The notebook
Opinions the tourist board can't print.
- L'Eroica weekend, for people not on a bicycleContrarian
Gaiole is unusable that Saturday. Here is how to have the better weekend anyway.
- Three dates that will decide your autumnCalendar
Everything else in Chianti between now and November is optional. These are not.
- How to read a sagraPractical
The village festivals are the best food in Chianti and the worst-documented. Here is how to actually find one.
- Made by handArtisans
Ceramics, iron and the small workshops still going in the hill towns.
- The quiet quarterWhere nobody goes
West of the Chiantigiana there is a whole half of Chianti that the coaches never reach.
- Why half of Chianti shuts on MondayLiving here
The single most useful thing to know about this valley, and nobody puts it on a brochure.
- The white roadsOn two wheels
Strade bianche, Eroica, and why the gravel here is worth more than the asphalt.
- The five tastings actually worth your afternoonOpinion
You can't visit them all, and you shouldn't try. Book these — and know which one to drop if you're short on time.
- Where the locals actually drinkInsider
Not the tasting rooms with the coach park. The glasses we'd pour ourselves.
- Chianti in the rain is better than you thinkContrarian
A wet forecast is not a ruined day. It might be the better one.