Sunsets and Instagrams

If you live in or have visited Italy you know that the sunsets here can be absolutely stunning. During our trip to the countryside last month there were a couple of nights, in particular, when the sunsets were just exceptionally beautiful.

One night we drove to a pull-off spot closer to Panzano just to take photos of the beautiful sunset. We played around with the camera settings to try and capture the colors. Although none of the photos really do the sunset justice, they are still pretty cool. The top photo is the least true to color, but I wanted to give you a sense of the landscape where we were shooting.

On another note, I'm still obsessed with Instagram. Here are some of my recent favorites that we've snapped:

Antica Macelleria Cecchini in Panzano, Italy

The longer I live in Italy (nine months and counting!) the more I appreciate good old fashioned butcher shops. So often in the U.S. we only see our beef neatly packaged in the grocery store. Buying meet from a butcher makes me feel a little more appreciative of the the food and where it came from.

These feelings are, obviously, what made us so happy to not only eat at Dario's restaurants, but to also stop into his butcher shop. The place is like a shrine to meat. One entire wall is full of all of the books and magazines that Dario has been featured in. What's so amazing is that despite his food fame, the guy is obviously happy just working in his shop every day, interacting with people and enjoying damn good food.

While we were there we picked up some of Dario's salt mix, Il Profumo del Chianti. Seriously, when you sprinkle a bit of the salt on a piece of pane toscana and top it with good olive oil, it's like crack in food form. So good.

Small Town Love: Panzano in Chianti

Because our vacation was booked at the last minute, we didn't really have much time to research the surrounding areas. I did some quick googling on Panzano in Chianti, the nearby town, and thought "Oh, that looks cute." What an understatement!

When you drive around Tuscany you pass through lots of small towns. We quickly developed our favorites and noted places to come back and visit. But, at the end of the trip I said to Rob, "I think Panzano is my favorite!" Lucky for us, it was only five minutes from our Agriturismo so we spent a lot of time there.

The people were nice, the dining options were great (and reasonably priced), the views from the town were spectacular and, even though it was August, we definitely felt a true local spirit. Like many towns in Tuscany there is definitely an Anglo-influence, but it's still very much Italian in the true sense.

If you've visited Panzano and have read this far down in the post I'm sure you are thinking "OK, but when are you going to talk about your visit to Dario?" Trust me, we'll write all about Antica Macelleria Cecchini in a separate post or two (because Dario deserves his own blog posts).

Anyway, we highly suggest a little trip to Panzano in Chianti, even if it's just for a quick lunch, visit the old part of the city and take some photos. It's a great little town on a hill!

OK, OK, you want a Dario preview? Check out his clip from No Reservations...