Florence – Riveted

Last Days in Florence

Laura Domela — Thu, 29 May 2014 15:34:00 +0000

Our last few days in Florence were wonderful. We packed things up, continued to explore the city as much as we could, and met up with our friends (who were getting married) for several activities: a walking tour led by a very knowledgable art historian Cindy Nesti, a cocktail party at the Palazzo Ricasoli Firidolfi, which was built in the XVth century and has a tiny secret chapel entirely painted in oils by Giorgio Vasari. Seriously. The interior of this place is insane. I can't find THAT much information online about this Palazzo (nothing to link to that's all in one place), but here are a couple of examples:

The ceiling of one of the bedrooms:

The wedding of our friends on our last day in Florence was spectacular. Everyone met outside the Palazzo Vecchio in front of the Neptune Fountain and then entered the courtyard and headed upstairs to the Sala Rossa (red room) of the Palazzo Vecchio. This will give you a pretty good idea what this room looks like.

Chandelier inside the Sala Rossa:

After the beautiful ceremony (in Italian, translated into English after each part), the wedding party walked through town (a walk complete with a large group of school children clapping for the couple as they passed, and quite a few random tourists taking not-so-discreet photos WITH the bride) over to the Antico Torre and up to the rooftop where we gathered for cocktails, celebration, and incredible views of Florence. (Oh, and some suprise opera: Nessun Dorma and Funiculì, Funiculà by a tenor and a violinist!!)

Here from the rooftop of the Antico Torre you can see the Duomo on the left, and the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio (where the wedding was) on the right:

Just a few steps below was a beautiful U-shaped dining table where we all had a wonderful Florentine dinner, a song for the groom sung by the bride (adorable!), many toasts and tears and stories of love and life. It was one of the most romantic and memorable weddings I've ever been to and we feel so fortunate to have been included in this day.

After dinner a group of us went back onto the roof to watch the sunset over the Arno.

In the morning, we fly home (Florence–Paris–Los Angeles–Portland).

Best trip ever!

Venice to Florence Video Tour

Laura Domela — Thu, 29 May 2014 03:05:00 +0000

Kevin made us a cool YouTube channel playlist that has all the videos he put together of our bike tour from Venice to Florence (including the first couple days in Venice mostly on boats, but it sets a nice mood for the rest of the bike tour and it's one of my favorite, actually, even though there are no bikes). I thought I'd put a link to it here in case you wanted a convenient place to get to the videos (and also so I can find it later, because this blog is like my own personal notebook sometimes. I forget things and need to look them up. Whatever. Shut up.)

These videos are quite nice (and I plan to watch them all over again from the start the minute we get home, or maybe right now).

Coolest trip I've ever done. Honestly.

Oh yeah, also: All of these were shot on an iPhone, mostly while riding a bike!

Packing up the Bikes

Laura Domela — Wed, 28 May 2014 18:28:51 +0000

So sad, but it had to be done — we packed the bikes into their suitcases today (Wednesday). We have a morning flight out of Florence on Friday, the pre-wedding cocktail party was tonight, the wedding is tomorrow at 12:30pm and the reception and dinner afterwards…so, not a lot of time to deal with packing and stuff.

Here they are pre-disassembly with their accompanying suitcases:

This was only the second time we'd put them into the suitcases (the first time was at home in Portland…they've been in full bike mode ever since we got to Venice) and we rocked it. Smooth, fast, and the lid closed on the first try. Woohoo!

All ready to go!

We took a big bag of clothes and stuff over to the Mailboxes, Etc. in Florence (yep, they have one) and mailed it home. About $100, but an overweight bag (if we could fit everything in it) would be about the same price (with some added stress and hassle), and an additional bag would be more than double that (about $260, plus you'd have to buy an extra bag), so we happily took the ship-it-home route.

We lugged our bag of stuff across the river, only to show up at the front door of the shipping shop during the hours they were closed. (Typical for the area and maybe the whole country, many shops are closed for a few hours in the middle of the day.) They would reopen at 3:30pm (it was 2:30) so we went and had some lunch and coffee down the road a bit to burn an hour. At 3:30 the shop promptly reopened and we were in and out in about 4 minutes.

