Chianti Bike Tour

On Saturday I went with 20 other Gonzaga kids on a 18 mile bike tour through the Chianti wine country. It was gorgeous day and we had a really great time. We started riding at about 10:00 am and got back to Florence around 5:00 pm. The ride was a little more strenuous than I had originally expected but it wasn't too difficult. 

We got picked up in shuttles in the center of the city and were driven out to the Tuscan country side. There were about 35 people in our group, a major portion being Gonzaga students, both male and female. We got fitted for our bikes and helmets and took off around 10:00 am. The very first leg of the trip was a pretty steep hill that we were not expecting! I made it to the top without hopping off my bike and walking like some of the other riders did, but it wasn't too easy! I was immediately amazed by how beautiful and green everything was. The roads were super narrow, the hills lush and rolling. It was exactly how I pictured the Tuscan wine country - if not even more beautiful. 

Our first stop was at a vineyard that had already been harvested. We were able to pull over and get off our bikes and walk through the vineyard to look for left over grapes that we could taste! The grapes were delicious. They were really tiny and purple but really sweet. They had little tiny pits that surprised me when I first bit into a grape. The grapes made my hands super sticky because they were so juicy! After tasting them we hopped back on our bikes and rode through the country side and up a few more steep hills. After a couple hours we got to a Chianti Villa Estate where we had lunch and tasted local wines. We also had a tour of the vineyard, the "cantina" and the "Oricaia", where they make olive oil. We learned all about the techniques or producing and storing the wine and olive oil and then got to taste them as we were served an enormous and amazing meal. The food was awesome, partly due to working up such an appetite all morning. We were served the most amazing bruschetta with the olive oil that was made earlier this year at the very villa we were touring, followed by pasta, traditional "bread and bean soup" and the vineyard's best wine. It was SO good! 

The villa that we visited and toured began making wine over 100 years ago and still operates today. I forget the name of the family who owns it (oops) but I do know that they had a pope in their family and that he is the reason the Trevi Fountain was constructed in Rome. The family crest that covers the surrounding walls of the Villa is the same one that sits atop the Trevi Fountain. The family lives in the upstairs of the villa while the ground floor is rented out for parties and weddings. The family lives there today - we even saw their kids and pets walking around the estate! So cool.

Picking grapes in Chianti.

At the garden of the Villa

After lunch, we headed on our way back, which was mostly downhill until we reached a 2 km hill that really wore us out. By this time it was around 2:30 pm and the sun was really shining. I slowly made my way up the hill and the rest of the ride was pretty leisurely except for a few really steep downhill legs of the ride. Just before finishing for the day we stopped for some photo-ops of a view of the entire city of Florence with the Duomo in site. It was then that I realized how truly glad I was that we decided to spend the day in Chianti - I think I'm going to take my parents on the same bike tour when they visit in two weeks! 

A view of Firenze - that's the Duomo!