Casale Classico

The Chianti area: The hills of Chianti, criss-crossed with vines and crested with cypress trees have become the hallmark of Tuscany, the beauty of the landscape married to a quality of life which would be rare anywhere in the world. Chiantishire, as the English call it, has an infinite variety of hilltop villages where you can sip a cappuccino in one of the outdoor cafe's in the medieval squares, of cellars where you can sample the local wines from the barrels, of little trattorias serving robustly satisfying Tuscan food with its hams and salamis and delicious pastas and wild boar stew with white beans and salads growing wild in the hedgerows. The back roads wind uphill and down, between old stone walls crested with pale violet irises past Romanesque cloisters, sandstone farmhouses and shepherds with their flocks of sheep producing the famed 'pecorino' cheese.

Sightseeing: You are in the heart of Tuscany and the list of excursions half or a whole day away is long: Florence, famous for its fine Renaissance art, the walled city of Lucca with its 99 churches, the leaning tower of Pisa, the Val d'Orcia with the Renaissance town of Pienza and the wine-making meccas of Montepulciano and Montalcino and the awe-inspiring abbey of Sant'Antimo are just a few...

Distances: Florence is 15 to 20 minutes away, Greve in Chianti 25 minutes, San Gimignano 30 minutes, while Siena can be reached in 50 minutes. Montalcino and Pienza are a one and a half hour's drive, while the Thyrrenian sea is one hour away. Pisa and Lucca are one hour by car while the jet-set sea resort of Porto Ercole can be reached in approx. one and a half hours.

Airports and transport: The Florence airport is 25 kilometres away and Pisa is at 118 kilometres, while the airport in Rome is less than three hours away and approx. 290 kilometres further south. The nearest railway station with most travel options is Florence.