Antica Macelleria Falorni

The Antica Macelleria Falorni was founded in 1729 by Gio Botta. The place still stands pround in the main piazza of Greve in Chianti. The butcher-cum salami / cheese shop is still run by the 8th generation of Gio's descendants.



The finest Tuscan meats are used including Chianina for beef, Cinta Senese for pork and wild boars that have been present in the Chianti forests for centuries. A variety of Chianti herbs and spices are also essential ingredients; fresh fennell, laurus, juniper, garlic, parsley, sage, rosemary and even some Chianti wine.



Upon walking inside this gracious butcher, that spans 4 shop fronts in the piazza, there is no other way to describe it then a meat lovers wonderland. Kim and I wander around in awe, and managed to get lost in here for at least an hour (and that was only our first visit!) First we wander into the cheese room, which goes down into the basement, where various cheeses have notes and times on them, for when they're ripe and ready (if anyone could wait that long!)



Then there were blocks of pancetta, some covered in chilli flakes.



And the salami, oh the salami !! Salami made with Chianti Classico red wine ....



Little chingale - Wild boar - salami's.



And then the Il Ghianda, an acorn fed leg of prosciutto from Greve.



After at least an hour spent in the woderland that was salami, meat & cheese, we head next door ....



Still a part of the same shop, this room was full of Tuscan wines - and most of them were available for tasting. They use the fancy enoMatic system, where a card is brought with credit and then used to by tastings of various wines in different sizes. We start with a 10Euro card .......



and make our way through a whole range of fantastic wines.



Each tasting is offered in 3 sizes, and start at just 30cents. With tastings of delights from next door including cheese, truffle salami and fennel sausage, you can understand another while was spent here ......

Before we loaded ourselves with goodies and headed off with our bread, olive oil and market treats for an afternoon in the sun.



Antica Macelleria Falorni
Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, 71
50022 Greve in Chianti, Firenze, Toscana, Italia

T: +39 055 853029 F: +39 055 8544312 E: negozio@falorni.it

Italian Breakfast

What is there not to love about Italy? and their lifestyle that seems to evolve around eating, drinking & sleeping ...

Our morning ritual was heading down to the local coffee bar, and joining the constantly streaming hordes of people that would wait on the bench until a standing counter space was available, move up and order a coffee - perhaps a cannoli or panini as well - and so to has the day begun.



Now just filling in some time until we're ready to eat again ... and then sleep!

Tapping olive oil straight from the drum

After we were armed with some fresh baked bread, we were in need of some more treats for our afternoon in the Tuscan sun. We found this great little deli in the piazza and head on in. The variety of products inside includes antipasto vegetables, cheese, cured meats, dips, dairy and more.



But then we spot in the corner a drum filled with Tuscan extra virgin olive oil. We order a bottle, and the very-Gepetto-esque (Pinocchio's father) owner of the shop casual walks over and taps the oil straight from the tank.



The whole novel idea was so fun, but the oil itself was superb for dipping our bread !!

Tuscan bread by the kg

We found a little bakery in Greve in Chianti, tucked in a little side street, always bustling with Mama's shopping mid-morning for fresh bread to be eaten with lunch ... and then us! We visited just about every day, picking up slices of fresh baked bianco pizza or a loaf of bread for our afternoon snacks.



The one thing, well no there was two things, that I loved about this particular bakery ... firstly, we spotted the baker out the back pulling a loaf of bread from the oven with a paddle. Then he checked it's 'doneness' - by breaking off a chunk of bread and biting it ....



this goes into the second point I absolutely loved, that all there breads / pizza / sweets were sold by weight - priced per kg. An end of foccacia cut off just for you, no problem! A half loaf of delicous Tuscan bread? No problem! It's all just placed on the scales and the priced accordingly.

What a life ....

Traffic in Tuscany

How blessed were we? Arriving in Tuscany when it was coming into truffle season (OH MY GOD!!) porcini season and grape picking season. Every day we were oh-so happy to sit behind tractors putting down the road, chock-full of fresh picked grapes .....



All the more time for taking in the beautiful Tuscan landscape.

Porchetta Sandwich #2

At the morning markets in Greve one of the first things we spotted was the Porchetta van. The van had an impressive rotisserie set-up, spinning around in the background piled full of chickens, meat & all sorts of sticks.



But we have our eye on the crisp pig, perched up on the counter. This variety is available by the kg at 24Euro or on a panino for 3.5Euro. We take 2 panino. Chunks of the delicious porchetta are sliced away, and piled on a crisp Tuscan bread roll.



We also spot something in the counter that is a tradional Tuscan spiedini. We need one of these !!



We first un-wrap our sandwiches, and they were even more delicious than they looked! The pork was still warm, the stuffing packed with fennel seeds, fresh rosemary, lots's of salt and pepper.



As you can see, I was very content .... my eye's glazing over with glee.



Then we were onto the spiedini ... wow! There was chunks of sausage, chicken, and pork all layered between slices of bread. It has been cooked in the rotisserie and all the fat from the meats have fried the bread to a golden crunch. An absolutely amazing concept, fried bread and tasty meat, all this goodness packed onto a stick ...



Oh, Italy ....

To market, to market.........

My head is spinning, every sense is reeling, I feel like the whole world has exploded into full technicolor life. We've been to markets all over Asia, but standing in the midst of the morning markets in Greve in Chianti, it's just wow. All the things we've only ever seen as dried or preserved goods are all here fresh. Vege stalls over flowing with that morning picked porcini's and chanterelles.


Porcini's and chanterelles


Zuchini flowers by the crate and beautiful artichokes


Tiny chilli's and roma tomatoes on the vine

How could we not buy some? Or the cheese or the cured meats or the....... well, all of it. This was our first experience of Italian life and we loved it, we were already formatting plans to pack up every thing we own and move it all here, from swinging by the local coffee shop to grab a standing breakfast of espresso and pastry, to walking another few meters across the square to grab freshly baked bread, or buying some prosciutto at the 300 hundred year old family run butchery and mingle with the locals doing their weekly shopping.


Seriously how could we choose?



Delicious fresh bread

After we rounded up a few amazing snacks it was back to the villa to set up a wee lunchie under the Tuscan sun.


Truffle cream, seeded bread and stuffed pepperoncini


Tuscan artichokes and Brawn


Herb rolled goats cheese and oh so stinky taleggio


Guanciale


Fresh peach with Guanciale


The view from the lunch table

I think I'm going to have trouble re-adjusting to real life...