If you’re new here, I’ve been sharing photos of my honeymoon in Italy until the wedding ’season’ starts up again. This blog is fairly new so there are a couple of engagement shoots up, otherwise my best wedding work is on the main site
When we said we were going to be in Italy, our friends at La Roma recommended we go visit the vineyard where they get some of their wine. We signed up to take a tour capped off by a multi-course lunch, so we headed out early in the morning and set out to Greve in Chianti – about an hour outside of Florence. The Castello di Verrazzano is on top of a hill – we didn’t really realize just how high up it was… but the view made up for it.
We finally made it up and the place itself was quite beautiful, not to mention how cool it was to see these great big barrel’s of wine. Hearing our guide talk about the process and the care required – they don’t feel like they’re just making wine, they treat it as an art.
These barrels are full of balsamic vinegar. Apparently some of the finest produced – you can stick your face in the window here and just breath it in – it’s almost intoxicating. A bottle about the size of your hand goes for 50 euros. The teaspoon-full they gave us with lunch made us realize why (mmm!)
Shortly after, it was time for lunch! My wife and I were the only Canadians amongst a bunch of Americans, Italians and other Europeans. We ended up sitting with the Italians, which was good because we could follow their lead when it came to food we hadn’t encountered before. They didn’t speak much english though so the conversation was limited to just the two of us, but they included us when they could (“salute!” “buono appetito”).
and yes.. we did have three bottles of wine available to us… for lunch. Not to mention the grappa after the meal. I might be exaggerating a little, but I’m pretty sure we floated down the hill after lunch – not that it kept me from taking more pictures of the way back down.
When we got back into Florence, we spent some time in the shops around the centre of the city, and made our way to the Ponte Vecchio. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so much jewelry in one place – here’s a photo of my wife Leah, wishing we’d brought a little a lot more money.
| mike |
by mike
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