San Casciano in Val di Pesa

Corsini Palace

Planning to take the first train to from Ancona to Bologna and then switch trains to go to Firenze, we thought maybe for once, we would have no problems traveling today. Well, that would just not follow our pattern, so of course the only train in the whole station that is delayed is the one we need to take. Since it was delayed 20 minutes, we couldn't make our next train to Firenze, and had to switch our tickets, making us now an hour behind schedule. Arriving in Firenze, we walked past our old street, reminiscing on the past 5 weeks we lived there, and stopping in our favorite pizza place, Birrificio Artigianale Mostodolce, splitting beer, salad, and pizza, saying ciao to the pizza guy. We went and got our luggage we had left at our friends apartment, where I struggled to pack everything in my two suitcases, knowing that I would go overweight if I didn't ship some of these gifts I bought. In addition to shipping a package, I also bought a large suitcase to replace the broken carry-on I had. Carly's uncle picked us up at the Firenze S.M.N train station and drove us to his beautiful home in San Casciano in Val di Pesa. On the way to their house we stopped at Fattoria Le Corti, the Corsini grand villa where they produce wine and olive oil. We filled up an old bottle with their local wine that is made from the grapes grown on the very land where her aunt and uncle live in the heart of the Chianti Classico region in Tuscany! The Corsini family goes all the way back to the 1100s where they came to become a royal Florentine family who owns land from Florence to Rome. The house that Carly's aunt and uncle now live on used to be the barn where the farm animals' manure used to be kept, with the actual barn holding the animals was the house next door. It has taken them more than seven years to rebuild their house according to strict Tuscany regulations, and it still isn't even approved as a house yet.

After walking around the beautiful countryside and learning about the history of the Corsini land, we washed up and got ready for dinner. We went to Castello di Gabbiano where a quaint Tuscan restaurant is situated on the patio of the castle. We had the castle's own chianti classico, which can be bought at any local grocery store in America (see picture of the bottle). We were each forced to order an appetizer, salad, and entree; her aunt and uncle treated us to the Italian way of enjoying a meal.

Saturday we had a wonderful breakfast at their home overlooking the Tuscan countryside before heading to a neat antique shop down the hill where I got a little wooden wine box with mini Chianti Classico bottles inside. We headed into the town of San Casciano in Val di Pesa and shopped a little before they all closed at 1 for siesta. I got some Florentine stationary and a handmade Italian apron for all the cooking I'll be doing back home! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the salt water pool, sipping Chianti made from the very vines at our fingertips, and admiring the beauty of our surroundings.

St. Bartholomew

That evening we went into the quaint town of Barberino Val d'Elsa to one of the best pizza places in all of Tuscany! Carly and I split an eggplant, prosciutto pizza and a spinach, ricotta one; my two favorite combinations. After dinner we got to go into the Church of Saint Bartholomew where we saw his open casket and the beautiful chapel. We weren't looking forward to going to bed that night because we knew that when we woke up the next morning, it would be our last day here.

Ciao,
Tarra