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Spumante Rosè Brut Classic Method 2018 by Donatella

Donatella Cinelli Colombini presents her Spumante Rosé classic method made with only Sangiovese and thought of for the white truffle of the Crete Senesi

<<It is a great sparkling wine for meals, an exclusive excellence intended for lovers of Tuscany and the best fruits of the earth such as the white truffle from the Crete Senesi>> says Donatella Cinelli Colombini presenting the 2018 classic method rosé produced in only 1,433 bottles at Fattoria del Colle.

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<<Demanding wine lovers who are always eager for novelties will discover a wine of great personality and fineness. A small exclusive series that aims high>>. The Rosé Sparkling Wine by Donatella Cinelli Colombini: combines the typical freshness of Italian sparkling wines with the gustatory intensity of long-aged bubbles.

3 YEARS WORK TO CREATE THE NEW SPUMANTE ROSE’

Donatella Cinelli Colombini worked three years for this result, preparing a Sangiovese vineyard with different characteristics from those intended for the classic Tuscan reds << when Josef Reiterer told me to produce more grapes, for me it was a shock>> she says referring to the legendary creator of the sparkling wines “Arunda”, the South Tyrolean winery 1,200 meters above sea level, who supported her throughout the project as a consultant.

For the brut rosé by Donatella Cinelli Colombini a dark and cold room (12 ° C) was built in the cellar of the Fattoria del Colle. Investments but above all a lot of manual skills with the traditional pupitres where the bottles are turned day after day by the cellar staff of the first Italian winery with an all-female staff.

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Even the packaging has an author’s touch with the label signed by Alessandro Grazi, Sienese painter of international fame. From the canvas of Pienza in the texture of the label, to the ecological coiffe, up to the capsule with the traditional dove symbol representing Donatella Cinelli Colombini and the screen-printed box, everything has been designed for a demanding, refined public that is eager for small exclusive jewels.

An audience that loves Tuscany and its traditions such as preparing effervescent wines for weddings and baptisms. A custom that this sparkling wine has respected since it was served in preview for the wedding of Enrico and Violante Cinellicolombini JR.

TECHNICAL SHEET OF THE SPARKLING WINE BRUT ROSE’ 2018

TYPE: Sparkling Rosé Classic Method Brut
VINTAGE: 2018

2 September 2021

By Donatella Cinelli Colombni

Cenerentola Doc Orcia has succeeded in a divine way

The Doc Orcia Cenerentola 2017 has just received 92/100 from the Wine Spectator confirming a quality that remains very high every year

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It is always difficult to go over the 90/100 mark in the international press when the wine is from an emerging denomination. But it is even more difficult to get the wine tasted often and that it maintains, year after year, very high scores.

THE DOC ORCIA CENERENTOLA PRIZE LIST

Cenerentola Doc Orcia has succeeded.

From the 2010 harvest to today it has obtained stellar scores from Wine Spectator: vintage 2010 91/100, vintage 2013 90/100, vintage 2016 93/100, and vintage 2017 92/100.

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To this are added very positive ratings from Robert Parker-Wine Advocate, James Suckling, and Wine Enthusiast for a total of 10 reviews above 90 points in the last 5 vintages produced.

An amazing prize list for a wine of a denomination born in 2000 and still very small in size, such as the Doc Orcia, on which to attract the attention of critics is very difficult. It is an amazing result especially because the blend is brand new and combines Sangiovese with a minor native vine – the Foglia Tonda – resurrected from oblivion that was a century long.

The blend is different from the two grapes tasted in purity: making a comparison with fashion, the elegant and vertical prince grape of Tuscany makes you think of an Armani dress, while the Foglia Tonda, powerful and exuberant, recalls Cavalli or Dolce and Gabbana.

27 August 2021

Offer: preview five-star Chianti Superiore DOCG 2019

Our loyal wine lovers will be the first to drink the Chianti Superiore DOCG 2019 BIO 5-star harvest. At home with professional corkscrew and vacuum stopper

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The 2019 harvest was extraordinary for Sangiovese in Tuscany. Small bunches, small berries and perfect ripening. The strong temperature range of September 2019 determined the characteristic element of the wines from this vintage which is the richness of the aromas.

