Today we were up early to be ready for
our second winery tour, this time at Capineto winery in Greve in
Chianti. Originally Lisie and Fabrizio were not going to be able to
join us but in the end Lisie had time to come along and good thing
too because there were no busses that even came close to the winery!
So Ian drove Lisie’s Mini Cooper and Lisie and Sarah were along for
the ride. The winery was absolutely amazing and we got a tour
followed by a tasting which was wonderful, and then Pia (our guide)
gave us six complimentary bottles of wineand one bottle of oil! We
were extremely appreciative and left very satisfied, and even
Fabrizio liked the wine we brought home, and he’s quite picky being
raised in Italy.
Casks in the Carpineto winery cellar
Carpineto, wonderful wines
Some of Carpineto's Vines
Next we drove down into the center of
Greve in Chianti to walk around and take some photos. We went into
some of the shops and the meat shop was incredible. It is one of the
best know meat shops in the world (Elton John buys his steaks there!)
The wind started to pick up so we bought some post cards and some
bread then headed out. On the way back to Florence a beautiful
Rainbow showed up, but we kept driving and it didn’t go away.
Finally we got back to Florence and it was still towering over the
city so we drove to the top of Piazza Michelangelo and could see all
of Florence with the beautiful rainbow above it!
Greve in Chianti
(Double) Rainbow over Florence, Italy
We went back to Lisie’s after a short
photo op and ate the bread and meat from Greve for lunch along with
some leftover cheese from San Miniato yesterday. After this we set
out to truly explore Florence in the daylight for the first time. We
went to the top of the Cupola on the Duomo (Brunelleschi’s Dome)
and then went inside the Duomo to wonder at its awe-inspiring
grandeur. After that we went took photos of the Strozzi Palace for
Deb and Amy (the subject of Amy’s thesis), then decided to go back
and climb the Campanile (bell tower of the Duomo) to watch the sunset
and this is where things got crazy.
View from Brunelleschi's Dome
A Florentine bell tower at sunset
Not realizing there were two more
floors, Ian went down from the second floor to look for Sarah while
she went up towards the top. When he couldn’t find her at the
bottom, he re-checked the first two floors looking for her (while she
was on the top floor) then, after not finding her, looked for about
an hour around the bottom. At this point, he got really worried,
talked to the Carabinieri (police), and made the 15 minute trek back
to Lisie’s house to see if she went there, where he regrouped
before going back to look for her at the Campanile. She, meanwhile,
was looking for him on the top two floors (which he never got to)
then went down to the bottom to look for him (5 minutes after he had
left) and proceeded to wait in the gift shop for almost another hour.
Ian finally returned and was relieved to find her waiting there, and
surprised to find out there were two more floors. All told, Ian lost
Sarah for almost 2 hours, and she lost him for closer to an hour and
a half (all Ian’s fault, of course).
Sunset over Florence as from the Campanile of the Duomo
Anyway, at this point we proceeded with
the plan to find Sarah a nice, fashionable, hooded wool coat. After succeeding, we returned to Lisie and Fabrizio’s for another well-prepared meal by Fabrizio, accompanied by wonderful wine and good
company. We will be sad to leave here tomorrow as this has by far
been the highlight of our trip! Our biggest thanks to Lisie and
Fabrizio for hosting us and showing us the best of Tuscany’s
cuisine and scenery. Sorry this is so long, but every bit of today had
to be told. Off to bed now since it is after midnight, goodnight!
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