Fall Festival Time in Tuscany
Fall is the time when each little village has its festival. In Montevarchi, we have been celebrating the "Festival of Forgiveness" for almost 700 years. On the main street of downtown, Via Roma, restaurants and bars put up tents and offer home cooked food, wine and beer. They dress up in medieval costumes and accept only old coins for payment. We change a euro for "varchi." They are heavy old coins that come in a little draw string pouch. Each person walks around with a pouch of money tied to their belt.
A parade with music, men in tights, women and children in old customs, horses, drums and flags marches through the streets, then makes its way to the main piazza just as the bells chime for 8pm . The priest, in full long dress, blesses the town and the people before the games begin. The game is a me
dieval ball competition that is a cross between basketball and tag 
football with the goal being to put the ball into the well. Dirt is put into the circle of the piazza and hay bails mark the perimeter and a well in places in the middle. Only men play this very physical game and take it very seriously. There is a team for each quadrant of the town. They too wear old costumes.
You can celebrate fall with us by opening a bottle of wine and toasting to forgiveness. In the heat of summer, we drink the Malvasia. It is light and clean and goes well with summer vegetables and fish. As the weather cools, we start drinking more Chianti. The Chianti is always best with food, especially all the wonderful homegrown tomatoes we have in the garden now. It is well known for being a classic table wine found in every Tuscan home.
We eat every lunch and dinner together sitting at the table with a tablecloth and of course red wine. After lunch at noon , we stay at the table for at least an hour and let the food digest. In summer, we usually nap after lunch and stay in the house until around 5 pm when the temperature cools down before going back outside. Dinner is usually served at 8 or 9pm because it stays light so long in summer. Now as the days are getting shorter, it is still hot but the mornings are fresh and the evening are getting a little chilly.
dieval ball competition that is a cross between basketball and tag 
football with the goal being to put the ball into the well. Dirt is put into the circle of the piazza and hay bails mark the perimeter and a well in places in the middle. Only men play this very physical game and take it very seriously. There is a team for each quadrant of the town. They too wear old costumes.You can celebrate fall with us by opening a bottle of wine and toasting to forgiveness. In the heat of summer, we drink the Malvasia. It is light and clean and goes well with summer vegetables and fish. As the weather cools, we start drinking more Chianti. The Chianti is always best with food, especially all the wonderful homegrown tomatoes we have in the garden now. It is well known for being a classic table wine found in every Tuscan home.
We eat every lunch and dinner together sitting at the table with a tablecloth and of course red wine. After lunch at noon , we stay at the table for at least an hour and let the food digest. In summer, we usually nap after lunch and stay in the house until around 5 pm when the temperature cools down before going back outside. Dinner is usually served at 8 or 9pm because it stays light so long in summer. Now as the days are getting shorter, it is still hot but the mornings are fresh and the evening are getting a little chilly.
The weather has been great for the grapes. Hot dry days and cool nights are perfect for the sugar content. The grapes are getting bigger and are a deep purple color. We still have about three weeks until harvest.
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