Winery

Today we drove through beautiful countryside  north of Castellina to just beyond Greve to the winery  of the Castello di Verrazzano.  We had been recommended by T and K who had visited earlier in the year.  After driving a couple of miles through woodland on a dirt track and nearly pushed over the edge by a bus thundering downwards upon us! we came out into the open and the winery.  Giovanni da Verrazzano in the early 16 C discovered part of the east coast of America.  One of his descendants still lives and 
owns the property today and he is of mature years and unmarried!  The Reception was full of a large party of Americans so we decided not to eat in either of the smart wine tasting and gourmet food dining rooms but to sit quietly in the sun under a vine trellis eating local cheeses, salamis and 
ham and of course a glass of wine and enjoying the view.  After exploring around the ornate garden wall of the castle we drove back in time to watch the vinyards by the hotel being harvested by machine.  (See extra:  our hotel is behind the tractor and trailer).  The grape harvest has been good this year but they predict a bad one for the olives later on.

In the evening we thought we would try the restaurant on the hill.  That was a memorable experience!  A very attentive black English speaking manager welcomed us to a table to the side of the main dining-room where there was a lot of music and celebrating.  The meal was delicious:  I ate ox cheek which melted in the mouth (after Jamie Oliver's TV cooking programme in Italy!).  The manager was born in England but studied music at the Academy in Toronto and had worked and lived abroad.  One wondered why he had resorted to restaurant work.  Suddenly the music stopped and someone spoke in German in a serious voice for 20 minutes or more.  The manager said it was the celebration of a 60th birthday and a 45th wedding anniversary and all the family were there.   The chef came out to greet us as the sommelier at the hotel said to mention his name.  I needed to see who the musician was so nosed around the end of the partition to see him staring straight into my face.  In the interval he came round to talk to us.  He was from Florence and very talented with his voice and keyboard. Many oldies.  (On occasions the manager plays together with him.)  If we had been sitting with the party we really would have been tempted to dance as we were wriggling and tapping in tune to this amazing music.  After the meal and the end of the performance the chef suddenly appeared to say goodbye to us and the musician too as the manager kindly escorted us to the door.  We felt like royalty!    We hadn't enjoyed ourselves so much for a long time!