Our Retreat to Chianti - Summer 2026
/We started spending a couple of weeks in Chianti – with our cats! – a few years ago, when we had organized several musical events in that area within a short time period.
This year, we decided to do something different: We cleared our calendar for two weeks to just enjoy a cool pool in this beautiful place, without any musical work whatsoever. So we packed up our cats and all of their stuff, and a few things of our own, and we drove up to Tuscany for a two-week stay in Greve in Chianti.
We still had plenty of our itinerary planning work to do, of course; and we recorded two podcast episodes there as well, from the patio of our little rental apartment.
But otherwise we spent the time hanging out with our cats, exploring the area, and enjoying being in the center of a historic wine town. It is a very busy tourist town during the day; but in the later hours, things clear out considerably, and it seems like the locals take over the piazza. Parents with young kids riding bikes and kicking balls around, and older folks strolling or just sitting with an aperitivo, watching the evening unfold.
Of course in our daily explorations we searched out even more great food and sightseeing and other activities, including the occasional caffe affogato – espresso poured over gelato. And we spent a great deal of time cooling off to beat the heat – our albergo has a small but very cold pool, in a beautiful secluded garden, despite being just steps from the town center.
Here are a few photos to set the scenes of our time there. Despite the work that we had to do, it really was a little bit of “la dolce vita”. It’s too bad the cats don’t appreciate it as much as we do.
It was a productive trip and a great time; but we’re always glad to get back home to Soriano.
