The Chianti region of Tuscany is ideal for a touring holiday. The home of Italy’s best known wine, it is full of vineyards where you can stop, taste the produce and buy some to take home. And there are plenty of picturesque villages to explore as well. Don’t be surprised if you hear plenty of British accents. The British middle classes discovered the region late in the 1960s and began buying up derelict farm houses – turning them into desirable homes. There are so many of them that the region is often known as Chiantishire.
Chianti sits between Florence and Siena. You can explore the region on a day trip from either city – but you’ll get more out of your visit if you take your time and stay at least a night in one of the little towns or villages. The countryside is surprisingly rugged, with lots of oak and chestnut woods, and craggy slopes. This makes it hard to farm and the region went into a decline after WW11. However, wine makers then realised that the land was ideal for growing grapes and now it’s highly productive. The best wine is Chianti Classico.
The main road through Chianti is the S222, also known as the chiantigiana, which forms a convenient wine route. There are also plenty of quiet strada bianchi – white roads – that you can explore by bike, or on foot.
There are some lovely hill towns to explore. Castellina in Chianti is a hill town, which has an historic fortress in the centre and lots of medieval streets. Make sure you wander along Via delle Volte, a medieval underground street lined with cellars and secret nooks. Then there’s Gaiole in Chianti, which is a village that’s close to Castello di Brolio – a Florentine fortress which is now home to the Ricasole family – one of Chianti’s main wine producers.
High up in the hills you’ll find the most atmospheric village in the region: Volpaia. It was a fortified village – and you’ll find it hard to spot where the castle ends and the village begins. Volpaia was on the ancient pilgrim route, the Via Francigena, which ran across Europe to Rome.
The main town in Chianti is Radda in Chianti. It’s a great place to stroll around, with lots of shops (yes, selling Chianti), bars and restaurants. The church there, San Niccolo, has a Liberty-style façade although it dates back to medieval times. However, many people spend more time visiting Radda in Chianti’s celebrated grocery shop: Casa Porciatti. This stocks a vast array of local cheeses, wines, meats and honeys. It’s a lovely place to browse and they’ll even ship items home for you if you don’t want to be weighed down with cases of wine.
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