B&B L'Uliveto sul Chianti

The Bed and Breakfast "L'Uliveto sul Chianti" is the exact destination and the best solution for those who wish to explore the heart of Tuscan beauty, in terms of art, landscape, culture, gastronomy and more. Located a few kilometers from the Chianti region, famous for the many varieties of fine red wines, our accommodation is located in Meleto Valdarno in the municipality of Cavriglia on the border of three provinces and then at the crossroads of many important and beautiful cities such as Florence , Arezzo and Siena:

 These cities are just over half an hour's drive away and are, above all the first two, easily reachable by train or other public transport. Their history, museums, beautiful architecture, palaces, squares, rides, markets, churches, monuments, parks and gardens, the artists who have lived there, make them a destination for tourists from all over the world .

 Florence

Formerly the city of the Medici and then the Grand Ducal capital, it is also the current Tuscan capital. It is known primarily for being the birthplace of the great poet Dante Alighieri (creator of the Divine Comedy) and many artists who have moved there during the Renaissance and stayed there and worked, animating the shops of the city under the pressure of patronage and the commissions given to them by the rich Florentine families. The most famous is the genius Leonardo da Vinci, inventor, painter, anatomist, scientist and mathematician who worked in Florence and was born in Vinci, a small town in the Florentine interland, but we can mention many other distinguished personalities in the history of art, such as Raffaello Sanzio (native of Urbino), Brunelleschi (designer of the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore), Michelangelo Buonarroti (author of the David), the painter Sandro Botticelli. Among the architectural works of the city, the ancient Ponte Vecchio on the Arno, Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria, the Uffizi Gallery (home to the city's most prestigious museum) are very famous. Many other places and city palaces host museums and art galleries with some of the greatest works of art in history preserved within them. Florence is also the city of the famous steak with bone and "historical football". Some of the most central streets are home to the boutiques of the biggest Italian and foreign brands and fashion houses, which make shopping lovers happy.

 Arezzo

It is known in the world because here was born the beloved poet Francesco Petrarca and the architect chronicler and painter Giorgio Vasari, famous among other things for having told the lives of artists at the time of the Renaissance. A city of ancient foundation, which seems to date back to 1,100 BC, Arezzo was Etruscan city: it was here that the Etruscan bronze statue of the Chimera of Arezzo was found on 15 November 1553 and one of the most important parks in the city can be observed still the archaeological excavations that are bringing to light the ancient remains of the city. Its squares and churches (above all the cathedral) are extremely beautiful and rich in art. At the top of the city there is a large park "the meadow" from where you can admire a splendid panorama. And 'here' that is the great and beautiful Medici fortress, built by the Florentines in the fourteenth century and accessible to the public. The city is divided into four main districts that challenge each other in a singular battle in the re-enactment of an ancient medieval knightly joust, called the Joust of the Saracen, held twice a year, the first in mid-June and the second on the first Sunday in September. , and which takes place in the most beautiful square of the city is one of the attractions of greatest appeal to tourists. Arezzo is also a "city of gold" so called for the processing of precious metal. For its large gold and jewelery shops.

Siena

 Famous and famous for the carousel called "Palio", a horse race that sees the challenge of competing for the victory of the representatives of the 17 city districts and which takes place twice a year, on July 2 and August 16, in the wonderful " Piazza del Campo ", Siena is known throughout the world for the wonderful rolling hills that surround it, once a theater of rural and rural life, where there are still many farmhouses that in some cases host museums or characteristic restaurants and trattorias where you can taste some first fruits of Tuscan cuisine, immersed in an extraordinary landscape. The city is beautiful to visit and for lovers of wellness there are also thermal establishments close to its territory and reachable in little more than half an hour from our bed and breakfast.

In addition to the three cities and their interland, from "L'Uliveto sul Chianti" you can reach, with about an hour's drive or through very efficient public transport, other wonderful towns and special places: beautiful landscapes, nature, cuisine, architecture , art and religiosity.

