Life on a Tuscan Farm

Today we inaugurated the Casetta del Bosco, the small interactive nature collection located in Spannocchia’s Secret Garden. This once chicken coop was transformed over the last 6 months, by opening it into one room, re-doing the roof and floor and putting on doors and windows.

The space is designed to encourage visitors to use all their senses. The experience begins with the sense of smell from the dried aromatic plants hanging from the ceiling. It continues with touch, as guests can pick-up and investigate all the bones, feathers, acorns, pinecones etc, gathered from the Spannocchia woods. It includes also sight, as you can look at the fun and colorful mural on the main wall that Pascale designed and the Giardino Segreto group helped to paint. To complete the experience, you can turn on the small bird-song player and hear the call of local birds, or simply sit quietly outside and listen to the real birds singing in in the trees.

We hope that the Casetta del Bosco space will encourage children and adults alike to explore the wonder of the forest at Spannocchia. We invite you to visit the Casetta del Bosco and take the self-guided walk through the Secret Garden the next time you are here. A presto!

New for this year we are professionally bottling and labeling all our red and white wine (vino) at once. The rented wine bottling/labeling machine arrived yesterday and Angelo, Roberto, and the interns helped set it up in the Spannocchia cantina. The process takes a few days, with lots of interns and staff loading bottles into the machine, removing the completed bottles and stacking them on special large black plastic trays for storage. Last year’s harvest (2006) produced 2550 Spannocchia Rosso Toscano IGT (red) and 1870 Spannocchia Bianco Toscano IGT (white) bottles. If you make it to Spannocchia this year you can try our wines on the terrace before dinner, during a meal, or purchase wine to enjoy at a later date. A presto!

May Day is the annual workers holiday in Italy celebrated on the 1st of May (Primo Maggio). In America, the same holiday is called Labour Day and celebrated in September. Spannocchia celebrates this holiday, which grew from the struggles for workers rights including an 8-hour work day, by having a joyous celebration in the main courtyard.Just like every year, around 11am Gruppo della Montagnola, a traditional Tuscan folk band of which Spannocchia Farm Manager Riccio is a member, arrived in the late morning and played many folk songs. Most of the songs focus on the hardships of workers, the difficulties of being a farmer, and the joys and sorrows of country life. After 30 minutes of playing, the band invited community members, guests and day visitors to join in the traditional group folk dancing, similar to square dancing. The festa finished off with a free buffet offered by Spannocchia including fresh baked breads, olives, Cinta Senese salumi (salt-cured meats), fava beans, pecorino cheese, wine, water and juice as well as crostini for dessert. A presto!