To be among the first to taste the 2019 Chianti Superiore vintage will allow you to appreciate and make your friends appreciate, a small masterpiece. It is a great young wine and at the same time it is easy to drink and accompany with any dish: from the Florentine steak cooked on the grill to a brunch with cold cuts and cheeses but even with Asian dishes. In fact, the great value of Chianti is to be extraordinarily easy to match and maintain its pleasantness with all foods except with absolutely inappropriate things such as ice cream.

But we are sure that you will not do anything like that.

Indeed, to facilitate the service on the table we combine the bottles with a professional corkscrew and a vacuum stopper (it works as a plunger just put it on the bottle without a cap, raise and lower the upper part until it becomes hard) to extract the air from the half full bottles and then finish the Chianti Superiore the next day and maybe discover that you like it even more.

Chianti Superiore is a type of Chianti of a higher level: the grapes come from vineyards that are not very productive and of this wine is requested a “superior” level as the name indicates. What we propose comes from the vineyards at Fattoria del Colle, that was built by the ancestors of the current owner, Donatella Cinelli Colombini, in 1592.

OFFER FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

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12 bottles of Chianti Superiore DOCG BIO (organic) 2019 + a professional corkscrew and a vacuum closure: Euro 119 (instead of Euro 156)
For those who wish to double the order buying 24 bottles the price is even more convenient
Euro 233 (instead of Euro 312)
Free shipping in Italy, 15 Euro discount on shipping abroad.

19 August 2021

in Farm experiences

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Harvest weekend 2021

Visits the vineyard to harvest and to the cellar. Taste from the barrels, and then Brunello, Chianti and Orcia. Master class on Sangiovese and wine experience for a day

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Two appointments in September – 17-19 and 24-26 to participate in the 2021 harvest. An unforgettable experience with Sangiovese from which the great Tuscan red wines such as Brunello and Chianti are made.

HARVEST WEEKEND IN TUSCANY IN A SANGIOVESE CLASS

Picking the grapes, learning to taste it to assess the ripeness of the clusters. Taste the must and understand when it turns from juice into wine.
Taste the wine from the barrels and then what is already bottled. Even try your hand at being winemaker and blend your own Supertuscan.
Visit the cellars at Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino and at Fattoria del Colle in Chianti and Doc Orcia regions, discovering how a small reality has managed to bring 10 wines to get over 90/100 from the international press. An amazing result with peaks of excellence in the bottles awarded with ratings up to 97/100.

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THE HARVEST IN THE CELLARS AT CASATO PRIME DONNE IN MONTALCINO AND FATTORIA DEL COLLE IN THE CHIANTI AND DOC ORCIA REGION

Living the harvest in excellent cellars, where quality is a daily construction, is exciting and transmits enthusiasm, as well as a lot of information.

The program of the harvest weekends is very intense and has as its highlight the master class held by a great expert in Sangiovese. It is a unique opportunity for lovers of fine Tuscan red wines.

The main vine of Tuscany (64% of the total), Sangiovese, is also the one with the highest number of clones (108). It is a “territorial” vine, that is, it produces different grapes depending on the terroir in which it is planted

For this reason, to understand it requires a great expert capable of leading wine lovers to discover the Tuscan soils in their extraordinary diversity: Chianti boulder, galestro, alberese, clays and sea sands. A puzzle that looks like a game and then, in the glass, becomes perfume and flavour.

The harvest weekend begins on Friday evening and ends in the middle of Sunday. It has an intense rhythm to allow participants to live many engaging experiences but also to return home in tranquillity.

12 August 2021

90/100 for Rosso di Montalcino and 92/100 for Leone Rosso

Two excellent scores reward the Rosso di Montalcino 2018 by the Wine Spectator and the Leone Rosso Doc Orcia by James Suckling

Not only Brunello gets great ratings from the international wine press, but also the younger reds produced by Donatella Cinelli Colombini.

