5. Toscana Slow

My first ever wine festival!!!

It doesn't take me long to stumble upon my first wine festival in Italy! On a crisp, but bright Thursday morning in November as I am between job interviews in the centre of Florence, I spot some people crowded around makeshift booths here in Piazza Repubblica and go to investigate...

It turns out to be a 'Vino Novello' (new wine), food and 'old' wine festival. I thought that French Beaujolais nouveau was the only 'new wine' variety. Mistake number one! So I follow everybody else and pick up a free glass and pouch and get started...

Although I like wine, I don't really know much about it and the Vino Novello is a bit rough and ready for my palate. The festival continues on round in Piazza Uffizi, by the famous art gallery. There are stands with lots of different cheeses, salamis and cakes. Everybody is in very high spirits, I'm not sure whether they knew about the event, or like me they have stumbled upon it by chance, I even bump into the guy we are staying with.

As you can imagine the reality of free food and wine makes for a very jovial atmosphere!

The 'non' Vino Novello wines are very interesting, especially one new to me, the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. It's so good that I decide to save some in my glass to take home to my wife Annette, which I keep in the pouch!

Afterwards I have to go to another job interview and so walk in singing and swaying with my glass half full of wine!!!

Not surprisingly I don't get the job...

Street artists in Piazza Repubblica

(Original journal entry 29/11/01)

4. Santa Maria Novella

Annette and I have been here for three weeks now and have both found some work, even though for English teachers November isn’t the best time to come, as courses started at the beginning of October.

When we were on holiday in Florence two years ago we visited the famous Uffizi art gallery, saw Michelangelo’s David and also the Bargello. However, Florence probably has more art galleries, churches containing works of art and museums than many larger cities in the world. Actually UNESCO says that 60% of the world’s most important works of art are to be found in Italy and approximately half of these are in Florence. So there should be plenty more to see...

It’s a Wednesday afternoon and I am in town with a couple of hours to kill after an interview and so decide to check out the church of Santa Maria Novella. This is the church where the first attacks were made on Galileo that led to his eventual indictment.

Visitors who arrive in Florence at the station usually walk straight past this ‘masterpiece of Rennaissance architecture’, as you can only see this rather dull brick back of it from the main ‘Piazza Stazione’. You have to make the short walk around the corner to ‘Piazza Santa Maria Novella’ to witness 'Rennaissance man' Leon Battista Alberti’s crowning glory, the facade of Santa Maria Novella.

However that’s not all there is! Inside is a veritable treasure trove of interesting works of art, much more interesting infact, than the inside of the more famous main Cathedral, ‘Santa Maria del Fiore’ and with no queues!

Built between 1246 and 1360 on a 9th century oratory, Alberti’s genius was to add the frieze of squares, the s-shaped volutes at either side (a new element never before seen, even in antiquity!) and the Dominican solar emblem at the top. All bringing the facade to a harmonious completion.

Inside there are many masterpieces, including some famous frescoes that a young Michelangelo worked on with his teacher, Ghilandaio.
But Massaccio’s ‘Trinity’ is perhaps the most interesting and fascinating piece. Painted between 1425 and 1428 and only discovered in 1861 after being covered up by a Vasari altar! It’s the earliest surviving painting that shows such a detailed understanding of perspective, something that had been lost for nearly a thousand years. Massaccio, with the help of Brunelleschi had rediscovered one of the lost arts and gave the Rennaissance an invaluable tool to continue its developement.




My favourite part though is the inscription above the skeleton which
reads:




"I was what you are and what I am you will be"

A sobering thought indeed! and interesting way to spend a Friday afternoon!


(Original journal entry 28/11/01)

3. Greve-in Chianti and our 1st restaurant, Locanda il Gallo

It’s amazing to think that when we visited the small town of Greve-in-Chianti 2 years ago, we would now be living here! Actually Olmastrino is about 3 miles outside Greve at Spedaluzzo, but our nearest village, Chiocchio, only has a bar, an enoteca and a restaurant! So Greve will be the town we go to for our shopping.

  

Greve is one of the closest towns to Florence in the ‘Chianti Classico’ part of Chianti, with a population of only 15,000. It’s named after the river Greve, which is more like a little stream!  It used to be a very sleepy market town, until the early 70’s when the tourist invasion began, but does still retain some of its olde world charm with its wine museum, triangular square, restaurants, cafés and wine bars. Also there are many different fayres throughout the year to keep its links to the past.

