Castellina in Chianti

This morning we acquired our hire car - a little Fiat 500 - to drive over the hills and explore the region.  I drove down the track and did not like it at all as I kept putting my left hand down for the gears so N became our driver for the holiday!  We drove to our nearest commune, Castellina in Chianti, a little hilltop town and the centre of the Chianti wine producing area.  The road was very narrow and windy and steep in places and there was a lot of gear changing!   The countryside alternated between vines and thick 
woodland.  Wild boar hunting is popular here.

We were warned about the lights on entering the centre: green we could proceed and find a parking place, red and we could not enter and would 
have to park elsewhere.  A good traffic control for an ancient group of buildings.  The lights were hardly noticeable which served as a good way of fining people who had not noticed!  We found a disabled parking place and walked into the square.  We had to have a pizza in Italy (although this is not our favourite food!) so went into one of the crowded cafes in the main street.  Still a fair number of tourists around, mostly American.  We visited the church which was very dark and plain with the ghoulish relics of St Faustus in an elaborate glass box.  He had been moved from the catacombs in Rome in the 18th C. (Not sure which St Faustus he was as there were several).  Rained in the afternoon so returned down the winding lane to the hotel.

The extra photos:   the entrance to the medieval Via della Volte (once a rampart and now a 800 metre tunnel where the houses have stretched over it, filled with a few shops etc but once used for sacred rites in the medieval times); one of two sculptures  by the water spouts; and a local view.