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The manual care, the organic certification, the maniacal selection as keys to success

Her vineyards at Casato Prime Donne and at Fattoria del Colle in Trequanda are now adult and, also thanks also to organic cultivation, they are sending to the cellar grapes of extraordinary quality: healthy, well balanced in maturation and with berries of very small caliber.
The production of grapes is scarce, in the 30 hectares of the two wineries. The largely manual cultivation and the entirely manual harvest allows to divide the grapes according to quality and maturation. In the cellar, human intervention are very limited and mainly concerns the autumn and spring racking, the wine matures the large barrels and 5-7 Hl smaller barrels at a temperature of 18 ° C.

10 wines over 90/100 with peaks of 97/100 for Donatella Cinelli Colombini

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All cared for and manually done in the manner of our grandparents.

The result is amazing: 10 wines with scores of 90/100 from the international specialized press and peaks of 97/100.

A success that excites because it concerns the whole range, from Brunello to be cellared to young reds. This is a sign of great respect for customers and of a small winery with an increasingly great brand.

2 August 2021

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Wines to be gifted

How men and women choose the gift bottle. Some useful advice depending on the recipient: environmentalist, glamorous, expert, experimentalist

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Let’s start with gender: there is a difference between women and men in their way of choosing a bottle to give away.

WINE TO BE GIFTED CHOSEN BY A WOMAN

The woman thinks << will he like it?>> and lets herself be advised by the store clerk , paying attention to the taste of the recipient and the type of situation that a given wine suggests in relation to the lifestyle of those who will receive the bottle. A woman tends to be more “sparing” than the man and therefore the value of the gift will almost certainly be lower.

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WINE TO BE GIFTED CHOSEN BY A MAN

A man, on the other hand, looks at the price <<does it cost enough for my boss?>> is his first thought. Then he focuses on naming, branding and scores in the guides. A man listens less to the sales people and looks more at the online ratings. He cares less about the packaging than the female customer but still needs the gift to present itself well.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PACKAGING OF A WINE TO BE GIFTED

For this wine single cases, bags, wooden boxes, gift boxes …. They are indispensable in every spot where wines are sold: from the cellar, to the wine shop, to the supermarket with a department with luxury products.
Go to Harrods in London and you will see how luxury bottles are packaged!
It must be said, however, that the great wines travel in the traditional 6-bottle wooden crates with a nailed lid. They are not beautiful but, after all, even the Rolls Royce does not have an incredible design but it is one of the greatest symbols of ancient wealth!

30 July 2021

Five-star organic Chianti Superiore 2019

Organic Chianti Superiore from a 5-star harvest. A family wine: born from the vineyards and cellars at Fattoria del Colle

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This estate was built in 1592 by the ancestors of the current owner Donatella Cinelli Colombini who in twenty years has restored it to its former glory. Its altitude, of 404 meters on the sea, with cool nights, allows a slow and gradual maturation of the grapes. The farm is located in the south of Tuscany on a land of neo-quaternary age with sea sands and clays. The vineyards are on top of the hills in positions well exposed to the sun with excellent ventilation.

CHIANTI SUPERIORE 2019 BIO FROM FATTORIA DEL COLLE

Chianti Superiore is a higher level type of Chianti: the grapes come from low yield vineyards and the wine is required to be of “superior” level as the name indicates.

2019-Harvest-at-Fattoria-del-Colle

The climate was particularly favourable in 2019. The very rainy spring, especially in April and May hydrated the soil allowing the vines to well withstand the heat of summer .There were only two major storms (1 July and 15 September) for a total of almost 200 mm of water. They were the magic touch needed for a masterpiece harvest. The 2019 grapes were perfect with very small, healthy bunches and berries, ripened in a very balanced way.

The strong thermal excursion of September 2019 determined the characteristic element of the wines of this vintage, that is the richness of the aromas.

