Ristorante Albergo G da Verrazzano, Piazza G Matteotti, Greve in Chiante

Ristorante Albergo G da Verrazzano, Piazza G Matteotti, Greve in Chiante
Thursday 21 September, 2006

We caught a local bus from Florence to Greve in Chianti - it took approx. 50 minutes and was an absolute find. A Qantas air steward had highly recommended it to my travel buddies, so we decided to make a day trip of it.

We arrived around 10am and walked through the main piazza and were confronted by the enormous bronze statue on the left - what the?*@!

We walked through the piazza stopping briefly for a coffee at Caffe Lepanto. We wandered through the gorgeous shops that lined the Piazza and arrived at the most impressive deli called Antica macelleria Falorni - this place has to be seen to be believed. We walked up as the staff were unloading more stock - wild boar - what a sight! We followed them in and walked through parma hams, salamis and this amazing cheese cellar.

We continued through the piazza, heading along the main road and found this brilliant wine sampling cellar called Le Catine di Greve in Chiante. The idea is you purchase a smart card and put a certain amount of Euros on the card before walking around the cellar and trying whatever wines take your fancy - some are low cost per taste e.g. 40 c and others are expensive per taste e.g. 5 Euros. Between the 3 of us we spent 30 Euros in no time - what fun!

We stumbled back to the Piazza for our long lunch at Ristorante Albergo G da Verrazzano. This was another find, situated on Level 1 of the hotel and offering lovely views over the Piazza. It was a gorgeous setting and I would love to return and stay in the hotel and complete one of their cooking schools.

The restaurant was located on the verandah and we sat basking in the afternoon sun. We ordered the salami and figs to start - this is great, light entree and I couldn't resist but order the local specialty - tagliotelli with wild boar (this was a first). It was so good, every mouthful was full of flavour. I loved it.

Ristorante Albergo G da Verrazzano - Piazza G Matteotti, Greve in Chiante - T: 0558 53189

http://www.ristoranteverrazzano.it/Pages/e_index.html