|
AT HOME IN THE CHIANTI HILLS
Walking (and Eating) Our Way
Through Tuscany
by Joan S. Abelson
Walk?
Yes, that’s what we flew half way around the world to do. Eight people would
spend five nights walking the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany with the
master guide of the “Italian Connection.” But what would it be like? Even
though my husband and I were in reasonable shape, would eight to ten miles of
walking a day be too much for us? And would it be worth it to surrender our
autonomy as travelers to follow a group agenda in a walking tour? Ultimately
what hooked us was the opportunity to be guests in homes of the tour director’s
Italian friends. Each evening we were to dine in the villas, meet the people,
and see the Tuscany behind the scenes that would never be open to us as
individual tourists. And each day we were to walk the trails through
patchwork-quilt vineyards, olive groves, chestnut woods, rolling hills,
streams, castles, and tiny towns that made up one of the most beautiful spots
in the northern hemisphere.
Emanuele
cooked for us on two evenings. On our first night, we dined family style in
front of their fireplace from which he grilled succulent filetti di pollo agli
aromi--do you notice how Italians can get chicken to even sound
heavenly?--preceded by an antipasto of the pecorino cheese we had bought that
morning and a to-die-for pasta dish--tagliatelle con zucchine, silky, light and
rich all at the same time. Not to
mention his insalata--greens, tomatoes, string beans, potatoes and fennel, all
chopped and dressed with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. His dessert
was a torta di mele con crema di marscarpone, a Florentine apple cake with
marscarpone cream whipped with orange juice, zest and liqueur, greeted with
moans of ecstasy by the eight novitiates at his table. Emanuele’s wines were
flowing (Chianti Classico Castellare and Podere Il Poggiolo Riserva 1995), but
it was the grappa that made us roar as he poured glass upon glass into the
tallest, ablest drinker of the group. Now
about group travel. The four couples, all living
south of America’s Mason-Dixon line, lodged at the Relais Fattoria Vignale, a
converted 18th century manor house, now an understated, lovely four-star hotel
with staggering views in the 1,000-year-old walled town of Radda in Chianti.
Each morning at 9:30, Anita would meet us in her eight-passenger minivan and we
would either walk from Radda to our
prearranged destination or drive to a point and walk back from there. Each
afternoon at approximately 3:30, we returned to the Fattoria Vignale for a
welcome siesta. And refreshed, we climbed back in the van at 7:30, heading for the hills for another dining
adventure in a Tuscan home. I must
admit I got a little tired of that van. I got tired of eating lunches and
dinners in groups. I loved our one “free” night when my husband brought in
pizza and we ate alone, between the desk and the bed, by candlelight. But ask
me how I liked the whole experience, group and all--and I’ll tell you it was
the best trip I have ever taken. Ever. We all
respected each other’s privacy. We could walk alone, or in tandem, and savor
the breathtaking, sweeping, storybook views of the Monti del Chianti. There
were no princesses and no complaints on this trip. If the incline were too
steep, our one septuagenarian rode that stretch in the van and caught up with
us later. Everyone was on time, except me, and that’s just because I wasn’t
early. And as
a group, we could take advantage of Anita’s access to private tours of some
strategic sights: the magnificent Badia a Coltibuono with its ancient wine
cellars and incredible Renaissance gardens, or the Castello di Brolio, a walled
medieval castle with ramparts, formal gardens, and a view clear to Siena, or
the Castello di Meleto covered with great faux paintings, murals and its own
private theater. Some
of the simplest things on the tour were ideas that would not have occurred to
us as individuals. On our second day, tiny farm roads led us past rustic
farmhouses where we huffed and puffed up one of the more strenuous hills. As we
approached the peak, strains of opera reached us. Music? Out-of-doors? We
stepped through the gates of lavish
Villa San Donato, unoccupied by its noble owners at the time, only to see our
private chef, Emanuele, standing proudly behind a red-checkered picnic table he
had set up in the courtyard. Surprise!
Notice
how much we talk of food. Basically, we were either walking or eating for five
days. Each dinner was a good three hours. One night we had a private dinner in
a winemaker’s home. Basically, Giampaolo Pacini bought a whole medieval
village, Podere Capaccia, which he has gradually restored to contain his home,
office, and vineyards. These we toured before sitting down to one of our more
memorable meals. Using
esoteric recipes that he researched and translated from the Middle Ages and
printed for us in Italian (What exactly are 6 foglie di alloro?), Sr. Pacini
brought veal roast with pine nuts to new heights--stracotto medievale
all’agresto--all while charming us with tales of the cookbooks he writes in his
spare time and filling our glasses with his award-winning wines. If I close my
eyes, I can still conjure up the taste and texture of his sensuous pappa col
pomodoro, a tomato soup topped with olive oil, better than any I had thereafter
in restaurants in Florence or Rome. Another
night we ate at the 15th century home of an Italian cooking teacher, Lele
Vitale, who proudly showed us before-and-after photos of her wonderful Tuscan
kitchen and living room restoration. Conversation was warm and personal over
the lasagna course (yes, there was a lasagna course). “Now you have a friend in
Tuscany,” Lele told us over dessert, two pieces of tiramisu securely under my
belt. “When you come back to Italy, please visit me again.” The
all-inclusive five-night tour at $2,275 per person was worth every penny in the
joy it brought us (Year 2000 price is $2,295). Surely, we would not have
chanced upon Podere Capaccia, the sprawling lawn of San Donato, or the other
homes we visited without an insider’s connection. Even if we had walked on our
own, we would not have covered such varied terrain nor stayed at it so
long...And we would have not felt so truly at home in the Tuscan hills. For information about the 2000 Chianti Classico
trip and other walking tours offered by the Italian Connection, www.italian-connection.com
Images by Joan S. Abelson Joan S. Abelson is a
communications consultant in Baltimore. She is former editor of the Goucher Quarterly, St. Paul’s Magazine, and
The Park School magazine. -Updated 1-7-00-
|
|
TM
We had passed the perfect
Tuscan villa where “Much Ado About Nothing” was filmed. We had lunched in a
pergola on a terraced hilltop in the medieval town of Volpaia where a Mamma out
of central casting brought endless platters of bruschetta and pasta and bottles
of local wine. We had visited a remote pecorino
cheese farm where we learned how cheeses aged, as an ancient lady wielding a long
knife cut us our evening’s supply. Now it was time to walk.
Our
leader was Italian Connection founder Anita Iaconangelo, an American expatriate, who now oversees some 30 trips annually through
the country she has come to call home. She has three secret ingredients--a
sense of ease and relaxation that overlays precision organization, a vast
knowledge about the region coupled with a killing sense of humor that makes
touring palatable...and Emanuele Lorusso, her partner and chef extraordinare. 
Two
kittens rubbed among us as we feasted on grilled eggplant, mozzarella,
tomatoes, salami, prosciutto, frittata, Tuscan bread, cake, oversized grapes,
and vino, vino, vino. We took endless photos to
prove to ourselves how relaxed we could be.