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Greve in Chianti
Scott Tiezzi Grabinger
[email protected]
See guidebooks by Scott at www.insidetuscanybooks.com and at the iBookstore.
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Map of Greve in Chianti
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18 Greve in Chianti
Location:
43.585097, 11.315362 (Google)
43°35’N, 11°19’E.
Easily reached on SR222.
Tourist Information:
Tourist Office
Via Giovanni da Verrazano 59
0558-546-287
Tourist Office
Via Giovanni da Verrazano 33
0558-546-299
Wine Information
Piazza Matteotti
May-Sept: Mon-Sat: 09.00-13.00, 14.00-18.00
Weekly market day: Saturday
Reasons for a visit: Excellent wine museum and cantina. It’s a jumping
off point for visiting wineries to the south, stop at TI for map of local
wineries open to visitors. It is easy to spend most of a day here visiting
local sites and tasting dozens of wines. Piazza Matteotti is the town’s
hub surrounded by buildings with attractive arcades.
Time for visit: I took some clients there one day as a starting off point
for visiting Chianti from Greve to Castello Brolio to Siena. We had a
ball at the wine museum, cantina, church, and Macelleria. We spent six
hours in Greve including a light lunch and didn’t make it any further
south. During June through August, high tourist season, it is quite busy
during the regular hours of 09.00 to 15.00, so visit after 15.00 when the
tour buses are on the way out of town.
Overall Accessibility: Good. It’s a flat town with few obstacles.
Highlights and Background
Sitting in the Val di Greve, it is named for the small, fast-flowing river
that runs through it. In the heart of Chianti, it is the principal town in
the wine district, which stretches south of Florence to north of Siena.
Greve is a friendly market town with no shortage of cafés, enoteche,
and crafts shops. Today, Greve in Chianti is the center of wine trade and
unofficial capital of Chianti.
The surrounding territory has been long settled. Its origins go back to
Greve’s
central
Piazza del
Matteotti.
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before the Etruscan era and it later became an important Roman town.
Throughout the Medieval and Middle Ages, heavily fortified Chianti
castles protected fiefdoms in the area. Alliances among castles provided
law and order to keep trade flowing; as a result the Chianti towns prospered and grew.
Although independent for most of its history, Greve ultimately came
under Florentine control and remained so until the Duchy of Tuscany
was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
Along with wine, the Chianti region supports olive oil production, pasta
making, and truffle gathering. As in the rest of central Tuscany, meat is
a main element on most menus including wild game like cinghiale, rabbit, pigeon, and venison. With the emphasis on meats, Greve is home
to one of Italy’s oldest and most renowned butcher shops, the Antica
Macelleria Falorni.
Piazza del Matteotti
Location:
43.58269, 11.31663 (Google)
Piazza del Giacomo Matteotti
Time to visit: Walk around the piazza and shops for as long as you
like.
Reasons for a visit: Stores, enoteche, cafés, tourist information.
Photography: Yes.
Accessibility: A bit crowded, but flat. Shops usually have narrow
entrances.
Parking: The main piazza is open to cars that can park around the
perimeter for two hours (about €2.00). When you arrive you can take
a chance that there is something open or park on one of the side streets
and walk to the piazza.
Highlights
• Monument to Giovanni da Verrazano (1485-1528), the first European in New York harbor.
• A patchwork arcade on three sides of the piazza — each merchant
had to build his own arcade and attach it to the arcades on both sides.
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Falorni Museo del Vino
Location:
43.58269, 11.31663 (Google).
Piazza Nino Tirinnanzi 10
5002 Greve in Chianti
0558.546.275: voice
0558.458.94: fax
[email protected]
www.falorni.it
Hours:
Mon-Sun: 10.00-19.00
Cost: €6.00 including audio tour.
Time to Visit: 60 to 90 minutes.
Reasons to Visit: This is one of the best private
museums in Tuscany and one of my favorites, along with Museo Casa
Bruschi in Arezzo. It’s a fascinating tour displaying the evolution of
wine making technology. Other agricultural practices are also featured
like making pasta. Since this is the home of Giovanni di Verrazano and
Amerigo Vespucci, there is information on their voyages along with
model ships.
