Radicofano

We had a speaker this morning who spoke about the Medici family who ruled the Tuscany region for years. Owning so much land, they became wealthy merchants, trading on leather, farming, and loans, with interest rates at 200%. Eventually they made themselves "royals" even though there was no royal blood in the family. They eventually died out, the last male heir being gay.

We traveled about an hour out from our hotel to Radicofano, a village located on a ridge overlooking the valley that was built in the 1100s-1200s. Driving up out of the valley you approach a magnificent walled city that would never have to worry about attack as their location had a perfect view of the valley.

Our first stop was San Pietro Church built on the 1200s. Nothing special on the outside, just brick, like the rest of the town. Walk inside and, even though it's small, you marvel at the fact that they could build something like this in medieval times.

We continued walking through the village, with a population of about 800, narrow lanes weaving their way around the village.

We stopped at a small bakery and sampled pizza.... delicious and yet all it had on it was tomato and basil. At the next square a local greeted us with samples of olive oil soaked bread and truffle salsa..... UNBELIEVABLE!!!




After leaving  the village we stopped at a local cheese manufacturer. Giuseppe was wonderful and showed us how they made cheese..... pecorino... out of 100 kilos of sheep milk they get 20 kilos of cheese. They then reprocess the milk and would you believe... that's how they get ricotta... about 10 kilos. The rest goes back to the sheep for food.

We then went into a room for cheese tasting. We had 8 different cheeses, from a few weeks old to the more mature cheeses. From a mild cheese to aged ricotta with peppercorns, pecorino with chile peppers, and some that were layered with: hay, walnut leaves, and one with grapes. The flavors were unbelievable ..one being  better than the next. We also had wonderful bread, wine, and the best salami and prosciutto I've ever tasted.

I really could have stayed there for a week but I knew we were heading to Florence tomorrow so it was "Ciao Giuseppe" and on to another adventure.