2019 A MASTERPIECE OF A HARVEST WITH GREAT AROMAS

TYPE: dry red.
PRODUCTION AREA: Tuscany, Trequanda, Fattoria del Colle
VINTAGE CHARACTERS: Dry winter, very rainy April and May, hot summer interrupted by two thunderstorms. September with sunny days and almost cold nights that allowed a gradual maturation of the grapes and an extraordinary synthesis of the aromas.
VARIETAL: Sangiovese with small additions of grapes authorized in Tuscany.
HARVEST: manual harvesting with selection of clusters in the vineyard to pick only the grapes with the same level of ripening. This involved repeated passages in the same vineyards and allowed to vinify the entire production separately and optimally. In the cellar a further selection of grapes (mechanical and manual) was carried out on the sorting table.
VINIFICATION: healthy and ripe bunches. Very small calibre berries. Perfectly lignified grape seeds. Excellent Ph and extractable polyphenol content. Vinification was regular: 10 days of alcoholic fermentation followed by 15 days of maceration in contact with grape skins.
QUANTITY PRODUCED: 45.000 bottles.

22 July 2021

Calici di stelle at Fattoria del Colle

Make a wish on the magical Cenerentola terrace on August 5th. For Calici di Stelle at Fattoria del Colle great wines, typical dishes and live music

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The appointment with the shooting stars, the great wines and the live music by Andrea Pinsuti is set for August 5th at 7 pm at the Fattoria del Colle.

AUGUST 5 WITH A VISIT FULL OF SURPRISES, TYPICAL DISHES, GREAT WINES AND LIVE MUSIC

Welcoming with a glass of wine and then a guided tour full of small exciting surprises: the vegetable garden with Tuscan wild herbs to smell and taste preparing to then savour them again for dinner. Then the visit to the cellar with the Cenerentola mural painted by Silvia Argilli, which tells of the marriage between Sangiovese and Foglia Tonda.

Calici di stelle Fattoria del Colle

There is the new room that teaches you to listen to the vineyards, and the signature on the barrel of desires on the new terrace with the spectacular corten railing created by Elisa Boldi inspired by the winter oak woods in Valdorcia.

FATTORIA DEL COLLE MAGIC FOR CALICI DI STELLE 2021

At 8.00 pm the real party begins with a buffet of Tuscan specialties prepared by chef Doriana Marchi: Panzanella with ancient Tuscan wild herbs, pasta with sugo bugiardo, mixed meat stew with potatoes cooked under the ashes, caffè in forchetta and whipped ricotta. All accompanied by a glass of Leone Rosso Orcia Doc or Sanchimento Supertuscan Bianco IGT 2020. For wine lovers the range of wines will expand to Brunello, Supertuscan, Cenerentola Doc Orcia and other award-winning wines in Italy and abroad with very high ratings.

14 July 2021

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

WINE TOURISM BY MOTORBIKE

Motorbikes, Vespas and bicycles …. Travelling through the wine regions on two wheels has become a way to breathe, feel free and immerge in nature

The Giro d’Italia has crossed the Doc Orcia and Brunello territories using dirt track in the middle of the vineyards and creating images and emotions that have made their way into the hearts of bicycle enthusiasts from all over the world. Shortly after, still in Montalcino, the Eroica called upon the Italian and foreign cyclists most attracted by memorable feats and the magic repeated itself. The harmony of the most beautiful agricultural landscape on the planet, which since 2004 has been protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, transforms outdoor cycling into a regenerating and rewarding experience.

The effect of this countryside, cared for millennia by the hand of man, is a sense of well-being of body and mind that psychologists call “landscape therapy”. It calms, and invigorates with a feeling similar to that described by Giacomo Leopardi in his Infinito: << mirando, interminati/ spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani/ silenzi, e profondissima quiete ….. tra questa/ immensità s’annega il pensier mio:/e il naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare>>
<< aiming, endless / spaces beyond that, and superhuman / silences, and very deep stillness ….. between this / immensity drowns my thought:/ and to be shipwrecked in this sea is sweet to me>>.

WINE TOURISM BY BIKE, MOTORBIKE AND VESPA

Of course, not everyone loves cycling, there are those who prefer walking, those who run along dirt paths, or motorcyclists and Vespa tour lovers, but everyone is looking for a more direct contact with nature and the territory outside the car with its comfortable air conditioning and isolation, even from sound, from the surrounding environment.
For them the Valdorcia and the Crete Senesi are an ideal destination that combines landscape beauty, culture and food and wine pleasures.

