Craftsmen in wood

ART 5 wooden doors and windows meet the highest standards in their field, designed to perfection and made using innovative technologies: «The world of doors and windows – says company vice president Stefano – has evolved a lot and uses technologies that were unthinkable until recently. The materials must be aesthetically pleasing and at the same time perform their function very well: we are always careful to minimize their impact, letting a lot of light and therefore the view of the landscape through».

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Let’s all go to the Bibbio

To get to the «Land of the Wigeons» you have to go up a hill, pass a little church, turn left, bear slightly left again and there’s the restaurant. It has a marvellously panoramic and truly enviable position. Inside we are welcomed by Maria Pia and Marcello, a couple who share both their work and their lives, she’s from Milan and he’s from Lecce. Together they had the idea of transforming a tavern into a modern, clean and welcoming restaurant, where Maria Pia’s cuisine blends perfectly with the artistic decor and the surrounding landscape.

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Sentinel on the summer: Torrita di Siena

Torrita, once called “Turrita”, is first mentioned in a document dated 1037 where it is listed as the property of the Benedictine Abbey of Sant’Antimo near Montalcino.  As a fortified town with a surrounding wall and four towers, it later served as a military outpost for the defense of Siena’s border with neighboring Montepulciano.  Later still, the town held Florentine ambitions at bay until it finally fell to the imperial forces of Charles the First in 1554 and the entire area passed into the Florentine Grand duchy.

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Rara avis in terris : European protection for the Black Rooster

According to the Consortium, the fame of the black rooster and the similarity with the coloured rooster could generate, in consumer perception, a link between the two brands, so much so that it could give an undue advantage to the Lazio company. A company that, for its part, emphasized the difference between the two roosters: while the black rooster is a collective brand and designates a series of red wines that come from Chianti, the coloured rooster is an individual brand relating to a Vermentino produced in Gallura, an area of ​​Sardinia which owes its name to the same bird. Asked to rule on the request for registration of the coloured rooster, the European Intellectual Property Office compared the two trademarks and, essentially agreeing with the arguments from Chianti, rejected it. As a result, the Lazio company asked the European Court to rule on the refusal of registration.

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Towards local ecotourism?

The Nature Reserves present in the vallys lend themselves perfectly to this purpose: “The Rognosi mountains with their ophiolites and black pine, the Alpe della Luna with its Sandstone Marl and venerable beech woods, the floodplain of the Tiber, the Alpe di Catenaia and other noteworthy areas have a series of internationally important itineraries and paths passing through them.

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Antonio Massarutto, sculptor and designer

While the wire and kinetic sculptures of Alexander Calder and the works of Picasso have been stylistic influences, Antonio has a fascination for the animal world and the natural environment. He started his artistic career making abstract sculptures, but today his creatures include familiar beasts, such as wild boar and deer, dogs, and cattle, but also more exotic rhinoceros and crocodiles. His sculptures are often made of found and recycled materials, which led him to the concept of “land art”.  For these installations, Antonio finds a spot in the mountains or countryside and constructs a sculpture from the natural materials he finds on the site.

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Leuta, Bottling Nature

Leuta produces a variety of different wines, five from single red grape varieties – Sangiovese, Merlot, Syrah, Malbec and Cabernet Franc, Leuta’s signature wine.  There are also two very interesting blends, the red IGT “Tau” a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah grapes,  a  single barrel blend, “Nautilus” as well as a special limited edition wine produced just once in 2016 and dedicated to Denis’s grandfather “Cornelius”.  Other products include a fine Vinsanto and organic olive oil.  A white wine and two kinds of Spumante are also produced from grapes in a second Leuta winery in Denis’s native Trentino, with the help of colleague, biologist Giulio dei Vescovi.

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The poetry of Vicchiomaggio

The Castle has been owned since 1964 by the Matta family, who in the 1980s began in the accommodation business with six apartments inside the castle. Currently there are 16 guestrooms, including those inside the castle and the suites in the rectory. Under the walls we find an enchanting swimming pool with a panoramic view over the valley, a delight for the eyes.

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Fonterutoli, a geopolitical balcony over Florence and Siena

Amongst the great variety of temporal and spiritual potentates that dot the history of Italy, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III passed through here (remembered by the Edict of Fonterutoli of 998 which put an end to the territorial conflicts of the dioceses of Siena, Arezzo and Fiesole), then Pope Leo X who left Rome and stopped in Castellina to meet the freshly nominated King of France in 1515; here came the Guelph troops who came down from Florence for the Battle of Montaperti (4 September 1260) and were soundly defeated; an earthquake for the European geopolitical scenario in favour of the Empire and the Republic of Siena. We also remember how Filippo Brunelleschi passed here to remodel the fortresses of Castellina, Staggia and Rencine. We also recall, for various reasons, various famous personalities who were here for work or residence, such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Jacopo della Quercia, Lisa Gherardini and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

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The Mazzei Family, a visionary dynasty

The wine cellar visit is structured as a ‘wine experience’: technical, emotive, sophisticated. The goal is to experience it without predefined paths, passing through the vinification, the vat, the concept of working with gravitational flow. Finally, the curtain opens on the barriccaia, a theatrical scenography with details that condense into a refined show.

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Volpaia: a small village, a fascinating history

Volpaia currently has 33 inhabitants and 4 restaurants: the properties have now been reunited in large part by the Mascheroni Stianti family. In addition to the prestigious winery there is also a farmhouse, a restaurant and a bakery. The vegetables that arrive on the Castle’s tables come from half a hectare of a strictly organic vegetable garden. In fact, since 2000, the Volpaia winery too has been certified as organic.
The winery extends within the village buildings, connected by an engineering masterpiece: an underground wine pipeline, which goes under the streets of the town.

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Psychologist Francesca Mariottini, concrete help in a difficult moment

oday, finally, this stereotype can be said to have changed radically. More and more people, in fact, understand that in times of difficulty an expert and professional consultation is necessary. People who want to implement a change aimed at improvement or who want to be listened to in order to learn how to better manage their emotions and external situations now visit a psychologist.

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Ozone therapy at the Adler Hotel, looking into the future

The scientific community agrees that all pathologies and disfunctions that undermine our well-being originate from a chronic inflammatory state and/or from a lack of ‘tissue’ oxygen. Poor nutrition, stress, lack of exercise, poor breathing, habitual use of prescription medicines, are all factors that contribute to activating the processes of chronic silent inflammation and, at the same time, cause a reduced supply of oxygen to the tissues

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