Archive for 'Food and Wine'

Once you have browsed our gorgeous array of villas in Chianti, among the rolling green hills and endless vineyards, the pretty little villages and the famous wine areas for which this beloved destination in Tuscany is so well-known, you will likely be looking forward to experiencing Tuscan wine for yourself. And what an experience awaits!

From delicious wines with your meals in restaurants, to excellent bottles picked up while on a regular supermarket run to be enjoyed by the pool in your villa with a swimming pool in Tuscany, to wines sampled in a guided tasting at a vineyard, there are endless ways to appreciate the lauded wines of the region.

In fact, many years ago, a local told me that while lots of Italian wine is exported, the best Italian wine rarely leave the country. Instead, it is kept to be sold and enjoyed by Italians themselves. So, if you really want to sample the best of the best when it comes to wines in Chianti and at a lower price point than you can expect elsewhere (they haven’t needed to be imported somewhere else after all) then you have to enjoy them while in Tuscany.

Of course, once you’ve scheduled your visit to a winery (or two or three) and experienced it for yourself, then you might want to share this experience with loved ones or your favourite neighbour who watered your plants while you were away. Or you might simply want to stock up for the future. In either scenario, you might be wondering if it is possible to bring wine home from Chianti?

Autumn in Tuscany is synonymous with eating really, really well. Wine harvests are an obvious culinary delight of the region but there are two other key ingredients that are commonly used at this time of the year: truffles and chestnuts. While both ingredients are found in different parts of Italy and in the local cuisines of various regions of Italy, Tuscan dishes utilising both are especially delicious. Plus, festivals dedicated to both ingredients pop up in villages and towns all over Tuscany right through the season. For example, the town of Marradi has had a dedicated chestnut festival that has been running for more than 50 years. Chestnuts are not something that everyone is used to eating but there are all sorts of delicious Tuscan chestnut-based dishes to sample and it is a perfectly autumnal food. So, if you are enjoying a fall escape to a villa in Tuscany and you want to get cosy, eat well, and embrace the season, be sure to check it out!

Planning a fall break in Tuscany? Want to enjoy the beautiful rolling green hills, forests, and endless valleys of the region as the leaves turn to orange and red and golden hues? Want to enjoy the bounty of the harvest season and eat well? Want to appreciate the immaculate cosy atmosphere of this time of the year in Tuscany? Of course you do! It sounds like a dream vacation to us. When you get there, the loveliness of your surroundings and the excellent food alone will be enough to perfectly unwind and enjoy an incredible getaway but if you’re looking for particular things to see and do in Tuscany at this time of the year, then here is our list of five great things to ensure an amazing autumnal vacation at one of our Tuscany villas. 

Chianti is at its most breath-taking in September, as the vines grow heavy with grapes and the leaves turn to golden and russet hues. The rolling green hills and lush valleys are always a sight to behold, a distinctly lovely wonder that has made the landscape of Tuscany famous, and when the endless vineyards of the region are ready to be harvested this beauty is only more impressive and striking still. So, if you are a wine-lover who has always wanted to head out on adventures, sampling the incredible wines of Tuscany and exploring her gorgeous landscape and pretty towns, then we think you should book a escape in Chianti this September!

Picture this: you have been enjoying a stay in one of our luxury villas in Florence, you have spent the day exploring the city, you have worked up an appetite and a thirst, it’s lunchtime, and you want to enjoy some seriously chic bites and a truly excellent glass (or maybe even a bottle, especially if you’re splitting it with a group of similarly-minded travel companions) of wine. Well, then we have a perfect prescription for you to make your day even more enjoyable: a visit to Procacci 1885, one of the oldest and most glamorous wine bars in the birthplace of the Renaissance.