|
The Chianti Area |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tourism in the Chianti Area |
|
 Tourists have shown they love the Chianti area more and more as the years go by. So much so that
many have decided to buy a house and live here.
There are many ‘Chiantigiani’ inhabitants ‘by adoption’
– mainly English and German.
Also artists and famous people from the world of entertainment, amazed by
the beauty of the land, have bought and renovated old farm complexes creating fairytale holiday residences here.
In the past the area was known as Chiantishire due to the high number of British citizens living here.
Now, however, as well as British tourists, the area is visited also by the Dutch, Germans, Americans and Italians.
|
|
|
|
Tuscan Food in the Heart of the Chianti Area |
|
The garden of Europe needs no introduction being as it is famous the world over for its sweet
beauty as well as its having been defined by many as the most beautiful countryside in existence
with its gentle rolling hills of olive groves and vineyards. The most celebrated wines are produced
here which have delighted refined palates for centuries.
Its hills are dotted with small medieval
villages, churches, chapels, castles and restored farmhouse complexes.
All of this can only offer the tourist a fairy tale holiday.
Then there is the particularly mild climate and the charming landscape.
This Chianti countryside between Florence and Siena is unique.
In the minds of foreign tourists the Chianti area is much more than a simple beautiful place in the world.
It is a model for the quality of life. In the Chianti area the rhythm of life is slow, stress free, the
food is wonderful and the wine is excellent. People have long lingering meals around the table.
No hurrying; just maybe chit-chatting with friends or relatives. It is a magical countryside abounding
in an unforgettable atmosphere which inspires all your senses. The landscape satisfies an eye used to
seeing moderate forms of elegance. The Chianti wines allow even the most demanding of tastes to be enjoyed.
The aroma of this land – varying from place to place – gives relief to nostrils unaccustomed to such fine scents.
|
|
|
Italiano
A little more than a year ago Greve – the central town of the Chianti region – had its charming
characteristics all represented by a label thus giving it an identity more effective than any
slogan ever can. This is the ‘Città Slow’ or the ‘Slow Food’ Town label. In fact the idea of
the ‘Slow Food’ towns whose inhabitants enjoy genuine food and a healthy style of living, was
born here. All ‘Slow Food’ towns are united under an international ‘Slow Food’ movement of
which this town – Greve in Chianti – is the head. In Tuscan ‘Slow Food’ towns the territory
and quality of the environment are safeguarded; the average life expectancy is longer;
discrimination and social unrest do not exist and the surrounding countryside is not abandoned
until it becomes an eyesore but is, rather, looked after and appreciated. The whole of the
Chianti area merits the epithet ‘slow’ and for many years its visitors – first foreigners
and later Italians – have eagerly shown that they enjoy it.
Much of the fascination of the Chianti area derives from the enviable architectural and artistic patrimony –
the testimony of a past rich in history. It is a past of bloody and terrible battles over supremacy of land
which continuously occurred between Siena and Florence. It is held that the place name Chianti is derived
from “Clante” – an Etruscan name of a tributary of the River Arbia. In the twelve hundreds the territory,
which more or less corresponds to the present districts and towns of Radda, Gaiole and Castellina, was conquered
by the Florentines. They organised these towns into a “Chianti League”. The “Gallo Nero” or Black Cock was,
at that time, the symbol of the Chianti towns and districts. It is still used today as the logo of the historical
Consortium of Chianti Classico Gallo Nero (Black Cock) wines. In the seventeen hundreds a redefinition of the
Chianti boundaries was needed beginning with the production zone of prestigious wines. Thus Greve, parts of the
territory of San Casciano Val di Pesa, Barberino Val d’Elsa, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa and Castelnuovo Berardenga
were added to the original towns and districts of the “Chianti League”. Still today the original confines delimit
the production zone of the Chianti Classico wines of the historical Gallo Nero (Black Cock) label which are
regulated by rigid discipline allowing wine producing consortiums to obtain the guarantee that their wine is
“Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita” (verified and guaranteed origin of denomination).