May 17, 2016 - Revisit Chianti

Today, we decided to revisit the remaining 4 villages in Chianti.  This time, we started with Panzano in Chianti.  We drove around a bit to find a parking place.  After parking, we walked to the Church of Santa Maria and then to the town itself along with beautiful view of wine yards, grape and olive fields.  

 

We visited the Castellina in Chianti.  It is a very charming wine country town with pedestrian walk area, interesting shops, a lovely church, and a castle with high tower. 

Later, we drove to Radda in Chianti.  We did some shopping and visited Palazzo San Niccolo, then we just strolled around the town.  When we got to the only information center open in this area, we chatted with the staff there to find out more information regarding the Tour of Italia 2016 and the Chianti Classico wine and its seal of black rooster (Gallo Nero in Italian).

Then, we drove to Gaiole in Chianti.  It was difficult of finding things to do in Gaiole.  Therefore, we decided to drive to the country side to see grape and olive fields.  We also stopped by Relais Castello Vertine which is a castle-converted-to-hotel site.  It was on a hill top with a picturesque view and a quite cobbled road.

After visiting these 5 villages in Chianti, we realized the best part of visiting Chianti is seeing the endless country hill side of grape and olive fields.  The driving and wine tasting will be great activities here.  However, they are mutually exclusive.  If we are doing wine tasting, then we can not drive ourselves; if we drive ourselves, then we can not do the wine tasting.