Once back at the apartment getting ready for the 5pm cocktail party (just a block away), I got an email from the guy at the shop that I'd left my passport there (when he was photocopying it). Oops. We didn't have time to go get it today before the party (plus I didn't want to hightail it across town in 4-inch heels and an ostrich feather skirt!), so we'll pop over there in the morning when they open at 9am to retrieve it (wearing tennies and jeans).

The wedding guests meet tomorrow at 12:30pm in front of Neptune's Fountain outside the Palazzo Vecchio and I'm certain it will be an incredible day. The cocktail party tonight was lovely — great people, incredible location (the Palazzo Ricasoli, I mentioned yesterday where we started our walking tour). After the party, we stopped to see if we could get into one of the restaurants that was full last night and got right in (15 minutes earlier makes a huge difference)– a place just down our street called Olio e Convivium, and it was very nice — good food, cool interior, and fabulous service! So many great places to eat and drink in this neighborhood!

Hey, look at this!!

Mostarda di Pere

Laura Domela — Wed, 28 May 2014 17:43:48 +0000

The first time we had this it was at a restaurant in Italy somewhere as part of an antipasti plate…I don't remember which restaurant though…all I remember is the "wow" from this crazy concoction. At first it was a little hard to figure out what it was…pear, I think. But spicy, from what? I can't place that flavor… It was served with a sheep's milk cheese — a pear mustard sauce with the consistency of raw or slightly cristallized honey. It was delicious. Since that first time we've had it a handful of times at restaurants or wine tastings and I LOVE it. I've been popping my head into shops with little jars of things, looking for it.

The other day we walked past Eataly Florence (there are 10 Eatalys in Italy…I had no idea) so I went to to look around and found this:

It's very close to what we've been having in Florence (the flavor is basically the same), but this version has are thin slices of candied pears in it (like this one…it's a nice texture, actually) and it's got a nice spicy mustard flavor. I can eat this stuff right from the jar (which I'll have to do if we don't finish it by the time we leave on Friday morning.

However, I just found this blog entry by Eugenia Bone on the Denver Post website with a recipe (!!!) so I plan to try making it when we get home.

Pear and Mustard Jam for Cheese
Makes 1 half-pint

1 ½ lbs Anjou pears, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons Coleman’s dry mustard (if you’ve got mild and hot, mix them up)
Zest of ½ lemon
Juice of ½ lemon

Place the chopped pears and the water in a heavy bottomed saucepan and boil over a medium heat until the pears are very tender, about 15 minutes.

Puree the pears. You should have about 1-½ cups.

Return the pear puree to the pot and add the remaining ingredients. Cook over a medium low to low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until the puree is thick and mounds on a spoon. You will have a scant cup remaining. Taste the puree — it might need a bit more lemon juice or a bit more mustard powder. Adding or subtracting lemon juice or mustard powder won’t affect the safety of the preserve.

Pour the puree into a sterile half-pint jar (to sterilize, boil the jar and band in water for 10 minutes at sea level and add 1 minute for every 1000 feet above). Simmer a new lid to soften the rubberized flange. Wipe the rim of the jar, place on the lip and screw on the band fingertip tight. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes at sea level (add 1 minute for every 1000 feet above). Remove the jar, allow to cool, and check the seal. Store in a cool, dark place. Refrigerate after opening. The jar will hold for a year. There may be some oxidizing of the puree over time. It’s okay.

Serve the jam as a condiment on a cheese plate.

More Florence!

Laura Domela — Tue, 27 May 2014 19:14:56 +0000

This morning we slept in and it was glorious. Exploring Tuscany can take it outta you and it was a nice recharge this morning. We made breakfast and did some work, then popped down the street to the sandal shop, and then across the river to explore a little and grab a cappuccino.

This afternoon at 2pm we met up with most of the wedding group to do a walking tour of Florence. We all met in front of the palazzo where the bride and groom are staying, just one block over on Via Maggio, the Palazzo Ricasoli.

Palazzo Ridolfi was designed by Italian architect and sculptor Baccio d'Agnolo.

Across the street on Via Maggio, there's a lovely example of one of my favorite styles of architectural decoration: Sgraffito. This building is the Palazzo di Bianca Cappello, and has some good Medici dirt history associated with it.