Photography: Yes.
Accessibility: It is wheelchair accessible with stair movers, though
some of the aisles are a bit tight.
Background
The grapes growing in Chianti go back to Etruscan times. In the early
sixteenth century, Lorenzo the Magnificent, one of the famous Medici
family, extolled the wine’s benefits in his poems. Later, in the eighteenth century, the wine became more sophisticated and then in the late
nineteenth century both the ingredients in the wine and the official area
of Chianti were defined. The emblem is the “Black Rooster,” ancient
symbol of the Chianti League (see Chapter 16).
The museum was the brainchild of Lorenzo and Stefano Bencistà Falorni, owners of one of the oldest macellerie (butcher shops) in Chianti.
The family also owns the cantine where you can taste dozens of wines,
only a short distance from the museum.
There are 33 stops in the museum with the audio tour. The best way
to see the museum is with the audio. It is clear (British accent) and
concise. Each stop only takes a minute or two and gives interesting
information — it’s not one of those tours that drag on forever. There
Ancient wine
press in the
Falorni Wine
Museum.
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are also placards next to the exhibits. Nothing
is protected, you can get next to the displays
and even touch some of them. The museum
includes a shop with posters, books, postcards,
and gadgets.
The Tour
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The ticket clerk sits amid the shop’s
paraphernalia. After buying your ticket, the
tour begins in this area with a couple of
wine presses from the nineteenth century.
No, there were no feet used when pressing
wine.
Next move downstairs to the largest part of
the museum.
The first area displays the evolution of
many kinds of tools and machines: botSoil sample from Chianti
tlers, pumps, de-stemmers, and presses. For in the Greve Wine Muhundreds of years, the only tools available seum.
for taking care of the vineyard were hoes,
saws, and pruning shears.
One of the things that you always hear about is the terroir, or
soil, of the vineyards. Of interesting note are several kinds of soil
displayed, enabling you to see how the earth contributes to the taste
and style of wine.
There are several kinds of hydraulic valves for moving the juice
through the different phases of production.
The Barriques are small barrels used for wine making, especially
in France. They are made from French oak, seasoned and toasted
to impart flavors to the wine. One of the barrels here has a large
funnel.
Then come the other types of containers: French oak, straw
wrapped carboys, fermentation and aging barrels, and old casks.
There are a series of small barrels, batteria, which, from largest to
smallest, are different kinds of wood: juniper, cherry, ash, chestnut,
and oak. Balsamic vinegar was aged in these. Each barrel is smaller,
accounting for the evaporation that takes place in the barrels. Now
you know why true balsamic vinegar is so expensive.
A room dedicated to refining and decanting wine follows. It
includes pumps, valves, and testing equipment. These scientific
instruments from the end of the nineteenth century measure the
characteristics of the aging wine: thermometers, alkalimeters to
measure acidity, specific gravity measurers, and equipment for
sensory tests. There is a wheelbarrow sulphurator (1879) that spread
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a sulphur solution to protect vines from disease.
How did they wash the bottles? There are a number of bottle racks
to describe the process. Next to them are bottle fillers to make that
part of the process more efficient.
Then comes a corridor that describes the history of the area with
pictures of well known producers.
Following the corridor is an “oil room” with terracotta jugs and jars
and a small olive press.
The wine section concludes with the “corking and uncorking” room
with dozens of corkers and bottle openers, some very ingenious and
complex.
Walking back up to the ground floor are displays about agriculture,
pasta making, cinghiale, and the explorers Giovanni di Verrazano
and Amerigo Vespucci.
Amerigo Vespucci
Amerigo Vespucci (also known as Americus Vespucci, 9
March 1454 to 22 February 1512) was a navigator and map
maker. Vespucci was born and brought up by his uncle in
the Republic of Florence. In 1491 he moved to Spain and
helped Columbus prepare ships for his second and third
voyages. After Amerigo’s explorations in 1501-1502 of
South America, he was one of the first explorers to come
up with the idea that these places he had visited were not
part of Asia (as Columbus thought) but rather were part of
a “New World.” In 1507, a pamphlet was published called “The Four
Voyages of Amerigo” and the author suggested that the new land that
Amerigo had explored be named in his honor. At first, the name of
America was only meant to apply to South America, but later on, both
continents of America became known by his name.
