week six: tasting tuscany... greve in chianti

16 October 2009
Greve… Okay, what could be better than the Tuscan countryside? Enjoying a day in the Tuscan countryside with wine and food… obviously!So, as one of our excursions, F and L planned a trip into the heart of Chianti region… Greve… not far outside of Firenze, ma sembra che i mondi di distanza ... K and I were excited to spend a day tasting the food, and more importantly, the wine!!! K, however, had the chance to visit her best friend in Prague, so she left the day before… leaving me to my own devices… which means last night I went to rehearsal, came home, ate dinner, and went to an opera… I should mind my antisocial behavior, don’t you think??? Allora… with K off in Prague, I was left to travel to Greve with F and L… and honestly, how could the day go wrong?? It was beautiful outside, we were going to visit wine region, and spend the day eating and walking around the countryside… I’d do that on my own in Italy!!!
So, after sleeping off my post-opera euphoria (I saw Bohème, whaddya expect???) I woke up to the cold Florentine air, and got ready for my day… I don’t know when it happened (okay, that’s a lie, it happened on Monday… it rained all day and took away the heat…) but literally overnight it was as though someone turned off the heat… no more hot Tuscan sun… just solar glare and cold… not Boston cold, but really, I wasn’t expecting this much of a dip for another month… my wardrobe is prepared for neither the extreme heat nor the sudden cold… I wasn’t expecting New England weather in Italy!!! Wow, side tracked again… allora… I met up with F and L a little before noon and headed off to Greve… for those of you who haven’t read my earlier posts, any car ride with F is like an amusement ride, complete with bizarre music and flashing lights (though you can never be sure if that’s your life flashing before you or the lights from the other cars…) though we always make it there in one piece (well, almost… I have wondered if I left my stomach somewhere along the road at least once…)
So, we get out of the city, and all of a sudden see this: did I mention I love Italy??
Once in the town of Greve, we park, and begin to walk around… apparently, Greve is known not only for its Chianti wine, but its olive oil and meat… so we take a quick browse through the macelleria, Antica Macelleria Falorni… yes. It is totally what you’d expect: actually, I think I have a similar picture from the last time I was in Italy, but this store definitely trumps any preconceived notions about Italian macellerie… but, rather than go into detail about that now (as I wasn’t allowed to dally myself) we’ll talk about the real food of Tuscany… We went to Enotecca Fuoripiazza, a local haunt with authentic cuisine… so authentic, in fact, that I was convinced (or rather overexcited) to try rabbit… with green beans and a red bell pepper sauce… and pigeon… I know, that sounds freaky, but it’s not the pigeons that you see hanging around Boston Commons or perched on top of Lafayette… they’re raised and well fed… and taste incredible… plus homemade olive oil on unsalted focaccia… with unoxidized, real chianti classico? Honestly. Heaven.
After lunch, L and I decided we needed to walk… running was not really an option, so we decided to walk up into the old section of Greve, into the historic district that was everything you’d expect of a small Tuscan town… honeslty, it looked as tohugh someone had taken a snapshot out of an old movie or storybook, and placed it neatly in front of us… you could smell the bay leaves and olives, and the air was so clear I could feel my lungs filtering out years of city abuse (okay, I’m a concrete princess, but sometimes, the country has its allure…) I couldn’t stop snapping pictures, until finally we got to the top, and we just sat… I don’t know if it was the high altitude, the wine, or the combination of excitement and oxygen, but I felt dizzy with riposo…But, as all good things must come to an end, so too did our little venture up into the hills of Greve, so L and I walked back down (with F blasting the rolling stones in the car behind us…) to the main piazza to do more tasting!!
When we found ourselves back in the piazza, all eyes were immediately drawn to another famous Italian commodity… one which I have to mention for my brother… TT, this is for you :)Yes, this was literally just sitting the middle of the piazza, in broad daylight, to be envied and admired by all… I still don’t get it…
E poi, we went to the wine museum. Yes. There is a museo dedicated to wine. Obviously we had to go in!!! and this is what we found: from Verrazzano’s travels to the new world… please, for those of you reading at home, do google translate this, and see what it means… I couldn’t tell whether I should be offended, or if I should just laugh…
Allora… we moved on to something I understand, and appreciate, much better… food and wine :) we went back to L’Antica Macelleria Falorni, and tasted wine (these are for those of you who'd like to try to find real Tuscan wine in the states...), olive oil, and salami… madon’ assaggiare e piangere… as full as I was, I could not get enough… though I did manage to pick up a few goodies to pack in my suitcase (if they make it that long… for those of you waiting, keep your fingers crossed hehe)…
We ended the day as everyone should end the day, with homemade gelato… It’s still a wonder to me how so few Italians are overweight, never mind obese, with all of this amazing food and wine… I could get used to this life…