We wandered around listening to our fantastic tour guide, Cindy, as she skillfully gave an art and architecture of Florence tour to a group largely consisting of artists, art historians, and architects. Impressive!

The Palazzo Strozzi courtyard:

Ironwork on the outside, done by Florentine blacksmith Niccolo Grosso. Grosso was referred to as "Il Caparra" (which means "The Deposit" — due to his always asking for an advance before starting any actual work).

Beautiful iron work on this building, inside and out!

We wandered over toward the Duomo and were able to pop into the Cathedral to see the interior from the ground floor (which was cool, because when we visited before we only saw the cathedral from up inside the dome).

Dome from below:

Today we learned about how this dome was engineered (by Filippo Brunelleschi), and it's remarkable, really. More info here if you're into that stuff.

We made a stop at the Palazzo Vecchio — the town hall of Florence and the location for Thursday's wedding. The Palazzo Vecchio is a giant fortress/palace that overlooks the Palazzo della Signoria, has a copy of Michelangelo's David out front (replacing the original which is now inside the Gallerie dell'Accademia but stood here for several hundred years), and is one of Tuscany's most impressive public spaces.

The bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I by Giambologna (1594):

The ceilings/columns/walls inside the entrance:

And…fake David's butt:

A few more modified street signs:

We learned from our fabulous guide that these are the work of a French artist named Clet. Apparently this was not okay at first and the city kept removing the signs, but people complained and now they let them be. They're wonderful and whimsical, and everyone can still read "Do Not Enter" and "Go This Way" … so why not let them be?

We ended the tour at Gilli Cafe on the Piazza Repubblica (one of the oldest cafes in Florence…opened in 1733) for drink and a snack with most of the group…such fun! We left a bit early to meet our new friends Andrea and Beppe (of the 500 Touring Club) over in the Oltrarno for an apertif near Santo Spirito…we love these guys! Great people, running a great company…seriously…their tour in vintage Fiats is highly recommended. I wish we could have done it twice while here! (Mostly just so we could have more time hanging out with them! Hi guys!!)

On our way back toward the apartment as we were passing Santo Spirito, there was a side door opening into a cool courtyard area, and I decided we should go in and check it out. Kevin followed and it was quickly apparent we were crashing some church thing. No one seemed to care, and I took a couple of sneaky photos:

Also, cool shiny red new Vespa by textured really old door:

We headed over to where we thought we'd have dinner tonight: Il Santo Bevitore (where I had octopus a week ago and it was SO GOOD).

Awwww, full up. Second choice: Trattoria Casalinga, back where we started at Santo Spirito: awwwww, full up. (We didn't even ask, the place was tiny and there were about a dozen people standing, waiting.) Third choice: Olio e Convivium back near our apartment. Awwww, three strikes! (It was 8:15pm). Plan D: Osteria Il Cantinone…down a bunch of stairs into a caveish place (and yay, room for us!)…good house wine, stuffed zucchini flowers, ravioli with pesto, pappa al pomodoro, and a grilled chicken dish..all solid and plenty good.

Today was a really nice, chill day in Florence. (Oh yeah, and it was also kinda cool, and windy, and it rained this morning…totally different than every other sunny/warm day we've had since we've been there…the first day I've worn long sleeves!)

Tomorrow we'll pack our bikes into their suitcases and work on figuring out how to bring all the stuff we bought home. Tomorrow evening is the cocktail party over at the wedding party palazzo, which should be a blast, and Thursday at 12:30 the wedding day festivities begin at Palazzo Vecchio and will continue into the evening at the Antica Torre di Via Tornabuoni for reception and dinner with fantastic views of Florence. Friday morning early, we fly home…booooo. I really love Italy and could easily stay WAY longer. Guess we'll need to come back!

Late Dinner in Florence

Laura Domela — Sun, 25 May 2014 18:32:00 +0000

Tonight for dinner, we went here:

We walked in around 8:45pm (right smack in the middle of Florence dinner time…maybe a little on the early side even) and we made the "tavolo per due" sign with a question mark look on our faces and were told very nicely "within 10 minutes" and directed to a comfy bench next to the wine. In a few minutes, we were handed two small glasses of house wine. Well, we're off to a great start already!