Giovanni da Verrazano
Giovanni da Verrazano (1485–1528) was an Italian explorer of North
America, in the service of the French crown. He was the first European since the Norse colonization of the Americas around AD 1000 to
explore the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and
Newfoundland, including New York harbor and Narragansett Bay in
1524. The name of the bridge over the opening of New York harbor is
one of his numerous honors.
Amerigo
Vespucci.
Wikicommons.
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Le Cantine di Greve in Chiana — Enoteca and Wine Tasting Bar
Location:
43.583 56, 11.31755
(Google)
Galleria delle Cantine 2
5002 Greve in Chianti
0558.546.404info@
leconatine.it
www.lecantine.it
Hours:
Summer: Mon-Sun:
Wine station in the cantina.
10.00-19.00.
Winter: 11.30-18.30. Closed Wed. Closed all of February.
Cost: Varies on the amount of wine that you’d like to taste.
Time to Visit: One to two hours.
Reasons to Visit: To enjoy a large variety of Tuscan wines without
the process of driving to find the numerous vineyards. Furthermore, it
is enormous fun. If you are the designated driver, there is a spittoon at
each wine station.
Photography: Ask for permission.
Accessibility: There are about thirteen steps going down to the tasting
room from outside with a stair mover.
Background
Like wine? You’ll have some great fun here. Besides, it also provides a
much needed break from churches and museums.
Chianti’s vineyards, wineries, and enoteche are spread over a wide
region, and if you’re visiting with a limited amount of time or money,
or just want to find the largest variety possible, Le Cantine is an outstanding choice. You may find almost every wine in Tuscany here.
Le Cantine is the largest wine tasting bar that I’ve seen since the one
that my wife and I visited in Beaune, France in 1994. The cantina has
hundreds of different wines on its shelves and there are over 100 wines
on tap. The focus is on Chianti wines, but there are also large numbers
of wines from other regions in Tuscany with the addition of dolce
wines, grappa, and olive oils.
It’s not too hard to find, just around a small corner by the river. It is
below ground level so you descend thirteen steps to the entrance. Inside
it is all modern technology and wine in a spacious setting. After visiting
the countless small shops in Italy, this is large enough to park six cars.
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The visit begins with a stop at the long halfmoon shaped counter where you buy an
electronic card to use in the tasting system:
€10, €15, €20, or €25. Along with the card you
receive a glass. Then you are ready to go.
It is a high tech operation using the “Enoround”
system (www.enomatic.com), which automatically distributes wine after inserting a cash card
and choosing a wine. Each table has eighteen
bottles. Nine are operated on one-half of the
table and nine on the other half of the circle,
each half has a place for the cash card that you
buy from the reception desk. Above each bottle
is a lighted button. When you insert your card
all of the buttons on that half of the circle light
up. You put your glass below the narrow metal
spout of the wine that you want to taste and push the button. The wine
comes out and your card is debited. It’s about two ounces of wine —
more than enough — that flows into the glass. The cost for a taste of
any particular wine is anywhere from €.60 for everyday, young table
wines to €6.00 for a wine that might cost €200.00 a bottle. The Enoround also has a preservation system using nitrogen to protect the wine
for up to twenty days.
On my visit, there were three of us and we each started with a €10.00
card. We found that the tastes were generous enough for all three of us
to taste a wine. By sharing, we all managed to taste at least 15 wines —
before we went off to buy another €10.00 card. We were there for two
hours; the time passed in a flash.
Are you driving? Next to each tasting island is a small sink/spittoon for
spitting out your taste — worked for me. Nearby is a sink for rinsing
your glass and mouth.
The wines are grouped by regions and types. The wine islands include
Chianti, Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico d’Annata, and Chianti Classico Riserva. Begin with the white wine and proceed from lightest to
heaviest red wines. Save the sweet wines and grappa until the end.