On all the beautiful Cortona (Val di Chiana), and then San Gimignano (city of towers), Sansepolcro (medieval town where he was born Piero della Francesca), Caprese Michelangelo (where is the family home of Michelangelo Buonarroti and known for numerous restaurants that carry on a traditional cuisine based on fresh pasta, game, mushrooms and truffles), Talla (a lovely mountain village climbing the Pratomagno massif and known for being the birthplace of Guido Monaco, inventor of musical notes), Loro Ciuffenna (in the direction of Pratomgano shore Valdarno), Bucine (between Valdarno and Valdambra), Pratovecchio (birthplace of the artist Paolo Uccello), Bibbiena (the capital of the Casentino valley, with its beautiful medieval city center), Poppi (famous for its magnificent castle of the Counts Guidi del Casentino, which hosted the exile of Alighieri), Anghiari (evocative village in the Val Tiberina, theater of the famous battle immortalized in one of the frescoes of i Leonardo da Vinci), Chiusi della Verna (a small town located in Casentino in the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines, on the border of the "Casentinesi and Campigna National Park", the place where, according to recent research by passionate artists, historians and scholars Michelangelo Buonarroti's father was mayor and Michelangelo came to light. From the beauties to the sceneries of this place the great artist took inspiration for the subject of many of his paintings). The area is famous for its link with another important figure in Italian history: San Francesco d 'Assisi. Close to Chiusi della Verna is in fact the Franciscan Sanctuary built on Mount Verna, a place where the same St. Francis of Assisi lived for some years and where according to the religious tradition received the stigmata in 1224; a place of beauty, peace and unparalleled contemplation. Not far from Chiusi della Verna, another religious place of worship: the Hermitage of Camaldoli, another very characteristic Sanctuary totally immersed in the greenery.

The nearest train station is San Giovanni Valdarno (5/10 minutes by car or bus from our bed and breakfast). San Giovanni Valdarno is famous for being the birthplace of the "Masaccio". The other station near the "Olive Grove on the Chianti" is that of the village of Figline Valdarno (note the beautiful Piazza Marsilio Ficino, one of the oldest in Europe) which is 10/15 minutes by car or bus, from our structure.

We are also immersed in the area of ​​the old mines, whose signs of the extraction of lignite are still present in the surrounding landscape. These lignite deposits were possible because in prehistoric times the current landscape did not exist but in its place there was a huge lake (Pliocene lake) that had submerged the present forests, depositing over the wood sediments that made it possible to fossilize it. Now in the area there is a hydroelectric plant and several museums of mines and sharecropping museums, in the Sienese and Arezzo areas, which tell the past life of the locals. In the nearby village of Montevarchi there is also a paleontological museum with skeletons and fossil remains of ancient mammals. Spreading a few kilometers west from our location, you enter the magnificent Chianti area with its characteristic landscape characterized by rows of vines as far as the eye can see and small hamlets and villages dotted with wine bars and characteristic cellars, where you can taste the delicacy of local Chianti wines, of all kinds, novelli or longer seasoning. Here you can taste accompanied by a nice glass of "red", chopping boards of cheeses and typical salami in addition to the inevitable homemade pasta, desserts and much more of the Italian and Tuscan gastronomy in particular. Greve in Chianti, Radda in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, are just some of the delightful towns in this region; here it is possible to live a relaxing atmosphere typical of traditional Italy and regenerate completely, immersed in a unique environment. Near these places there are many castles (above all that of Brolio, a wonderful manor between ivy and secular plants, where the Baron Bettino Ricasoli, politician and Consort Toscano, among the supporters and supporter of the unification of Italy, lived in the nineteenth century century and where it is buried). Typical landscapes of the Tuscan hills, with fortresses and legendary towers are also found in nearby Valdambra, with related stories of ghosts and ancient rural and rural life.