We were seated before we'd finished the tiny glasses of wine, and all the food passing by our table looked great. We ordered an artichoke salad to share, and a papardelle with ragu of cinghiale (wild boar, their speciality), and a cinghale steak with roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach..also to share.

It's cool here in and around Florence (and maybe more of Italy, I don't know) because wild boar is a total nuisance animal. They run around and eat all the crops and people hunt them like crazy as a sort of "pest control" and "game food" combiation, so I don't feel bad eating them, at all. Plus, cinghiale is really good. (Too bad raccoon isn't known as a really yum thing to eat!)

Back at the apartment now, heading to bed, worrying about the big hill outta town in the morning. I'm probably worrying for nothing, but I think some of that is hereditary (hi Mom! love you!)

Art and Death in Florence

Laura Domela — Sun, 25 May 2014 14:40:43 +0000

Today we started on the early side and headed across the river to the Gallerie dell'Accademia (9am reserved tickets) to see Michelangelo's David (among other things). I sneaked a forbidden photo. (Okay I snuck two.)

There were also several unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo and it was so cool to see the forms coming out the giant chunks of marble. Amazing.

After a good tour of the rest of the gallery, we headed back to the apartment to have some breakfast and some coffee, do some work, and wait for our next ticket appointment (2pm at the Uffizi).

More Vespas!

The Uffizi is a fabulous space (built originally as offices for the Florentine magistrates—hence the name uffizi, "offices"). We loved seeing the Botticellis (Birth of Venus, Primavera)! Another couple favorites were DaVinci's Annunciation and Artemesia Gentileschi's Judith and Holofernes (so violent!)

After the Uffizi we headed over to the Basilica of Santa Croce. This is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, and the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians (Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini…) and is known also as the Temple of the Italian Glories (Tempio dell'Itale Glorie).

I didn't take any photos of the outside, but check out the inside:

There is a ton of amazing artwork in Santa Croce.

Michelangelo's tomb:

Gallileo:

Machiavelli:

And we at first thought Dante was also buried here, but this is just a monument to him…he's actually buried in Ravenna:

Lots of tombs in the floor, some with ornate relief and decorative inlay:

All in all it was a pretty fantastic day of art and death in Firenze! Tonight was going to be the night we tried the traditional Bistecca Fiorentina, but the "Tad and Kate" recommended spot is closed so we'll have some wild boar instead at a new spot we found down the road (Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco) and try the other spot tomorrow night.

Tomorrow we have one more tour: a bike tour around the Chianti countryside. We leave from Florence (no van or anything, which means we'll have a pretty good hill climb first thing for about 2km). Wish us luck!

Montepulciano, Montalcino, Siena

Laura Domela — Wed, 21 May 2014 20:16:48 +0000

Today, we drove around Tuscany in another Fiat Cinquecento. This time though, it was a new one, rented from Hertz. It was white, but had far less personality than our vintage Roberto had. By the end of the (very full) day, we still hadn't come up with a name for her. We missed Roberto's little backfires, but we still had a blast.

We rode our bikes down to the Hertz place, got our Fiat, folded the bikes into their bags and put them in the back and off we went!

We didn't end up riding them today (besides from home to Hertz and back) because most of the towns we visited were extremely hilly.

First stop: Montepulciano

Montepulciano is a medieval and Renaissance town about 80 miles south of Florence and sits at about 2000 ft (and is known worldwide for its wine).

We parked, and headed up.

Besides walking around and getting a feel for the town, we had a few things on our list based on some random internet research and Rick Steves' guidebook: Cesare Mazzetti the artisan coppersmith, and two wine cellars that sounded intriguing. On our way up the hill we popped into this church, the Chiesa de Gesù.

The duomo had a little bit trompe l'oeil where the little extra dome would have been, but it really only worked visually from inside the front door.

Continuing up the main street we saw the copper shop where Cesare sells all his stuff, but we heard that just up the way a bit is his studio, and that sometimes he'll show you the stuff he's working on and photos of his cool things like handing one of his pieces to the Pope.

Cesare's studio:

Cesare at work:

Cesare chatted with us for a few minutes, showing us a few things he was working on or had just finished: a gorgeous copper sauce pan, lined with silver, a decorated copper ice container with an insert for a wine bottle…he was charming and let me take a few photos in his studio. We stopped in the store on our way back to the car and wow…the pots and pans are gorgeous! I'm not sure I'd have the guts to cook in one of them.

