Expo Chianti Classico: Celebrating Wine, Traditional Food and Culture in Greve in Chianti

This year, Expo Chianti Classico is scheduled from September 5 to 8, 2024 (always the second Sunday of September), with a rich program of events parallel to the square tastings, making the event more accessible to all age groups: music, shows, art exhibitions, concerts, and much more. This year, many initiatives will be dedicated to two important anniversaries: the 500th anniversary of Giovanni da Verrazzano’s journey, which led to the discovery of present-day New York Bay, and the 100th anniversary of the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico!

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Experience the Middle Ages in Valfabbrica

The Palio di Valfabbrica, from 22 August to 1 September.
“Once upon a time… a center of medieval origin along the ancient road that connected Assisi to Gubbio, “In Vallis Fabricae” or better known as Valfabbrica. Here in the past there was the ancient Feast of the Holy Crucifix dedicated to medieval historical games. Since 1974 it has been known as the Autumn Festival or Palio di Valfabbrica – Giostra d’Italia where the historical re-enactment is carried out with meticulous care, articulated with facts, events and events that took place in the medieval period that gave birth to the territory of Valfabbrica”.

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Sellano, the Ancient Medieval Village in the Green Heart of Umbria

It is clear that the attraction of the moment in Umbria is the Tibetan bridge of Sellano, a brilliant idea made possible thanks to the foresight and determination of the municipal council; in this issue of Valley Life we will tell you about this jewel forged by the waters and set among rocks, woods and crystalline rivers: Sellano, with its stone villages (which comes from the local quarries) clinging to the mountains of the Umbrian Apennines.

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Cultural Hunger

God, nature, fate, have provided us with the sense of taste so that we can maintain our bodies and brain functions. Eating is certainly a fundamental pleasure but remember, it is good that food is ‘deserved’ every day, if only out of a sense of universal justice that ‘giving allows us to receive’ – and every effort brings a reward. This principle takes our lives to a higher plane, where it is our will, where it is the spirit that governs our actions – and it promotes a community cooperation, today one could say empathetic, with one’s family and clan context (what a retrograde term!).

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On the Republican Renaissance Spirit

Far from being a pedantic history lesson, this digression on the three Florentine republics that succeeded one another from 1494 (the year of the expulsion of the Medici who, fearful, conniving and rumoured in cahoots with the French of Charles VIII, were overthrown by spontaneous citizen uprisings) intends to bring to light that voluntary, popular and democratic spirit that took place after decades of Medici domination, ignited by the vehement preaching of Friar Girolamo Savonarola.

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The “Fochi di San Giovanni”

It was customary for the eve of St. John to celebrate and light bonfires of or brooms in the city, in the squares and in the countryside and on the hills around the city to celebrate the summer solstice. They were the ‘fires of rejoicing’ which, recalling their pagan origins, attributed sacredness to light. Of that ancient pagan heritage, Florence has preserved the tradition of fires, organized today by the Society of St. John the Baptist with the contribution of the CR Firenze Foundation and the collaboration of the Municipality of Florence.

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