Description
Ultimate Wine & Food Tour – Verrazzano Castle & Boutique Winery – Wine Tour in Chianti Classico
Program
09.30am Meet your driver directly at your address. Welcome sign ULTIMATE TOURS.
Leave Florence from the south and start to drive in the beautiful tuscan countryside in the direction of famous Chianti Wine Region.
10.30am Stop to visit the famous San Gimignano medioeval fortress town (time to climb the Great Tower and taste the Gelato World Champion)12.30pm Visit a second Vineyard in Chianti Classico Wine Region (enjoy the wine tour inside the cellars and wine tasting experience, extra virgin olive oil tasting, balsamic vinegar tasting, truffle oil tasting and tuscany authentich lunch). You can buy or ship directly from the wine and oil producer to your address.
3.00 Pm Visit “Verrazzano Castle“, second Vineyard in Chianti Classico Wine Region (enjoy the underground wine tour inside the cellars end with wine tasting)
Photo stop at Michelangelo square (stunning view on Florence).
5.30pm Return to your address.
Castello di Verrazzano
The Castle of Verrazzano is located in Greve in Chianti, in the heart of the Chianti Classico area, between Florence and Siena.
Initially the Castle was an Etruscan then a Roman settlement and it has remained within its boundaries for over 1000 years: it has represented a firm and safe post in an area interested for many centuries by political and dynastic conflicts.
There is a great tradition of winemaking here: the “vineyards situated in Verrazzano” are mentioned in a manuscript which dates back to 1150 and is preserved at the abbey of Passignano (wrongly reported as “1170”).
The Castle became the property of the Verrazzano family in the VII century. Giovanni da Verrazzano, the navigator and discoverer of the bay of New York and of the majority of the East coast of nowadays U.S. was born here in 1485. The famous bridge in New York between Brooklyn and Staten Island was named after him in 1964.
The important Florentine family of Ridolfi succeeded to the Verrazzanos after the death of the last descendant, in 1819. In the 20’ of 1900 Luigi Ridolfi promoted the building of the Football Stadium in Florence and in 1926 he founded the Fiorentina, the football team of the city of Florence. Ridolfi was the President of the Athletic Association and in 1936 he allowed the National Athletic team to train at Verrazzano for the Olympic Games.
1958 the Cappellini family took over the Castle on the road of decadence and brought it back it to its former glory by restoring the villa and rebuilding the agricultural tissue and the vineyards, according to an ancient model, respecting the historical and architectonic features of the place.
Cavalier Cappellini understood since the beginning the importance of the history and the beauty of the Chianti area for a better promotion of farming productions. He laid the foundations for that awareness that inspired the institution of the Agritourism practice.
SAN GIMIGNANO –