We continued up the hill to the Piazza Granda, the central town square.

The view from up here!!

We went down into the cellar of Contucci and then tasted a couple of their wines:

Nice wines…bought a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG 2009 Riserva.

On to the next one: the de Ricci cellar. Holy moly is this an incredible cellar! This is the entrance from the street:

And then you just keep going down and down and down:

The stone and brick eventually gives way to rock and it's just fabulous in here:

Several stories high, giant barrels of wine…

Oh, and the Etruscan cellar with the well in the center that collects water that comes in from above:

We bought one of these: BRIAREO "Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva 2007 d.o.c.g

Then, a little more exploring around Montepulciano:

Back through the Piazza Grande, tourist taking a photo:

Okay, now back on the road. Next stop: Montalcino (home of Brunello!)

I sounded like a broken record the whole day, saying how beautiful the landscape was…over and over and over.

We wandered around Montalcino a bit and stopped for a bite to eat at a spot called Alle Logge di Piazza. We had a salad, some salami and cheese (fabulous Pecorino from Pienza, the town we just drove through on the way to Montalcino from Montepulciano), and shared a plate of ravioli with a ragu di cinghiale (wild boar). This was AMAZING.

Next, we headed to another spot we found doing random internet research: the Enoteca di Piazza. It's a wine shop that also has tastings (they have over 100 wines from the region) and they're all set up with a handy computer tasting system with a card, so you put your card in the slot, choose the wine you want to taste, and there it is, with the cost added to your card and you pay on the way out.

This is a really cool idea. However, there are so many wines and really not much information to help you choose beside price and label. The guy working there was helpful and enthusiastic, but kinda vague, so we just randomly picked one lower priced one, two medium priced ones, and one high priced one. Without the story and the farm and the passion, it's a little hard to get a feel for the wine of the region. We both really dug the idea of this place, but felt it lacked soul. But then…this view from the little table by the balcony where we sat/stood, in Montalcino…in Italy…sipping Brunello:

So…you know…it was perfect, really.

Back in the cute cute cute little Fiat 500 and on to Siena!

We parked down here by the psychiatric hospital and walked up up up into the center of town (toward the Piazza del Campo and the Cathedral, just like most of the other centers of town).

There are a few super cool things about Siena. One of them is the Palio di Siena. The Palio di Siena is a horse race held twice each year, on July 2 and August 16. Ten horses and bareback riders, dressed in the appropriate colours to represent ten of the seventeen contrade, or "neighborhoods". (The 10 of 17 are chosen by rotating lottery, I believe.)

"The race itself, in which the jockeys ride bareback, circles the Piazza del Campo, on which a thick layer of dirt has been laid, three times and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. It is common for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and indeed, it is usual to see unmounted horses finishing the race without their jockeys." from Wikipedia

If you haven't seen this on ESPN 74, check it out here:

It's long, but interesting. If you want to skip to the race, move ahead to the 42 minute mark.

So yeah, we walked around and had coffee sitting there in this square. The square where they bring in dirt and make a racetrack that covers the cobblestone and they race horses. The place where they line the buildings with mattresses to protect them (or the horses? no, probably the buildings). The place where a riderless horse can win the race. Craziness.

More cool goat wall ring things:

Next we walked up to another super cool thing about Siena: the Siena Cathedral. (This trip is chalk full of things I studied in art school!)

Outside is cool and all, but holy shit the inside is AMAZING. Here's my 3-shot stitched photo:

All that black and white marble! It's so intense and so modern (designed and completed between 1215 and 1263)…you know, modern!

Look at these mosaic floors!

And the stripes!

And all the creepy pope heads!

172 pope busts line this edge all the way around. It's pretty cool. Also, in case you need to know how to light a candle, they've got this super handy visual guide right there for you:

Up in the dome, cherubs sit precariously around the edge:

Adjoining the cathedral is the Piccolomini Library, the ceiling and walls lined with frescoes and the lower walls exhibiting illuminated manuscripts. The frescoes were gorgeous:

Back through the square, more imagining of the horses racing through here with the buildings lined with mattresses and the cobblestones covered with dirt.

