Never lose your childish innocence. It’s the most important thing.
Katherine, Under the Tuscan Sun
We hired a car in Florence and drove through the rolling hills of Tuscan wine country to a villa in Greve, a town in the Chianti region. Nothing like a couple of days under the Tuscan sun, am I right?
We stayed at Villa Bordoni, one of the most special places I’ve ever been. After staying in a relatively basic budget hotel in Florence, it felt even more luxurious when we arrived here. The villa is set between two vineyards where they grow the grapes for their own wine. The rooms are beautiful, the views are beautiful, the restaurant serves beautiful food, there is even a beautiful gym overlooking the beautiful pool. The pool looked so inviting that we forced ourselves to go for a swim, even though the water temperature was about 4 degrees. It was such a relaxing stay – just catching up on reading and sampling the wines while taking in the view.
The next day, we took advantage of the hire car and went for a drive around some of the local towns: Greve, Montefioralle and Panzano. There were some beautiful farmers markets, and the cellar doors/restaurants of many local wineries. The views along the way were so captivating, we had to pull over a couple of times. The fields are lined with either olive groves or grape vines, and the sun comes streaming through the clouds to illuminate small pockets as the day goes on.
On our final night we went into Panzano for a bucket list experience. If you are familiar with the Netflix series Chef’s Table, you will have heard of Dario Checchini. He is an animal lover who was studying to be a vet until he inherited a butcher shop from his father when he fell ill. He spent years battling with his own morals until he came up with a way to run the shop that he felt comfortable with. He has farmland where they rear the cattle in an ethical way, and they are sure to use every part of the animal so that its life has not gone to waste. He began by opening the shop as a restaurant at night, with one long communal table and a set menu designed to bring people together. It goes by the name of Antica Macelleria Cecchini. It has grown in popularity, particularly since being featured on a number of television programs, and there are now multiple dining rooms across both sides of the street. We booked well in advance for this experience, and I’m so glad we did! When we arrived, there were staff preparing appetisers and pouring welcome wines as AC/DC blasted out from the shopfront. This was aperitivo hour, and the crowd was sprawled across the street until a bell rang and we all streamed in through the doors.
We opted for the Officina della Bistecca menu, which celebrates the Florentine steak in its purest form. It was basically a meat fest, including three different types of steak along with beef tartare and baked potatoes served with pork fat. Although we were eating in a butcher shop, considering Dario’s background it was not surprising to see a vegetarian menu available. If I could have my time again, I would opt for the menu at Solociccia, the dining room across the road. It had a bit more variety in its ingredients – there is such a thing as too much meat! As someone who has been trying to cut down on my meat consumption in general, this was a little much for me. In saying that, Dario’s ethos is definitely one I can get behind, and if you’re going to have a meat fest – this is the place to do it! They treat every piece of meat with so much care and respect, and it really comes through in the flavour.
Greve is a place where you could spend weeks if you wanted to. Villa Bordoni was such a peaceful place to base ourselves, and there is so much to see in the surrounding towns. We will definitely be returning to Chianti!