Food and Wine Travel Guide in Italy & Europe by Apron and Sneakers
A simple concept of “less is more” reverberates in strength in the conceptual kitchen of Chef Michele Esposito. He expresses the desire to propose a kitchen that circumvents superstructures and focus on balanced and intense flavors. Straightforward and clean in the palate but a studied complex technique behind every dish. It is a modernized cuisine…
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Living the reality of Castello di Meleto is like breathing more than a thousand years of history inside the four walls of its castle on a hilltop of Gaiole di Chianti, in the road between Siena and Florence in Tuscany which overlooks the Chianti valley. What was once the Abbey of Coltibuono belonging to the…
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Governato Toscano IGT 2018 is a product of Sensi’s passion to explore the best techniques in creating wine. With this particular vinification process, they used the “Governo all’Uso Toscano”, a vinification technique that goes back between 1834 to 1837 institutionalized by Baron Bettino Ricasoli. He divulged that the composition he considered as the most suitable…
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It’s a particular period we are all going through right now. With the stay at home orders that has been going on for months, there is much more time to dwell in the kitchen, take out the lost creativity and whip up appetizing dishes that can pair well with some bottles of wines that are…
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Carpineto is a wine estate that produces world-renowned wines from their five estates in Tuscany. It was founded in 1967 by Giovanni Carlo Sacchet and Antonio Mario Zaccheo who envisioned an enormous potentiality in their region in producing great traditional wines. In their quest for innovative viticulture and winemaking techniques aimed at producing the best…
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Situated in front of the loggia attributed to renowned 16th-century Mannerism architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola in the old center of Montepulciano, Massimo Sella named his restaurant Le Logge del Vignola when he opened it in 2001. Now entering its second decade, it has always been the referral point of both locals and tourists for…
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Considered as a minor grape, Ciliegiolo has long been overshadowed by Sangiovese throughout its course of history but in the recent years, interest has grown in the grape variety. It is now being produced as a dominant variety in blends and even more, single varietal wine in various wine regions of Italy like Liguria, Marche,…
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When Francesco and Veronica Passerin d’Entreves took over Dianella Wine Estate in 2003, they started to apply the process of modernization in the vineyards and the cellar from the previous Billeri Family’s centuries old wine making facilities. In its history, they have seen success at the beginning of the 19th century when Dianella’s Chianti were…
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There’s a 700-year story that the Frescobaldi Family has maintained in Tuscany which has a strong bond towards the world of wine. In the year 2017, Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi acquired a new addition to their already substantial wine empire pegging the number to seven estates in Tuscany. Prior to the acquisition, they have been managing…
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On an early warm morning of the 20th of June 2019, our curious group of fifty people comprised of sommeliers, journalists and trade professionals in the wine sector boarded a chartered boat at the Italian port of Livorno. The group was led by Lamberto Frescobaldi, a 30th-generation Tuscan winemaker and the president of the Marchesi…
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Ristorante Baghino is one of Prato’s historical restaurants that showcases the excellent culinary tradition of Prato. It was opened almost 150 years ago by the Pacetti family and it is currently managed by sisters Silvia and Guia, daughters of Franco Pacetti. Located at the heart of Prato center, the spacious restaurant maintains a charming old…
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Fabrizio Pratesi is the result of a wine and oil making activity of the Pratesi family for five generations. The vineyards and winery are located in Lolocco, in the heart of Carmignano which has bought by Pietro Pratesi in 1875. Carmignano, about 15 kilometers southwest of Florence, is one of the lesser-known DOCG wine regions…
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Thirty-year old wines that express youth and harmony bearing all three types of aromas (varietal, secondary and tertiary) in the palate don’t come around often. Needless to say, I was completely impressed. The Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva DOCG 1989 of Carpineto Winery came from a 3 out of 5 star vintage, a middle range…
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It’s not common to have a big film producer jump to being a wine producer and excel in both fields. In the case of Italo Zingarelli, the man behind the internationally popular series of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill series of films, he proved his proficiency in the two things that he was most passionate…
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Located inside Centro Per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci (Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci), Chef Angiolo Barni proposes two versions of Myo: a restaurant and a bistrot. The kitchen is greatly influenced by traditional flavors which he is attached to with innovative prints matched by well-chosen wine proposals. The restaurant, which opened in October 2016,…
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