
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| Rhyan and Seth from Maine at the Villa Dianella Fucini |
I found a wonderful country road with a ton of turn offs, allowing me to pull over and take some great photos!
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| Villa Dianella Fucini |
Some photos from the road to Castellina:
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| Certaldo Alto |
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| Certaldo Alto |
Today, I passed through Casetlfiorentino, Certaldo, Certaldo Alto, Montespertoli, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, Barberino Val d'Elsa, a tiny corner of Poggibonsi (no one needs to go through any more than this in Poggibonsi) and into Castellina in Chianti. I had a meeting with Irene at the Palazzo Squarcialupi at 3 p.m. to get the keys to my apartment in the picturesque village.
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| a villa before entering Castellina |
I pulled into Castellina around 1:30 p.m. and found a parking space and walked in. Luckily, a pizza place was open and I ordered a Chiantigiana pizza with porcini, salame and prosciutto with a glass of house red and still water. Following lunch, I had a caffe and walked across the road to the Palazzo Squarcialupi to meet with Irene. Irene is originally from Scotland and was at the hotel (closed for the season) to do some office work and handed me the keys to the apartment next door and showed me the way. The apartment is absolutely perfect. It is located on the 2nd level (the 1st floor in Italy) above a pizza a taglio place (pizza take out and slices place) and it has a living/dining area which overlooks the main street (the village is pedestrian only) with a fireplace and a sofa bed, a fully equipped kitchen area, a few steps down and towards the back of the apartment there is a bathroom with a shower and a bedroom with a large bed (2 twins put together) AND a little terrace with a table and two chairs overlooking the Chianti hills.
Some photos of the center of Castellina:
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| my favorite restaurant in town - closed until March :( |
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Palazzo Squarcialupi - window on the 2nd floor to the right
of the hotel is my living room window |
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| one of the many tunnels in the village |
After getting settled, I still had some daylight so I decided to go to the Crete Senesi (an area south of Siena).
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| Outside of Castellina on the way to Siena - on the SS222 |
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| Fonterutoli |
This area is dramatically different from the Chianti Classico area (between Florence and Siena) as the rolling hills look like you are holding a sheet and fluttering it in front of you before you fold it. The hills are more graceful here and look like wind ripples - truly gorgeous and with the setting sun, I hit it right (I apologize for all of the photos - I could not stop):
After the Crete Senesi stops, I explored the village of Monteaperti, the location of Borgo San Felice (I have some clients going there in August) and then made my way over the dirt roads to Catignano (to see a friend's house (used in the movie
Stealing Beauty) and then on to Vagliagli to one of my favorite overlooks in all of Chianti:
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| towers of Siena (great zoom) |
As the sun was getting lower in the sky, I was able to capture these:
I returned to Castellina. Parked the car and walked into the village and into my apartment for the night. It's good to be home.
Buona notte ragazzi!
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| from my terrace |
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| from my terrace looking down at one of the tunnels |
As the sun was getting lower in the sky, I was able to capture these:
