Wine visits in Montalcino and Chianti Classico

The two best visits in Montalcino and Chianti Classico were head and shoulders above the rest: Uccelliera and Sestadisopra.  Other excellent visits were Valdicava, Siro Pacenti, Felsina and Fontodi.  My least favorite visit was Ciacci Piccolomini.  It wasn't terrible, it just had a commercial feel compared to the others, which were small and intimate visits.  Ciacci even has a US style wine and gift shop.

Day trip to Florence

We took a nice day trip to Florence today.  Took the bus from Siena, an easy 1 hour and 20 minutes for 7 Euro.  Walked around a bit and visited the Accademia and Uffizi.  Seeing the David again was awesome.  I last saw him when I was in junior high school with my Spanish class from Sepulveda.  What an incredible piece of art.  The Uffizi was less impressive - just not my type of museum.

Florence is a beautiful city.  Lots of tourists and too many cars and motorbikes zipping down the narrow lanes though.  I find myself really loving the small towns in Italia and caring less so about the bigger cities.

Off to Cinque Terre tomorrow.