In the Chianti Classico region there will be many events: in Greve in Chianti there will be wine tastings, craft market and stars watching from 9.00 pm, in Castellina in Chianti the center will be animated by street musicians, craft market, wine and food tastings, and in Gaiole in Chianti wine and food tastings will start at 6.00 pm.

In Siena wine tastings will take place under the Loggia of Palazzo Pubblico from 9.30, together with guided tours to the Civic Museum and to Torre del Mangia, while in San Gimignano there will be in Piazza Sant’Agostino from 9.00 pm.

There will be also wine tastings and other events in Montepulciano, Castelnuovo di Berardenga, Castiglione d’Orcia and Campiglia Marritima, as well as other minor destinations. In fact the calendar of Calici di Stelle 2010 have many different events scheduled.

So look up high in the sky for your falling star while drinking a good glass of wine, and don’t forget to make a wish!

I haven’t yet planned everything I will do this week end. The only thing that is certain is that I’m heading to Mercantia in Certaldo tonight. I’m going to go see this great Festival of Street Artists that I liked very much in the past. I’ll be in Certaldo around 8 pm and after taking a look at the market in the lower part of  Certaldo and dinner, I’ll climb up to upper Certaldo to go see all the events.

On Saturday I’m planning a morning of total relax. After lunch, I’m planning to go to Cerreto Guidi, a nice Renaissance town about 35 min driving distance from Florence. There is Medicea, an event about culture, food and wine. At 6 pm the “historical reconstruction of threshing”, as well as wineries will open, with wine tastings and art exhibits. At 9.30pm a guided tour will be offered within the beautiful Medicean villa of  Cerreto Guidi. This Renaissance villa, turned into the Museum of  Hunting and of the Territory, was built by Buontalenti as a hunting villa for the Grand Duke Cosimo I.

I have yet to decide what to do on Sunday. I’d like to go to San Gimignano, where a new and very interesting museum opened two weeks ago. The museum is called San Gimignano 1300 and is a spectacular and extremely detailed reconstruction of this beautiful medieval city in Tuscany at that time. It should be really impressive. On the other hand, I’d like also to go to Palazzuolo sul Senio in Mugello for the medieval festival “At the Ubaldini’s Family Court”. The peculiarity of this festival is that this year it’s an historical reenactment of the heroic deeds of Roland. There will a free shuttle bus service from Florence and Pontassieve.

I think I’ll wait and decide on Saturday night what to do on Sunday. In the meantime I wish you a nice weekend!

This weekend we took a short trip to San Gimignano, arriving Saturday evening and leaving by Sunday evening. San Gimignano is a small but unique “borgo” or village in the province of Siena, surrounded by 12th century walls and characterized by numerous medieval towers which make the view of the town from afar breathtaking.

San Gimignano is just an hours drive from Florence and even if we’ve visited it before, we were happy to go back and rediscover it all over again.

On Saturday we arrived just in time to enjoy a delicious dinner in the quiet restaurant Le Terrazze, located in Piazza della Cisterna. Afterwards we walked through the small streets, quite surprised to find the town quiet with few people walking around. We had imagined there would be more people and noise around given the season.
We spent a good night’s sleep at the Bel Soggiorno, a three star hotel near Porta San Giovanni. On Sunday morning as we left the hotel we realized the calm from the evening before was only temporary: the center was full of visitors and many were still arriving. Despite the greater number of people, we were able to continue exploring the streets calmly, without lines or crowds. The Torre Grossa (large tower) and Palazzo Comunale (city hall) were our first cultural destination. The Tower is the only one that can be visited and was worth the climb up to enjoy a fantastic view over the town and of the Val d’Elsa (the climb up was quite easy, except for the small metal ladder at the very end).

In spite of the afternoon heat, we went down to the Fonti Medievali, the spring that has provided water to the town throughout the centuries and which is located a good distance below the historical center. We cooled down afterwards by visiting the Gelateria di Piazza, a gelato shop which has won several awards and which we had to “test” ourselves! It wasn’t possible to try all of their flavors but from what we did taste, we definitely agree a stop here is required…yet another great reason for us to return to San Gimignano again soon!