Bella Toscana

We recently returned from our first visit with a group to Tuscany. I had mixed feelings about traveling there for a couple of reasons. 

Tuscany was where my Italian adventures began over twenty years ago. I spent a few months in Florence in 2002 trying to learn the language and to secure a winemaking internship. At least I succeeded at one of those goals. I still struggle to understand and speak Italian, but I did work in Italy the next year in Chianti Classico (also in Tuscany), sometimes you can't have it all. Back then things were quite different: smartphones didn't exist, map technology was confined to physical maps and social media hadn't gripped our consciousness yet. I used a couple of books and paper maps to navigate, and it was slow going. Sure I love the speed of travel now with smartphones and map programs, but that combined with social media has made it easy for anyone and everyone to travel nearly everywhere.

When I lived in Florence it still seemed a little sleepy, but all that has changed. Now it's a huge destination with lines, crowds and reservations needed for any and all attractions. What seemed like a place twenty some years ago with just a few standout restaurants is now overflowing with places that all boast the greatest authentic cuisine. International food was maybe a curious burger place and bar frequented by American college students, now there are districts with Sichuan food, sushi on almost every block and more burger places than you would ever want to visit. These changes while hard for me to embrace I guess were inevitable. 

Luckily some very classic and authentic old school choices remain. A few places we wanted to visit were booked for weeks, but we did have an interesting lunch at Cibreo featuring a stuffed rooster neck and it came with the head just to remind us what we were eating. Apparently this dish is an old Florentine favorite, I bought the sales pitch and ordered. It was pretty good in a creepy sort of way. YOLO.

Now Florence is a cleaner city and truly a worldclass destination with rooftop bars - like the one in our hotel, world class art exhibits like the the Mark Rothko one we visited and all the shopping you could ever want or at least via window. Here the duomo was lit in all it's glory - when I was there a level of grey soot covered the white marble. Our group including Stephy (it was her first trip to Florence) were in awe by much of what they saw here even with my griping about the good old days.

Once we departed Florence and traveled through the Tuscan countryside I remembered why I fell in love with Italy in the first place. Tuscany is breathtakingly beautiful, and it only seems to get more so. Strict laws forbid anyone from changing historic structures or even landscapes by building pretty much anything or altering existing structures. While I'm sure many development-minded folks have hated this, for Tuscany it seems to have paid off (Isn't this the premise of Under the Tuscan Sun?). Almost everywhere you look as you travel through the countryside the vistas are magnificent. I tried to capture it on my phone, but it just doesn't seem possible. The only way to truly experience this is to visit - so I'm glad we did.
 
While, the outward appearance of Tuscany changes very little what's inside has changed quite a bit. With the interest of a steady stream of travellers, accommodations have become nicer, restaurants are fancier, wineries are more modern inside and there is more of everything.
 
Take Dario Cecchini, maybe the world's most famous butcher - no, he "is" the world's most famous butcher - just watch his Chef's Table episode on Netflix. I visited his humble shop in Panzano both in 2002 and 2003. It was a nice little butcher shop with typical Tuscan meats and frankly tough to distinguish from other nice butcher shops in the surrounding area.

Now Dario with the help of his American born wife and some clever marketing has transformed his small town into "Darioville" Crowds line up to have a seven course carnivourous lunch at his restaurant and wait for a glimpse of the man in action or even a photo which he graciously took with Stephy. We had lunch at his place that was pure theater, but actually very fun and good food and reasonable prices. I actually look forward to visiting again.