Chianti and Surroundings

Chianti and surroundings

Who doesn’t know the Chianti region, even perhaps merely from tasting the splendid red wine of this area? The Chianti region stretches from Pistoia to the north, over the hills to nearby Florence, to Siena, to Arezzo, to the south-west of Tuscany, and back again as far as Pisa, taking in cities so rich in art and culture that an entire lifetime would hardly be enough to explore them in full. To the south of Pisa and Florence lies the real postcard Tuscany with solitary hamlets among verdant hills. Moving on to that gem of a town, San Gimignano, and to Volterra through fields of sunflowers, olive covered hills, rows of vines that suddenly stop at woodland interrupted in turn by the gold expanse of a grain field and cypresses-lined avenues. The visitor arriving in this region for the first time may be forgiven for being somewhat awestruck at coming face to face with a landscape straight out of a Botticelli painting. The small farms are, above all, involved in wine production. Many cellars offer wine tasting. Less well known but no less interesting for that are the villages of: Certaldo, Cerreto Guidi, Vinci.