Philosophy of Food Summer Study Abroad Program Blog

On Sunday we had a welcome dinner to Panzano at Antica Macelleria Cecchini, where Dario, Kim, and the staff made us feel at home.

http://www.dariocecchini.com/

On Friday May 23 we left Panzano for the weekend, heading towards the coast. While en route to Viareggio, we stopped at Romagnoli farms nearby Ortimino and at Macelleria Falaschi in San Miniato al Tedesco:

http://www.sergiofalaschi.com/

On Thursday morning we headed to Le Cinciole, where six of us are staying, for a visit to their vineyards, cellar, and a tasting. Valeria and Amelia entertained us for some hours, providing lots of details about wine production and wine tasting.

http://www.lecinciole.it/

On May 21st we visited Vicky and Guido at Le Fonti, where Prof. Borghini and two students are also hosted. This was the first introduction to wine production, from the vineyards, to the cellar, the bottling, and the consumer … We ended with a pizza party, with pizza dough prepared by Vicky.

http://www.fattorialefonti.it/home.html

On Mondays (May 19 and 26, June 2 and 9) students cooked with Lele, Elissa, and Mimma. Four meals paired with themes for the course. On June 2, Cristina and her husband joined us too from Ferrara, to teach us how to make fresh pasta from scratch.

On Sunday May 18th we took a 20km hike from Panzano to Volpaia, 10am to 6pm, under the guide of naturalist Martino Danielli, who introduced us to the history of the forest and of the agriculture of Chianti. Among many plants, we talked about lampacioni, which we found the following weekend for sale in Pisa’s market at Piazza delle Vettovaglie (pic included below). For more information on the castle of Volpaia, see here:

http://www.volpaia.it/sito/inglese/index.php