Other Tuscan wines are well represented including Brunello and Rosso
Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile and Rosso Nobile di Montepulciano, dolce wines, grappa, and Super Tuscans.
There was one Enoround island for olive oils that are free to taste. Grab
a spoon and plate with small pieces of bread from the banquette, insert
your card, hold the spoon under the spout, push the button, and the oil
fills the spoon. Put the oil on some bread to taste.
Customer
choosing an
olive oil for
tasting at
the cantina.
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The most expensive (maybe highest quality) wines are located at an
island name “L’isola dei Tesori,” Treasure Island — outstanding wines
from several areas. This is set up only in September of each year. The
tastes are obviously cost a lot more than those at the other islands, up to
€6.00 for a taste.
Finally, you can finish the day off with some vin santo and other dolce
wines, and grappa.
Ultimately, it is Disneyland for wine lovers.
Antica Macelleria Falorni
Location:
43.58228, 11.31694 (Google)
Piazza Matteotti 71
0558.530.29
[email protected]
www.falorni.it
Hours:
Mon-Sat: 08.00-13.00,
15.30-19.30.
Sun and holidays: 10.0013.00, 15.30-19.00.
Time to visit: Five minutes to an hour.
Prosciutto hanging on the walls of the Antica
Reasons for a visit:
What a wild place! Meats, Macelleria.
sausages, cheeses, a
museum with displays of antique tools. It is one of the oldest butcher
shops in Chianti.
Photography: Yes.
Accessibility: No. It’s crowded inside and no room for a wheel chair or
a person with crutches.
Highlights
The eighth generation of the Falorni family works at the Ancient
Falorni Butcher of Greve in Chianti, founded in 1729 by Dall’Avo Gio
Batta. From generation to generation secret recipes have been handed
down from father to son. The family has expanded its influence in
Greve by creating the wine museum and cantine.
Local meats have always been the basis of their products: cinta senese
18 Greve in Chianti
pigs, cinghiale, chianina cattle, chicken, and others. They use fresh
local ingredients to flavor their cured meats: fennel, juniper, bay leaf,
garlic, parsley, sage, and rosemary.
The store spans four shop fronts under the gallery in the piazza. Prosciutto hams hang from ceilings, almost brushing your hair. They have
a cheese room in the basement where they age cheeses and weigh them
on an ancient scale. The meats include salamis, pancetta, sausages,
lardo, cheeses, salamis, fresh meats, prosciutto, bresealo, and dozens of
other products.
For a picnic or meal there are bread, wine, olives, and prepared foods.
This, like the two other Falorni operations, is enormous fun to visit.
Chiesa (Propistura) di Santa Croce
Location:
43.58412, 11.33754 (Google)
Piazza Santa Croce 1
Small end of Piazza dei Matteotti.
Hours: 09.00-13.00, 15.00-19.00
Time to visit: Fifteen minutes.
Reasons for a visit: I wouldn’t send anyone on a
search for this, but it is easy to find at the end of
the main Piazza dei Matteotti. It’s interesting to
look at a modern restoration of an ancient church
and a couple of good works of art.
Photography: Yes.
Accessibility: Steps up to the door. One step up to the altar.
Highlights
The eleventh century Chiesa di Santa Croce closes the south end of the
piazza. It was rebuilt in 1325 after being burned to the ground, along
with the rest of the town, by the Duke of Lucca, Castruccio Castracani.
Further modern renovations have just about destroyed any remnants
of the church’s medieval origins. After further modern renovations,
the church, which houses mediocre paintings of the school of Fra
Angelico, now features plain walls with shiny marble floors and little
ornamentation.
Exterior
• The façade is neoclassical fronted by a portico with two columns
and three arches topped by a gold cornice decorated with carved
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garlands. This is a base of the tympanum, which has two side niches
holding statues of St. Francis and John
the Baptist.
• The bell tower was originally lower,
was raised in 1913.
Interior
• The interior is a small nave with narrow side aisles. The walls are plain
plaster with a coffered, or painted,
ceiling. The pews, incongruous with
the modern looking church, are from
the sixteenth century.
