MacsTravel Blog

One of the wonderful features of Tuscany are the numerous, impossibly picturesque small towns which pepper the countryside. This short post covers some of the ones explored by various members of our group during our villa week, in addition to the larger towns of San Gigmanano and Siena.

Greve in Chianti

One of the larger towns, Greve is famous for its Saturday market, plentiful enotecas and the Antica Macelleria Falorni, an atmospheric butcher shop that has been in Greve since 1806.

We all arrived in Greve at various times on the Saturday, and did our first round of shopping before going to check out the nearby village of…

Montefioralle

This tiny, charming little village is technically a frazione, or “suburb” of the larger community of Greve. It lies just outside the center of Greve and can be reached by climbing or driving a short steep and twisty road.

It is a picturesque place, featuring medieval structures streets, and it is incredibly well maintained.

We had arranged to have lunch at Il Guerino, a scenic restaurant overlooking the Chianti hills, with Sarah, Ian, Lisa and Pete.

As we exited the restaurant we ran into the remaining four of our group (Anne, Scot, Patty and Graham) who had just finished their own lunch in Greve and had popped up to Montefioralle for a quick peak.

This was the first time the entire group had met, and we set off shortly after for our week at the villa near San Donato.

Panzano in Chianti

Panzano is a little town halfway between Greve and San Donato, and is typically charming, with steep hills, beautiful panoramic lookouts and the effervescent presence of chef and butcher Dario Cecchini, who became world famous after he was discovered by a number of chefs, authors and documentaries makers in North America. One of the joys of our 2017 trip to Tuscany was a stop in Panzano for a meal at one of his restaurants.

Robin and I passed on Panzano this time around, but Patty and Graham and Ian and Sarah each made a trip there. Sarah and Ian swung by Dario’s new food truck and ran into the man himself.

Castellina in Chianti

Graham and Patty went out one day in search of a coffee and a village walk while the rest of us opted for a hike (more on the hike in another post). They came back raving about the little town of Castellina in Chianti, a few minutes south of San Donato along another marvellously scenic side road. So a number of us went later in the week to check it out.

Castellina is a charming little village with views, a castle with a small but very interesting Etruscan museum, and the church of San Salvatore. It is very popular with cyclists, who fall exhausted into the various outdoor cafes that line the Main Street.

We spent a happy morning exploring the museum, climbing the castle tower and taking a look around the church before doing some souvenir shopping. It’s well worth a visit if you are in the area.

San Donato in Poggio

San Donato is the little village that our villa overlooks, and it proved to be incredibly useful as well as affording us a backdrop for our nightly sunsets.

We all walked down to the foot of the village and then up into the center on our first Sunday at the villa. It’s a charming place with lots of shops and restaurants (all closed that Sunday morning), as well as a medieval wall and an impressive tower.

The oddest thing in San Donato was the front yard of one house that was absolutely teeming with tortoises. Half eaten heads of lettuce were scattered everywhere and the tortoises lumbered around happily, content it seems with their own little corner of Tuscan paradise.

The recurring trips to San Donato throughout the week were often for corneto runs (Ian most mornings), coffee at the little bar in the centre of town (Patty and Graham), the butcher for some legendary Bistecca alla fiorentina (Graham) or the daily visits to the Coop supermarket for wine, beer, Aperol spritz and other essentials, including, on occasion, vegetables. It was wonderful being located within walking distance of this town while still being out in the countryside.