Yesterday Spencer and I rented a 1950’s Fiat 500s and joined a tour of Chianti.
We had originally talked about a Vespa tour but you have probably noticed Spencer is sporting the latest in arm braces. He tore a tendon in his wrist and had to have his arm shortened 4mm to reattach the tendon. As a parent I am sure it was worse than it sounds.
Anyway, I didn’t want to risk any damage to the arm so we went with the Fiat. We spent the entire day in the Chianti district visiting a couple of castle towns and a winery tour.
Started at 9 a.m. and returned to Florence around 6 pm. If we had it to over we wouldn’t change a thing. The Fiats were a blast. As it turns out the Vespas are limited to a travel speed of the slowest, American teenage, blonde girl who thought it would be cool to ride a Vespa in Italy but actually had not the first clue how one works and could not remember which side was the brake vs the accelerator.
I don’t want to appear sexist or as though I have an opinion on this but the Fiat group covered more territory and had more time to enjoy the day.
The Fiat group’s first stop was in Castelinno in Chianti. You will notice no Vespa biker gangs have arrived yet. Spencer and I found a spot to enjoy a cafe and some sunshine.
Next stop was a winery in Chianti. The wine maker is Lorenzo. He worked his tail off showing us his winery and putting on a first class tasting for our group.
Lorenzo turned us loose to explore his wine cellar which made me think he wasn’t as smart as I thought he was. I found my section.
We then sat down for a tasting with a light lunch including pasta, bruschetta, Tuscan hams, pecorino cheeses and Vin Santo. He also offered His Olive oil and a 20-year-old balsamic vinegar. He explained the aging of wines and how age is beneficial to most wines but that it is just the opposite for olive oil, the fresher the better. Lorenzo then shared that the olive oil we were tasting had been pressed yesterday. It was wonderful.
Tuscany at it’s finest. As we passed cars on the roads (I should explain every car we passed was going in the opposite direction, we did not pass anything going our direction) we had to look up to see the drivers of the Mini Coopers.
Another one of those damn steaks.
When cooked and cut it was served in the fashion of strong Italian males. Not sure if they were trying to embarrass Spencer and I or what.
As you can tell we only pondered that question for a moment before finishing 1.3 kilos of raw meat.
Tomorrow is Spencer’s last full day in Florence so we are planning on resting and get him organized for an early Monday morning trip.
More to come.