Food and Wine Travel Guide in Italy & Europe by Apron and Sneakers
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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Stretching from the Apennines to the Tyrrhenian Sea with 23,000 square kilometers of land area in Central Italy, Tuscany is dotted with so many historical Medieval walled villages, castles, churches and abbeys amidst its picturesque landscape of soft rolling green hills with neatly combed rows of vineyards and orchards. Aside from what nature has bestowed…
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Pastry Chef Paolo Sacchetti, Vice President of the Accademia Maestri Pasticceri Italiani, has been operating his pastry shop, Pasticceria Nuovo Mondo in the center of Prato since 1989. In the course of 30 years, it had always been considered as one of the best on national level and and it has been awarded “3 torte…
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As you maneuver the electric cart from the winery to the higher part of the town where you pass the town’s church, go through a dusty country road with lots of green then veering to the left, a beautiful corridor of perfectly trimmed hedgerow and old olive trees and finally, to Vigna Lorenzo, the important…
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Castello di Meleto is an 11th-century castle that belonged to the Benedictine monks of the Badia di Coltibuono in the splendid countryside of Tuscany. It is immersed in the soft hills of Gaiole in Chianti between Florence and Siena. Over the centuries the castle has changed identity and ownership from a military post to…
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One warm and sunny September morning on the Tuscan hilltop of Cagnano, a table with a platter of local Tuscan cheese, a bowl of walnuts, freshly-sliced bread, a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, and a bottle of Poggio Cagnano Altaripa Maremma Toscana DOC 2014 was waiting for us. There was a marvelous view of…
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