Le Miccine - Gaiole in Chianti

OK - Location.

We took the opportunity of our last week before school started to stay in the Chianti region of Italy. How did we pick this? Well, I found this place online through one of the homes for rent sites (homeaway.com I think) and just kept coming back to it. And it was available. And looked really cool.

It is a farm/wine property in Gaiole in Chianti (midway between Florence and Siena) owned by an American couple. They have renovated the 300 yr old farmhouse into 2 apartments, there was a pool (a must for going in August - hot!) and it is a working wine estate. We really had such a great time. I can only share in bits and pieces as it is overload even for me to describe everything.

Here was our welcome gift upon arriving - on the long, old wood table. Plus loads of water in the kitchen - sparkling. Which was great for me but the rest of the family prefers still water so we headed to the store for that. The girls in their bedroom.
Front view of the farmhouse before leaving Sat. morning. Not my best picture but most complete of the whole building. Very typical of most homes in the area - stone with tile or stone roof, wood shutters - usually green - and the walls are thick! At least a foot to 18" - keeps the temperature more stable indoors. Note the small windows - with no air conditioning and temp's that are around 90F in summer, large windows are not popular.
Another view - heading up to the pool and the Cantina - where they store and process the grapes/wine.
The pool. It was really nice to have this available everyday. There was no one else staying there last week so we had the place to ourselves. It was great - although there are mosquitoes in Italy - especially during the hot months. We got bit up quite alot before we were able to get some spray on Mon. morning at the Pharmacy. It helped but we were all pretty itchy.
So - that is where we stayed. Loved it. And next post, will have to share a little food with you.