Greve in Chianti

We left the Chianti towns till the last because they were closest to where we stayed and also have less historical landmarks to visit so we could do several in a day - or so we thought.  Greve in Chianti was our first stop but on the way there, we came across market day in Tavarnelle - an opportunity we couldn't miss.  I'll blog about the Tuscany markets in another post.

On the map, Greve in Chianti was only 25 km away and even if we were to go at 50 km an hour, it should theoretically only take us half an hour to get there.  Google suggested 45 minutes but in reality it must have taken us at least twice as long - and I could not explain it.  It's true these were country roads, narrow and windy and you took your life in your hands every time you turned a blind corner - but they were not impossible.  Bottomline we arrived for a very late lunch.

Our destination was the renowned historical butcher shop Antica Macelleria Falorni reputedly the oldest in Tuscany and still run by members of the same family since 1729.  The shop was awesome - one couldn't help but gawk at all the prosciutto hanging from the ceiling - and the many varieties offered.  Lunch turned out to be a picnic.  Read about this interesting experience on Foodsparks.

Greve itself was pretty, with the butcher shop the main focus of the town square and a church at the end of the square but we didn't see too much else in between.

Never seen so much ham in my life!

An amazing variety of meat - note for shoppers - don't even think about buying prosciutto to take home if you live in North America.  One member of our group got hers confiscated by U.S. customers - many euros down the drain...

The self-dispensing wine-tasting machine

  

The arcade outside Falorni's

Nice shops selling local merchandise - and a florist

The church at the end of the square

This sculpture outside the Chianti Classico building was very much an object of tourist gawking

The town square Piazza Giacomo Matteotti with its fine statue of explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, from the family of the same name that produced the Chianti Classico wine