36 hours in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Italy’s Wine country
Our favorite part of our Italy trip was our stay in Italy’s Wine Country. We visited the Northern Chianti region and stayed in the area of San Casino in Val di Pesa. It was absolutely beautiful and worth making the trip. We stayed at Fattoria Corzano e Paterno, a family owned winery. With our stay we received a tour of the winery and a wine tasting along with a bottle in our room and a cheese that they make on property. Our stay was for 2 nights and we had one full day of wineries and experiences. Here is what we did on our 36 hours in San Casciano in Val di Pesa.
36 Hours In San Casciano in Val Di Pesa
Fattoria Corzano e Paterno – We stayed on property here and also did their wine tasting. This is such a personal experience. The service is amazing and the family is so friendly. We loved this part of our stay so much that we have even talked about making this stay a regular part of our lives.
Antinori Chianti Classico – This winery is absolutely stunning with amazing architecture. We only did a wine tasting with no tour. Although, I enjoyed the property, the service was lacking. They were not friendly nor did they really even acknowledge those of us in the tasting room. I highly recommend visiting the property to see it, and try their wine, but unless you are doing the tour don’t have high expectations for service.
Poggio Al Sole – This was another small family winery not far from Corzano. They were very friendly and had great wine with outstanding views.
Cantinetto Del Nonno- This was a very cute restaurant in the heart of San Casciano. They didn’t have room for us when we arrived, but they pulled a table out of storage and set us up across the street.
Cooking class with Loredana at Corzano e Paterno – We cannot rave enough about Corzano, through Airbnb they will book excursions, meals, cooking classes and more. We chose to have a cooking class with Loredana. She was the sweetest woman and was so great with the girls. We made pasta, bruschetta and tiramisu with her. She assembled the rest of the meal and it was delicious. You have menu that you choose from a week or so out and she arrives with all of the ingredients. You will have a lot of leftover food. We had so much food afterwards it could have fed us for days.
When we checked out we continued our journey through wine country where the views are absolutely stunning. The whole country side is worth the car rental and drive. We ventured our way south and stopped in Montepulciano. Which is a beautiful town sitting a top a hill and home to some of the most amazing red wine. Which leads me to our final recommendation. When purchasing wines that are local to a region in Italy. They must be labeled with an Italian government label. This label certifies the wine is the proper percentages to be called a Montepulciano or Chianti.
Looking for more Italy vacation information? Check out this post about Cinque Terre.
