Chisure, Sambuca, Firenze

7th - 10th November

Chisure

So the next day we continued on the foody tip and went to Chisure, another beautiful village in the Tuscan countryside. This time the theme was artichokes, as well as more local produce from paintings and crafts to home-made sauces. One of the more peculiar offerings was a sweet that tasted of chocolate and looked like pork luncheon meat. It confused the hell out of me I don't mind admitting. We were able to try fried artichoke stems which was very nice, as well as local salami and white truffles which are another speciality of the region. All very tasty.

Open house!

While we were browsing the stalls we were invited to an open house just up the road. Here we found a very hospitable community of locals and ex-pats from all over the world. We couldn't have been made to feel more welcome (thank you so much!). We were spoiled with food and I was able to sample more amazing local cuisine including artichokes, 2 kinds of soups - both wonderful, more local cheese and wine. The company was even better, and it was a shame that we had to say our good byes earlier than we would have liked, but we had made arrangements the previous day with Anna Lisa to see her wine cellar, and so we had to hit the road.

Wine Cellar

Later we arrived at an ex-monastery out in the sticks and were shown around Anna Lisa's lovely home. We were also shown the church and wine cellars which also form part of the monastery buildings. She had entertained some illustrious guests here, including Ronnie Wood and some of President Obama's advisors and now it was our turn. The cellar was interesting as the central pillar contained an inscription from the time of its construction which has been translated as a prayer for the making of good wine, and also a request for forgiveness from the master mason for any faults the building may have. The wine Anna Lisa produces is named after the master mason.

Pressing olives

The next day we visited an olive press to have a look at how new olive oil is made. We were kindly shown around the press and given a very good description from a policeman from Firenze who was helping his aunt for a week (as his vacation) pick and press the olives from her land. It was interesting to see the whole process and the bright green liquid that is produced at the end.

Sambuca

On the 9th we headed towards Firenze and stopped off for lunch at a nice little village called Sambuca, but there was not a drop in sight. It was only a little de-tour but we did manage to spot some interesting wildlife, with what looked like voles hanging out with some ducks on the side of a swollen river. They seemed to be quite good friends. We ended the day on the outskirts of Firenze having had a little scout of the area and found a suitable campsite for the next day and we admired the view from Piazzale Michelangelo which was just breathtaking as the sun was going down.

Firenze

On the 10th we checked into the campsite as we had previously been warned about motor-homes with foreign plates being targeted by opportunists in Florence by our friendly policeman. It was quite a nice site surrounded by olive trees and having seen the presses in action I had more than an idea about some late-night olive scrumping (the next morning the staff were busy picking them so I had missed my window of opportunity!). We had a nice day walking around Florence with it's imposing palaces, gigantic cathedral and vast numbers of churches and museums. The Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge left standing after WWII, was particularly cool. When the Medici family (the powerful rulers of the Firenze city-state) bought the Pitti Palace they needed to use the bridge to cross to cross the river from their other Palace they ordered the resident butchers out as they were too smelly, and ordered goldsmiths in, and the bridge is still lines with tiny jewellery shops. We saw the huge Duomo, Giotti belltower and Baptistry which dominate the skyline when seen from Piazzale Michelangelo and the copies of statues of David in the Piazzale Signoria as well as many other sculptures. We were finishing up our little tour of Firenze when a really impressive electrical storm broke right overhead and combined with the particular roof-style of the Florentine buildings it created a surreal "Big trouble in little china" type vibe. Although there were some pretty amazing sights in the city, and it was very pretty in parts, I think it looked better from overhead than up in the streets themselves.

Road signs and padlocks

Another thing worth including was the creatively altered road signs. Some had been changed to feature angels, some devils and some just generally changed for a bit of fun. We had a good game trying to spot new ones as we made our way around the city. There was also an interesting tradition of adding padlocks to certain railings. People just seemed to come up, add a lock and then leave it there so gradually railings and chains were being covered in a kind of hairy padlock growth.