Always a crowd-pleaser, San Gimignano is hard to resist. Famous for it's many towers, for me it's like a big candy store. It is true that it can be crowded with tourists, but for a woman on a mission, I can think of few places were you can buy any type of local product (with dozens of stores for each...ceramics, leather, art, wine, olive wood products, linens, etc.), it's the Tuscan version of power-shopping in a mall. The prices are really no higher than in Firenze or Siena, and the shopping is on a single main street...much more compact.
My favorite ceramics store (Il Borgo Ceramiche) never disappoints on that score, and I've become a regular.
Not always the case, tho. There is a wonderful store that sells exclusively bowls and other items made of beautifully marbled olive wood. It can be "cara" (dear, or expensive). As I buy a small wooden salad bowl as a gift, I ask for a discount (Ce un sconto?), the owner gives me what amounts to a 2% discount. He jokes and says "Here's for your coffee" as he hands me my 2 Euros. But hey, that's parking, and at the end of the day it all adds up. So I tell him it is to pay me to visit his store. I get a laugh out of him, and ask for a restaurant recommendation for lunch.
Family-owned La Stella is two doors down. The diet is down the drain, I'm starving for some great food. Tagliata (freshly grilled steak), fresh "insalata verde" (in Italy this means lettuce only...but it satisfies due to the fantastic freshness). Vernaccia (called the "Pope's wine) always pleases me, and after last night and this morning in the Siena hospital, I determine that it is well-deserved:). La Stella is a find.
Making my way home, I stop in Panzano. Panzano sits on the saddle of a road on the way to Greve, of Chiantistrada fame. The famous wine-producing region spreads out on both sides. It is a quiet day, and I walk up to the old church at the top of the hill, searching for an iron workers' store that I had heard about. A stop at Dario's famous meat market and a bit of his meatloaf for dinner. Dario is famous. Not only does he run a successful butcher's shop, but 3 restaurants in, above and across the street from the shop, where he has been known to quote Dante while extolling the virtues of beef! And yum. He has a point.
I take the local dirt road from Panzano to Volpaia. This local road follows the high ridge, not the valley and hillside, and offers stunning views. I pass the pig farm where my children and I took all our table scraps during our summer stay.
It's a nice reminder of the simplicity of life here, for residents and visitors as well. It is a replenishing, reflective, warm feeling, and a perfect way to end the day.
Ciao for now!
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Carrara partners with owners of luxury vacation homes in Italy, managing the conversion and marketing of these beautiful homes to fractional, shared ownership vacation properties. We also represent buyers seeking the lifestyle of a European home and the convenience of a professionally managed, shared investment.
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