Back on the road…we took the slower route home to savor the Chianti countryside, and decided we'd do this again on Friday (another day with a Fiat 500), hitting Pisa, Lucca, maybe San Gimignano, and maybe a few Chianti wineries. Tomorrow it's the long long day trip out to Cinque Terre for some hiking. It's 1am and I'm still up finishing this post because I know tomorrow will be a long and eventful day and I don't want to get behind. :)

Hand-Made Italian Leather Shoes

Laura Domela — Tue, 20 May 2014 22:11:00 +0000

We got back to our apartment after the FANTASTIC Fiat 500 Tour today and parked our bikes in the courtyard. They really look like they belong here, don't they?

Next, we headed across the river to check out a shoe shop I read about online: Leonardo Shoes — (leather shoes hand made here in Firenze).

Ponte Vecchio in the distance:

Guy making Dutch chalk art on an Italian street:

At Leonardo's it didn't take long for us to find two pairs each and now we really will need to send a box home via the slow boat (with all of our old stuff, of course).

Behold the new Italian shoes.

Kevin's:

Mine (the leather on both of these is crazy soft!!):

We're pretty psyched about our purchases. Leonardo was very helpful and gave good advice…it can be hard to narrow it down in there!

We stopped at Gilli in the Piazza Repubblica and had an apertif after our shoe splurge, and then headed home to make some dinner. The light was gorgeous on our walk home:

Dinner was a quick chicken/basil/tomato/garlic/tortellini/squash/squash blossom dealie, along with another good bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.

Tomorrow we've rented a car (I think a new Fiat 500) to use for exploring more Tuscany/Chianti. The plan is to ride the bikes to the car rental place, fold 'em up into the car, drive toward Siena and stop at as many places on our list as we can. We were planning to take the bus, but figured for not THAT much more we could add a TON of freedom and time by renting a car.

Touring Chianti in Vintage Fiat 500s

Laura Domela — Tue, 20 May 2014 15:46:02 +0000

Okay well if this isn't the cutest and coolest way to tour the Tuscan countryside, I don't know what is. Today we rode our bikes out of town a little ways at met up with the folks at the 500 Touring Club, Beppe and Andrea. If you visit Florence, you must take this tour. Andrea gave us a quick lesson on double clutching these vintage Fiats and once she was confident we had it, we (two other couples and Kevin and I) followed Beppe in his green 500 (she's called Olivia) and headed out. Oh right, after we were all given the proper hats.

We drove Roberto. Roberto is a 1970 model and used to be a race car in his day. "Low slung with go faster wheel hoods. Since the removal of his racing engine he has been taking life a little easier, an “F” type he has an enlarged windscreen, and headlight beams made asymmetric to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic."

The cars all come with a little speaker box that plays 60s and 70s Italian pop music and it set the mood perfectly. PER. FECT. LY.

We headed for Impruneta for a visit to the Poggi Ugo terracotta kiln. (This is Topsy, below, a 1967 model):

Olivia, in front of Poggi Ugo:

And another shot of our beloved Roberto:

This kiln is one of the most ancient furnaces in this area, founded at the end of the XVI century, restored by the Poggi family in 1919. Apparently the best terracotta in Italy comes from Impruneta. The terracotta from here is famous not only for the quality of workmanship, clay and firing, but also for being resistant to below zero temperatures even when damp.

Roberto and Ella:

Back on the road for a bit before we made another stop at an olive farm where Beppe told us a bunch of cool stuff about making olive oil:

And, more driving through gorgeous towns and countryside:

We ended the tour at the beautiful Villa Le Piazzole up the road from the clubhouse. Passing the vineyard on the way in:

The villa:

We headed down into the very old cellar for some wine tasting and a light lunch of bruschetta, tuscan meats and cheeses, bread, pate, and some honey made by Beppe's wife Andrea (well, made by her bees, I suppose). It was great to get to chat with everyone more over lunch and wine.

We tried one olive oil and four wines: a white, two reds (one blend that was 50% Sangiovese, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 25% Merlot, and a 100% Sangiovese) and a dessert wine. All were good, and we brought home (in our bike bag) two bottles of the 100% Sangiovese.

Thank you, Andrea and Beppe, for a fantastic day!