• Immediately to the right of the door
Infant Jesus of Prague.
is a niche for the baptismal font and a
statue of John the Baptist. The font is one of the few ancient furnishings in the church.
• Next, in a frescoed niche, is a Madonna col Bambino (Maestro da
Greve, 11th c.).
• Painting of San Francesco di Salles (17th c.).
• Midway, enclosed in glass, is a statue of the Santo Bambino di
Praga (1928) — the Infant Jesus of Prague — dressed in a red
gown with a crown larger than his head.
• In the chapel to the right of the main altar is a triptych, the best
work in the church, depicting the Madonna with a Bishop, John the
Baptist, St. John, and Bishop (Bicci di Lorenzo, 1452). The partial
predella shows the baptism of Christ, two angels, and another event
in the life of Christ.
• The modern high altar sits two steps up from the main floor. It is
a massive block of red marble, beautifully proportioned with a T
carved on the front.
• Behind the altar there is a crucifix (from Spain, 15th c.) hanging
on a frame with gold cloth behind the cross. Three small blocks of
marble have cushions for seating of the altar servers and priest.
• At the left front altar is a ceramic tabernacle with a gold door
(Santi Buglioni, 16th c.). Interesting side note: The tabernacle looks
startling like a della Robbia work. After Luca della Robbia moved
to France to escape the plague, the Buglioni family inherited the
secrets of the pottery glaze techniques. According to Giorgio
Vasari, the Buglioni learned the della Robbia’s secrets through
women who frequented his house.
• On the left, a high-relief of the Sacred Family (Antonio Fedi, 17th
c.).
• Left, a painting of Sant’Anna and
Mary (Tirinnanzi, 1961).
• Along the left wall is a small painting
depicting the Annunciation (Giovanni
Ponte, 14th c.).
• The Marian Chapel has a reproduction of the Madonna del Conforto
surrounded by elaborate carvings (the
original is in the Arezzo Duomo). On
the left is a cloth embroidered “M”
with a crown.
Events
Festival of the Flowers
The festival takes place in the first week
of May. The main square is entirely covered by a multicolored carpet of flowers.
Review of the Chianti Classico
The Greve Wine Festival, in September, overflows with the coveted Chianti
wines. It is the Chianti region’s largest
wine fair and is guaranteed to impress.
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Infant Baby of Prague
In 1638 a young priest named Fr. P.
Cyril went to Prague and found the
Holy Infant statue buried in the ruins
of the Lady of Victory church. Fr. Cyril
cleaned the statue and placed it in
the oratory for worship. While he
was praying before the Infant Jesus, he
heard the Infant Jesus say, “Have pity
on Me and I will have pity on you. Give
Me My hand and I will give you peace.
The more you honor Me, the more
I will bless you.” The repairing of the
statue’s hand was a miracle since Fr.
Cyril and his peers did not have the
financial resources nor the know-how
to repair it. Since the statue was fixed,
a number of miracles had occurred
and the word began to spread, resulting in a large increase of veneration
to the Holy Child. This includes the
Czech nobles as well.
On Thursday, the festival starts at 17.00, and on Saturday, Sunday,
and the next Monday at 11.00. The stands close at 21.00 (19.00 on
Saturday). The idea is that you buy a wine glass from the Segretaria
(€10.00) along with a ticket that allows you to taste up to eight of
the wines offered by vendors. www.greve-in-chianti.com/en/2010_
wine_festival.htm
Greve Antique Fair
This is one of the better antique fairs in Tuscany and it occurs annually on Easter Monday. Stalls are set up in the main piazza (Piazza
Matteotti) and one or two adjacent streets. Among the main categories on display are old and reproduction rustic furniture, old tools,
farmhouse and vineyard artifacts, ceramics, glassware and cutlery,
a very good range of embroidered linen, very interesting iron work,
paintings, postcards and much more. Snacks are available along
the street off the square including porchetta, prosciutto pannini,
pecorino cheese, and dried fruit and sweets. www.greve-in-chianti.
com/antiques_collectors_fair.htm