Montefioralle

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But before we explored Greve in Chianti, we drove up up up a winding road to the ancient city of Montefioralle.  Somebody important was born here.

The streets are ancient but from the looks of the doors and the streetlights, somebody has been renovating the place.

 

It was a rainy, cold, miserable day in Montefioralle.

 

The cobblestones were wet and slick and OLD.

 

Our guide -- Giacomo -- was unfazed by the weather.  His job was to show two tourists this town and by golly, show them the town he would.

 

OK, I appreciated the town, it was nice and all, but it was cold and rainy this day.

 

No problem for Giacomo, though.

 

Bill's doing OK, considering how cold and rainy it is.

 

Let's all follow Giacomo and try not to step into too many puddles.

 

Well this was a nice view in spite of the cold and rain.  Tuscany is just starting to turn green and bloom.  Even in the cold and rain.

 

Lots of grape vines on the hills.

 

Lots of narrow, cold and wet little streets.

 

OK, apparently that door is what we've come all this way to see.

 

See the "V" above the doorway of #21?  Stands for Vespucci.

 

Yep, this is the house where Amerigo Vespucci was born.  That's Amerigo as in America.  He wasn't a noted explorer as much as he was a noted mapmaker.  He put his name in a conspicuous place on one of his maps of the new world, and the rest is history.

 

 

I suspect the view from his bedroom window when he was a kid looked very much like this.

 

A very nice view indeed.

 

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