Round trip Italy part 6: Greve in Chianti

We went to Greve in Chianti. Another suggestion of our host Gabrielle and, like all his other suggestions, it was a good one. Chianti is about wine and we ended up in the middle of Chianti’s wine festival. Luck us 🙂

Chianti.

About 30 km south of Florence, Greve in Chianti is the main town in the Chianti area. It’s the central place of the local wine industry and has a very nice ambience, an attractive central square, trattoria’s and vinoteks (places where you can learn and taste about wine) that shows you the best Chianti food and drink. Greve’s annual wine fair is held in the beginning of September. How lucky we where, because we didn’t knew about it. So when we arrived in Greve it was packed. Lots of places at the central market square where you can taste wine and more of the finer things in life.

As said is was packed, again with Americans. Later in the afternoon they get loud too. Very annoying. Probably to much wine.

So Greve in Chianti is a small town but produces some great stuff. The wine, olive oil and some of best Porchetta we have eaten. The annual wine fair is in a weekend and only last 2 days. All the castello’s from the area (wineries) are represented at the central market square. You can buy a wine glass and taste that lovely Chianti Classico, Reserva, etc. at many places. The market square is surrounded by some very nice trattoria’s offering local specialties.

When you move out of the central square, you got some more very fine places to eat, sit and relax. Out of town there is a view point and you get a great view over the area.

From the bus stop, there is a main street that leads to the central market square. The street itself is very nice and attractive. You can take some side roads, which brings you into the smaller streets in town, offering you a very cozy atmosphere and you will get a nice impression of the town.

Outside Chianti there are a lot of places that offer agriturismo. You can work on one of the castello’s and learn about the wine making process. Also you have a chance to enjoy the stunning scenery of Tuscany. The light, the scenery, the landscape one of the best in Italy. Best time: end September – October. This is the harvesting time of the grapes.

Getting around.

Best by car. Public transport is available but doesn’t bring you to the nicest spots. The main road runs through town and brings you to other very nice places. If you can rent a car, do it. The buses don’t run frequently (about 1x per hour) and sometimes no bus at all. When the buses are full they don’t stop and drive straight to Florence.

If you want to see more of the Tuscany landscape you have to do it by car.

Photography.

Tuscany is one of the best parts of Italy to do photography. I will return to Tuscany (by car :)) to do a photoshoot. Best time, I think, is end of September and October, because of the light. Also Autumn is kicking in and the foliage will have stunning colours. Late afternoon towards sunset gives you very nice light and scenery.

Bring a camera body that have decent dynamic range (you will have a lot of contrast scenes) and lenses in focal lengths 10 to 200mm. CPL, ND and gradient ND filters are a must. Tripod is highly recommended. During my visit in Chianti I have not seen much of the landscape because we did the trip by bus. Therefore, I cannot show you any stunning landscape photos. 🙁

Art.

Believe it or not, there are quite some little art galleries. The landscape offers great inspiration to create great artwork. See photos below. I really like that style and kind of artwork.