It's Italy and it's summer, so the food, accommodations and sightseeing are splendid.
On a motorcycle tour through the Chianti region, I made side trips from my agriturismo lodging _ these farm tourism sites now dot the countryside in increasing profusion _ riding through north from the Val d'Elsa, inspecting the charming hilltop villages of Certaldo and Montecatini Alto.
I cruised through the narrow, winding streets early enough to catch the aroma of cafes and bakeries serving their first customers of the day. The street markets were brimming with fresh apricots, nectarines, zucchini and their fiori di zucca blossoms. My wife, Julie, and I and our friends ate our fill of regional specialties such as pappardelle con cinghiale _ wide pasta noodles in a sauce of wild boar.
We ate more than our fill of gelato, overindulging in the freshly made albicocca _ from all those fresh apricots _ and a subtle, creamy vanilla-like concoction known as buontalenti. We were told it was named after Bernardo Buontalenti, a 16th century Florentine architect, engineer and artist better known for the fountains and grottoes he designed for Florence's Boboli Gardens.
Though we visited the Boboli, I believe we admired his ice cream even more.
The wine drinkers in our foursome were delighted by the Vernaccia, a local varietal long associated with San Gimignano. (Dante mentions it in his "Purgatorio.") This dry white wine proved the favorite of the trip.
