Articolo disponibile anche in: Italian
Dear friends, shall we talk about time, just to pass the time?
In a famous Tuscan nursery rhyme from a hundred years back, a grandfather taught his grandson about how life has changed compared to when he was young. He would say: “… sono scemati i frati ne’ conventi, e ora poca stima gode i’ prete, le ‘un son più le stagion come una volta, son vecchio saggio, e tu nipote ascolta…”.
“Non ci sono più le mezze stagioni” is a saying that’s still used, maybe it comes from the times of Esopo or Plinio the Old. Thing is, we remember the roses of the past but we only feel the thorns of today.
This year we had a mild winter and copious rain in spring, but summer has finally come with June’s solstice.
Panzano smiles, the busy season is upon us, restaurants, hotels and agriturismi have a full season ahead, all around Chianti.
This is thanks to the beauty of our hills, to good food and the best wine. It’s thanks to our people who don’t just hang around waiting, but instead express hospitality through hard work, initiative and creativity.
There are guests aplenty, coming from all over this globalized world. They used to be mainly English. Her Majesty’s rich subjects have always loved these hills, they elected Florence their second country in the 1800s, many didn’t even want to take their bones back home (see the English Cemetery in Piazza Donatello in Florence).
They were forcedly made into enemies with the war, but immediately came back to their old loves, our hills, now known to the world as “Chiantishire”.
In light of recent events some might say: “Are we her Majesty’s surrogate citizens or are we still in Europe?”
Luckily the divisions that are alarming the world don’t touch Panzano, which is living its blessed summer, while the grapes swell and ripen on the vines, happy under great bundles of light.
Dario Cecchini and Miriam Serni Casalini