{"id":1640,"date":"2009-07-20T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2009-07-20T07:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=1640"},"modified":"2021-01-27T10:44:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T09:44:59","slug":"organic-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/tuscany\/organic-farm\/","title":{"rendered":"Take the kids to an organic farm in Tuscany"},"content":{"rendered":"

So. I had an 11 year old and a 13 year old from California with me for five days, and they looked like they’d have enough art history and walking around in Florence to last them a lifetime. If they were going to get a full understanding of Italian culture, I thought they ought to see where food comes from<\/strong> – or where it SHOULD come from. So I took them to an organic farm in the Chianti region of Tuscany<\/a>. It was a beautiful, informative, somewhat sad (see why below), and fun experience for all, even when a massive thunderstorm broke out…<\/p>\n

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The kids make a new friend<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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view from the road (keep going UP!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I phoned Valerio Eternati<\/strong> of Podere Ruggieri Io near Pontassieve<\/strong>, who is one of the producers associated with the eno-gastronomic<\/strong> society that I belong to, De Gustibus. We went out on a Monday morning, when most museums are closed. To get there from Florence, one drives down via Aretina<\/strong> towards Pontassieve. At Le Sieci there are a few roundabouts, and you turn left at one that is brand new. You go under a train bridge and see a beautiful view of rolling hills, and you start going… UP hill! The road is nicely paved but narrow and you follow all these blind corners and hairpin turns. When you pass the point marked B on the map I’ve embedded below, keep going! I got to a fork in the road where there is a “chains necessary on tires in winter” sign and the street name seems to change from Via dello Stracchino to San Martino a Quona; don’t be fooled, keep going UP. The road turns to gravel and soon after we pulled into the driveway of our destination, marked by a beautiful sign that illustrates what they do. (A fun aside – the first time I saw that fork in the road I went down the hill and we were driving through woods, and about 500 meters down we found a fresh water spring at which locals were filling up, so bring some bottles!)<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n