Fernand Braudel, one of the greatest historians of the century, had no doubts:“Chianti is the most moving countryside in existence.” An area of gently rolling hills that spreads out between Florence and Siena, Chianti is a garden of woods, vineyards, farmhouses with shingles faded by the sun, stone walls, Romanesque churches, fortified villages and castles encircled by imposing walls. From Greve to Gaiole, Castellina to Castelnuovo Berardenga, Volpaia to Badia di Coltibuono up to the walls of Monteriggioni, and the gates of Siena, Chianti is a breathtaking spectacle. A perfect symbiosis between man and nature. The roads wind slowly and sedately along itineraries marked by vineyards and cypress trees, olive-groves and oak woods: there is no reason to hurry in Chianti. Here in the country of wine and olive-oil, Chianti Classico is at home in Greve in the month of September, during grape-harvest. Taste and smell are taken very seriously in Chianti where cooking is a joyous art, but serious and rich. And so are the country traditions: in June, in Castelnuovo Berardenga, a sumptuous historic reconstruction evokes the centuries-old military rivalry between Florence and Siena for domination of the Chianti hills.
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