9 July 2021

JULY OFFER FOR THE CLUB

Two cases containing 10 bottles of Super Tuscan white Sanchimento 2020 and 2 bottles of Passito di Traminer 2017 BIO, 2 custom drop stops and a manual on wine

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Extraordinary wines that transform your summer dinners into unique and unforgettable moments. These are two exclusive series: the white Sanchimento IGT Toscana Supertuscan is produced in 1800 bottles and the Passito in just 346 small 375 ml.

Together a small “brief handbook” manual for great wine lovers and 2 personalized drop stops will be sent to your home and will help you pour the wine into the glasses.

PASSITO 2017 A SUPER EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTION

Passito is a passion for Carlo, husband to the producer Donatella Cinelli Colombini, who personally cares for it. The 2017 vintage got 94/100 from Robert Parker Wine Advocate who appreciated the honeyed and very elegant taste of this dessert wine. The grapes for the Passito and white Supertuscan Sanchimento are produced in the small BIO vineyard of Traminer variety at Fattoria del Colle.

SANCHIMENTO 2020 SUPERTUSCAN WHITE FROM A 5 STAR VINTAGE

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Sanchimento Super Tuscan IGT bianco was born in the 2020 five-star harvest. Some of the grapes have been vinified by traditional method and part of them with orange- method which means in contact with grape skins and indigenous yeasts. Before bottling, the wine obtained with the two systems was combined to get a white with a golden colour and a complex and slightly mineral scent. In the mouth the wine is harmonious and surprisingly intense. It will fascinate you for its elegant character, it is fresh and at the same time rich.

OFFER FOR MEMBERS OF DONATELLA’S CLUB

Price of 159 Euro (instead of 181 Euro)

For two cases containing 10 bottles (750 ml) of Sanchimento IGT Bianco Supertuscan 2020 and 2 bottles (375 ml) of Passito di uve Traminer 2017, 2 drop stops and a manual for wine lovers.

For those who want to double the purchase: 298 Euro (instead of 362 Euro)

30 June 2021

by Donatella Cinelli Colombini

95 points for Brunello Riserva 2015 from Insider Wine Spectator

94 for the Brunello 2016 and the Brunello Prime Donne 2016 excellent ratings from Wine Spectator for two extraordinary vintages from Casato Prime Donne in Montalcino

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It’s always nice to read good reviews about your wines from super experts and when the label is in the Wine Spectator Insider it’s a real joy. This time it was the Brunello Riserva 2015 with a nice score of 95. Brunello 2016 and Brunello Prime Donne 2016 are on the inside pages of Wine Spectator, both with an excellent 94.

Brunello 2015 Riserva 95/100 WS, Brunello and Brunello Prime Donne 2016 94/100 WS

My choices in harvest, vinification and barrel ageing are based on the search for the purest original characteristics of Brunello. My Brunello is elegant not opulent. It is a current interpretation of Montalcino’s terroir although inspired by the Brunello of our grandparents.

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There are those who fall in love with it and those who prefer a more muscular Brunello. That’s why I wait for the judgments of the US wine critics with great trepidation. Thankfully for vintages like 2015 and 2016 all agree. Tom Hyland (Italian wine report) who lives in Chicago but has been writing about Italian wines for over 20 years, and is considered among the best ambassadors of our oenology in the USA, has also given 93 to my Brunello 2016.

