The Chianti
Thirty kilometres of hills between two cities that fought each other for centuries.
The Chianti is the band of hills between Florence and Siena, and its name became that of a wine before it was that of a territory. The Chianti Classico zone, the one with the black cockerel, has been delimited since 1932 and takes in nine communes: Greve, Panzano, Radda, Gaiole, Castellina, Castelnuovo Berardenga and a few others.
The landscape alternates vines, olive groves and oak woods, with the villages on the ridges and Romanesque parish churches standing alone among the fields. The farmhouses are of stone, and many have become farm guesthouses: it is one of the areas of Italy where tourism has most changed the farming economy without wiping it out.
How to get round
The road to take is the Chiantigiana, the provincial 222, which runs from Florence to Siena over seventy kilometres of bends: it takes two hours without stopping, and nobody does it without stopping. The wineries receive by appointment, and nearly all offer a visit and a tasting; many have olive oil as well.
There are few campsites here, and they are small, often inside a farm. Those staying on the coast arrive in an hour and a half, those in Florence in half an hour. The villages have car parks just outside the walls, and inside you walk.