As we headed to stop #4 of the day, the weather began to break in our favour which made for a nice ride through Chianti in the afternoon sun. We are still with our driver, careening along at breakneck speed – both in his driving and his explanations of what we are driving past.
The roadside scenes of spring in Tuscany
Looking downward into the valley – the greens and blues merging softly together, as we looking down at the village below
Row by row they grow…
Believe this is an olive grove, though he didn’t slow down enough for our to be sure
There isn’t much history to tell within this part of the trip – but he stopped randomly at some scenic points that are worth sharing.
One of my favourite pictures of Maps from the trip – capturing the scene and in complete serenity
When we arrived at the vineyard, in the heart of Chianti Classico zone, the sun was starting to shift in the sky and late day was clearly upon us. Founded in 1973, Rocca delle Macie has an interesting history which is described on their website – “It was established in 1973, when Italo Zingarelli – producer of Ettore Scola’s We All Loved Each Other So Much, and also of the wildly popular series of films featuring comedy duo Bud Spencer and Terence Hill (including They Call Me Trinity and Trinity Is Still My Name) – decided to realize his lifelong dream by acquiring the “Le Macìe” estate – extending across 85 hectares in all, of which only two were under vine.”
Maps is making sure we know where exactly on the map the Chianti Classico zone extends
“The company estate now extends to more than 600 hectares with, in total, more than 200 used as vineyards and 80 as olive groves, subdivided across the company’s six estates: Le Macìe, Sant’Alfonso, Fizzano e le Tavolelle in the Chianti Classico zone, in addition to the recently purchased Campomaccione and Casamaria in the Morellino di Scansano zone.”
We only had about an hour at this last stop but it was worth doing. Here we saw the trip’s largest black, wrought iron rooster, sampled a large selection of delicious wines from the Chianti Classico region.
So excited to start tasting…or maybe this was after the grappa #toothygrins
And – in a random call-back to our stop in Chamonix – enjoyed our second encounter with some delicious grappa. While I am now a confirmed fan, it reinforced for Maps that she simply “does not have the constitution”. It was here that we also enjoyed some of the best lavender honey we have ever tasted in our entire life. For Maps, this turned out be an especially effective way to mask the lingering taste of the grappa.
After this lovely and peaceful stop, we hopped back into the van and made our way back to Firenze as the sun faded into twilight and evening set in.
Next up, we pack up our now extremely heavy bags and ride the rails to our final destination of this crazy adventure. All roads lead to Rome…
Stay tuned…
Maps & Flip Flops 