Why half of Chianti shuts on Monday

Monday is the Tuscan weekend. Restaurants that worked Saturday lunch through Sunday dinner take their riposo settimanale on Monday, and in the villages it is close to universal. Radda goes quiet. Castellina thins out. The shops on Greve's square keep their shutters down until mid-morning at best.

Nobody tells visitors this, because the official channels list what exists rather than what is open. So people arrive in a hill town at one o'clock on a Monday, walk a beautiful empty street, and eat somewhere they would not have chosen.

The workaround is simple once you know it. Wineries mostly stay open — they run on appointments, not on footfall, and the big estates keep seven days. Volpaia works on a Monday when Radda does not, because the hamlet is an estate and the estate does not close. Castello d'Albola is open every day of the year. Ceramiche Rampini keeps Monday hours when the village shops do not.

Tuesday catches people out too, and less predictably: Bar Ucci in Volpaia, Enoteca Baldi in Panzano, Taverna Le Cose Buone in Gaiole. Thursday takes Antica Trattoria La Torre in Castellina and a couple of the Gaiole places. Wednesday closes Bar Strafico and La VinOsteria.

We keep the closing days in the database and show them on every place, which is why the app can answer the only question that matters at half past twelve on a Monday: what is actually open near me. Filter for it and stop guessing.