Brunello 2015 and 2016 two vintages liked by all

Both Hyland and Bruce Sanderson, who tastes for Wine Spectator, recommend drinking my Brunello in ten years time and beyond. The advice is right, these are fine vintages suitable for long aging but, in my opinion, they are very satisfying even now. Indeed, this is precisely the secret of the success of the Sangiovese from Montalcino: it is like a handsome young man who knows how to age and become classier.
These are the Wine Spectator ratings according to Bruce Sanderson:

24 June 2021

Cenerentola wine underground cellar

Tuscan party for the inauguration of the winery of the Fattoria del Colle, almost a palace for Cenerentola wine that becomes princess of Doc Orcia

On June 26^th, Donatella Cinelli Colombini will inaugurate the expansion and restoration of the Fattoria del Colle winery with the blessing of Bishop Stefano Manetti and a “déjeuner sur l’herbe”, for 150 people. Typical Valdorcian dishes will be served accompanied by Brunello, Orcia Doc, Chianti Superiore and Supertuscans. A country party according to the great Tuscan tradition to celebrate the conclusion of a project that allows to increase the quality of wines and transforms the Fattoria del Colle into a wine destination capable of attracting enthusiasts and offering them unforgettable experiences and tastings.

CENERENTOLA WINE UNDERGROUND CELLAR

The main creation is a large underground area intended for the refinement of bottled wines for which 3,366 mc of earth and rock (231 hours of jackhammer by the Edilpellegrini Company) have been moved. The project by architect Silvia Nucci, from the Studio Luigi Rocchi,included a single large room of 450m2 for the aging of bottled wine.

Here the temperature must remain at constant 16°C while in the area for sparkling wine it drops to 12°C. It is in this area, separated by panels, that the pupitres have been placed for the manual remuage of the brut rosé classic method obtained from Sangiovese grapes.

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A WINTER OAK WOOD TRANSFORMED INTO A CORTEN SILHOUETTE

Outside Donatella Cinelli Colombini asked the designers and artisans who worked at the construction site – all local -, to be inspired by what they saw around them. Donatella is in fact a strong opposer of the “non-places” that take away identity from the territories. From this request and from the long months of lockdown, which have confined everyone around the house, the idea was born to reproduce in metal the oak woods near the Fattoria del Colle.

In winter the noblest trees of the Mediterranean scrub, become a lace of bare branches that rise to the sky. The young architect Elisa Boldi (Coima) designed them as silhouettes and cut them with laser on iron slabs making them then get rusty so that they had the same colour as the trees. Finally, the corten forest has been put, for 50 meters, around the new cellar and delimits the panoramic terrace above.

The silhouettes of the oaks allowed the designer Silvia Nucci to create continuity between the new building and the pre-existing part with the fermentation room, the bottling area and a farmhouse built about a century ago. In this last building the immersive room has been built, with the antique bottle library and a system of images, sounds and lights that teaches wine lovers to “listen to the vineyards”.

17 June 2021

By Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Zuppa di pane di Dante, a fourteenth-century flavour

In the occasion of the seven hundred years since Dante’s death, the restaurant at Fattoria del Colle will serve this Tuscan fourteenth-century bread and vegetable soup. You will taste the Middle Ages

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Beans, autochthonous Tuscan plants that the expert botanist Caterina Cardia has planted in the vegetable garden at Fattoria del Colle, as well as onions form Certaldo, extra virgin olive oil form our olive groves and home baked bread by our chef Doriana Marchi with sourdough…. All to create a soup similar to what Dante would have eaten in 1300. That year the supreme poet went to Rome along the Via Francigena which, in the southern section of Siena, crosses the Valdorcia. Wanderers stopped to sleep in the Spedali along the way. They prayed and consumed very simple dinners based on local dishes.

A SOUP THAT TEACHES MEDIEVAL HISTORY

Bread soups with beans and vegetables were typical of the countryside and Dante certainly ate them very often. In the Trequanda area, about 20 km from the via Francigena, bread soups were enriched with a few pieces of pork as the housewives still do today.

However Dante’s bread soup at Fattoria del Colle is certainly better than the one that fed the supreme poet on the long journey to Rome but the ingredients are almost the same. For this reason we can consider savouring this soup a cultural experience even more than a gastronomic one: a direct knowledge of the Tuscan Middle Ages.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE ZUPPA DI PANE DI DANTE

Half a kilo of black-eyed beans, a Certaldo onion, a large slice of prosciutto and one slice of salted Tuscan rigatino, bread made with sourdough, half a glass of extra virgin olive oil, kale, chard, stork, other Tuscan wild herbs, parsley, salt and black pepper.

11 June 2021