There isn’t much for young people to do here, but for us old folk, into relaxing, checking out antique markets, flower shows, wine festivals and trying out the countless restaurants dotted in the town and surrounding countryside, it’s perfect!

Here is a link to the town’s website:                http://www.comune.greve-in-chianti.fi.it/ps/home#

Greve's most famous son was the 15th century explorer, Giovanni di Verrazzano, who discovered the bay of New York. He is honoured here in Greve with this statue and immortalized in the famous Verrazzano narrows bridge on the Hudson river in New York.

After unloading our car, doing a massive clean of the flat on our first full day in Olmastrino, of course we are too tired to cook and so book a table at the nearby, ‘Locanda il Gallo’ in Chiocchio for our first restaurant experience...

Locanda il Gallo

A small an unassuming traditional 'Trattoria' that also doubles as a bed and breakfast, Locanda il Gallo is on the main Chiantigiana road at Chiocchio. The waiter/owner is very friendly and offers us an 'amuse bouche' to get things started well. As it is November we order a warming bowl of Polenta with a Cinghiale (wild boar) stew in a rich sauce. The house wine is Chianti Classico, a wonderful, sour cherry, high tannin,silky smooth accompaniment to our hearty dish! We are offered an interesting mulled wine to finish with for a very nice first experience.

Here is a link to their website and like many Italian restaurants and hotels, atrocious English translation!

http://www.locandailgallo.it/html/restaurant.html

(Original journal entry 17/11/01)

2. Chianti Classico, Vin Santo and Olmastrino

Two years earlier in England we had met a Florentine couple on their honeymoon. We told them of our intention to move to Italy, although we hadn’t decided where at that point. They invited us to stay with them for a 2 week ‘reconnaissance’ holiday and like many English travellers before us, we fell in love with Florence and Tuscany and decided that this was the place for us! They said we were welcome stay with them while we looked for flat...

We get straight down to business and start scouring the local papers and magazines for houses, make lots of phone calls and get absolutely nowhere! Then in true Italian style, the guy we are staying with says he knows just the place…

Every November he buys his newly pressed olive oil from a small farm in the Chianti and remembers that they have some flats to rent. The property is about 45 minutes from Florence and he offers to introduce us to the owner, Lucia.

The house at Olmastrino
The location is stunning. Olmastrino is on the beautiful Chiantigiana road just outside the small market town of Greve-in-Chianti, right on top of a hill. Although when I say hill I’m talking 330 metres or 1,000 feet above sea-level hill, with 360° views of the surrounding olive groves, vineyards and woods, some of which are on the farm.

We meet Lucia and she seems very friendly, showing us around the grounds. They have a private wood with benches, perfect for eating outside! She then proceeds to lead us into her cellar, where she

has countless bottles of ‘Chianti Classico’ wine and huge terracotta jars full of new olive oil. We are treated to a tasting of her ‘Vin Santo,’ a dessert wine somewhat reminiscent of Sherry. The flat is just about the right size for us, with great views of the countryside and we can even see two Castles, Vicchiomaggio and Verrazzano out of the window.

The deal is done and we agree to move in!

                                Castello Vicchiomaggio - from our bedroom window




Here is a link to Lucia's Olmastrino website. The photos of the views are pretty impressive, you can also see the olive oil jars, the cellar, the flats, her son Marco and their dog Toby who took more than a liking to my Grandmother's finger when she visited us!

                                               http://www.aziendaagricolaolmastrino.it/ITA/home.html

(Original journal entry 12/11/01)

1. Arrival - Nov.2nd 2001

                                                                                   
                                                                                    (Rocamadour in France)




After a very relaxing week's holiday in the Lot, France and a further 18 hours on the road, we've made it! We, being me and my very long suffering wife, Annette, whose burning desire it was after 6 years living in Hong Kong and only 2 years back in the UK, to tear me away from the comforts of Worthing and England! Although being a quarter Italian should stand me in good stead to survive making it in Italy. We shall see...
After a year and a half of preparations and a lifetime of dreams, our trusty Nissan Sunny loaded up with only essential clothes, belongings, bed on roof, c.v.'s, work references and bank cards, we arrive in Florence, Italy, our new home...

And so began my journal, 8 1/2 years ago. Of course just to get to that point is a story in itself, but this 'Tuscan Odyssey' starts here, November 2001. It's been quite a ride! And I'm still here to tell the tale, so come with me on a cultural, gastronomic and artistic journey through the 'Bel Paese,' The beautiful country...







(Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France)