ITALY 2022 – PART 10

During our visit by Frantoio Franci, we were inspired to visit Castello Banfi. Banfi is among the most significant wine producers in Tuscany. On the over 2.800 hectares of land, belonging to Banfi, about one-third are vineyards and then there are olive trees, prune orchards, honey production and much more. Banfi is, in Italy, a relatively new company. Before 1978 the thousand-year-old castle was called Poggio alla Mura, then it was bought by the two Mariani brothers from the US, so now it is Castello Banfi and is a modern winery, and almost a little village, with a wine shop selling Banfi’s own wine, including some fabulous Supertuscans, and other locally produced delicacies. Furthermore, there is also a hotel and some restaurants. We had a delicious lunch at one of the terraces, of course including a nice glass of Brunello di Montalcino. Some of the olives grown at the Banfi estate are also used for making olive oil by Frantoio Franci. From Banfi, we drove over the 1.738 meters high Monte Amiata, through a huge chestnut forest. Monte Amiata is an old volcano, but it hasn’t been active for over 180.000 years. But there is still hot thermal water in the underground. Near the top, at Madonna del Camicione, there is a nice picnic area in the shadow of the dense forest, and a lot of people were collecting different forest mushrooms. Before we continued to our camper place, Le Roghete, we stopped by the little shop/cafe to get a cold drink and buy some groceries for dinner. Actually, this little shop has a lot of own produced delicacies from the Le Roghete organic farm. There were about 2,5 kilometres of gravel road to the AgriCamper Italia pitches. On the way, we stopped by the little chapel Chiesa di Pieve Sant’Angelo. The pitches were more or less in the middle of nowhere, but super-friendly people there and the view from our pitch, where we were all alone, was stunning. During the evening we had company of a couple of horses and the next morning a handful of curious cats. But the night was tranquil. Then we drove to LaSelva, an 800 hectares organic farm with a shop selling all the delicious products, including vegetables, fruit, jam, pickled vegetables, many different pestos, olive oil, and wine….. LaSelva was founded in the late 1970s by the German Karl Egger. Then, at the end of these two days, we stayed at the camper site Oasi di Maremma near the sea. The little camper site had all the required facilities, including a red and white wine dispenser. More about the coastal area in the next post.