Along the S222…The Chianti Way….

As a Realtor, a “For Sale” sign always makes my head turn.

In Italy, “Vendita” is the word for “sale” and as you travel along the S222 winding road in Chianti you will see these signs. I have often wanted to stop and shop for these local, handmade items like, cheese, oil, and wine but I have never had the nerve to just drive down some stranger’s driveway. If you did that in Tennessee you are liable to get shot at…But I have also never gone to Italy with my BTF (Big Tall Friend)…she is an adventuresome soul like me and together we were unstoppable.

We bought enough wine and oil to sink a ship throughout our one night stopover in this famous area. As usual, it was the people who made the day…a lovely man who pronounced my name right (impossible to most Italians) and we nicknamed him my “next husband” as he seemed to own his own winery and olive grove which looked like most of one entire side of Greve. We sipped his wine, enjoying the amazing views he gets to see everyday.

We had an amazing picnic (in the car as it started to rain) of cheeses, olives, fruit from a sweet short fellow who if you even LOOKED at something in his deli case you bought it! I realized Persimmons are the messiest but delicious new fruit discovery and they grow everywhere!!!

We visited 3 wineries and a winery WAREHOUSE-where you could sample over 120 kinds. That’s where my Prosecco purchase came from…and we were decided that Chianti Classico really is the best and we also decided we were glad we sampled everything there before driving an extra hour to sample what we THOUGHT we would love and indeed…we did not! So we saved an hour for other ventures….and it’s a good thing.

On the way back towards Florence outside of Greve on the left we saw a “Vendita” sign, we made a u-turn and it was the best u-turn ever….down a long gravel drive we parked in front of a series of buildings…little homes really. We walked around the first one as it seemed to be closed into a small courtyard ..to the far right we saw one door open although no light? We cautiously walked over and to our surprise inside was a perfect Italian “nonna” watching her soap opera television show in the dark (to save energy I am sure). As we approached she jumped up and greeted us with a smile and a direct order to “entrare” (come in)! We had found our way to Az Azienda OlmastrinO-an sweet, elegant winery and producer of extra virgin olive oil. And this oil was like Last Week Fresh!

The next hour was one of shear joy-just like I have read in all my books. Sipping fresh green peppery olive oil out of the most superb terra cotta pots! Lucia was her name and she made it known we could never experience her oil or wine in any store or market. She was actually labeling some fresh wine while we were there. She let us help fill up our olive oil bottles, showed us how to cap them, label and…voila…ready to go! She loved getting her picture taken and told us she had been to New York and had family there. I love how every Italian thinks you live in New York when you tell them you are American. I do enjoy seeing people say “Memphis?”, “Elvis?” when we mention we are from Tennessee! It’s a boring 6 hour drive from where I live to Memphis-you could drive across the entire country of Italy in that time. Lucia also told us all the countries her guests have come from and bought her oil. She was proud to list off every country where some kitchen pantry holds her fresh oil. Little did we know that she is famous! I even found her on YouTube!

In my half wit Italian I tried to understand as she told me of her property, rooms to rent, her family business…and again how you can not buy anywhere but in her home! So we did…we bought for all we knew and realized for the first time I would be checking my luggage home.

My advice…follow those For Sale signs…you never know what adventure ..what lovely person…maybe even Lucia ..could be waiting for you at the end of the “bianca strada”-white gravel road.