There is a pilgrimage that lots of people make to Chianti that doesn’t have anything to do with religious spirituality, at least not in its formal sense. People go for the meat. Dario Cecchini provides it. Dario Cecchini is the Dante quoting butcher of Panzano in Tuscany, who has made the entrance of his Antica Macelleria Cecchini into a sort of stage for tourist entertainment.
You can read about him in Bill Buford’s entertaining novel “Heat”. Buford worked with Dario for a while and got to know him and his quirks. There are many quirks. A plethora even.
But really, the problem is that tourists to go the Antica Macelleria Cecchini to be entertained but not necessarily enlightened by the message Dario is always going on about: fresh, local foods prepared with care. After all, what Dario sells is meat, and that’s not so easy to cart home freshly.
chianti vacation rental
Unless you have planned to vacation in a home in Panzano that is. All the better if the property is a “13th century farmhouse in the gently rolling Chianti hills covered with vineyards, olive groves and woods” like Casenove (pictured).
Now you’re in the thick of things. You can get your meat daily at Dario’s. You can taste the things he sets out for people to taste. You can visit wineries.
Of course if your vacation includes a vacation away from the kitchen, you can always go to Dario’s new restaurant, ristorante Solociccia, which translates to “only meat.” Dario has just started serving his own version of hamburgers and fries, so you don’t have to spend a lot of money to eat well. At the time of writing, the dish is 10 Euro.
Imagine yourself in the heart of Chianti. There are worse places to vacation.
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