This was a 2 day tour. Thursday and today (Saturday) I worked with Roberto to lead the Brevards on a tour from Impruneta to to the idyllic Podere la Capella, a wine estate that produces a prized Chianti Classico where we had a private lunch prepared by the owners, followed by a tour of the wine cellars, chapel and vineyards. After such an elegant lunch consisting of white truffle bruschette, tagliatelle pomodoro, coniglio, patate and a pear torte, it was hard, but I had to encourage our clients to get on their bicycles again to burn off some of the calories, but they were spent! So, we shuttled to Castellina in Chianti where we toured the town on foot and then on to Radda in Chianti to drop them off at their hotel. I left my bike there too, since I would be returning on Saturday to guide them back to Florence. Roberto and I had some lively conversation on the way back in the van.Today we shuttled to Radda where we met Ryan and Marianne again. We had a great ride today. We rode up to Badia a Coltibuono, where we stopped to tour the castello, and then on to Gaiole, where a bike race was taking place. We then headed for Castello di Brolio, after which we endured the steep climb up to Volpaia to enjoy a light lunch in the piazza. Then we rode again to Lucarelli. It was perhaps the most beautiful route that I've rode in all of Tuscany. We dropped off our clients at their hotel in Florence and said goodbye, as they got into their rental car, an Alfa Romeo, to continue their Italian journey together.
It's so nice to meet people from all over and it's weird to know that I will probably never see them again, but that their impressions of Italy will always be influenced by our brief encounter.
