Where to stay in Chianti

The Tuscany people picture — vineyards, cypress avenues, hill towns half an hour apart. Needs a car, and rewards one: this is the area where an agriturismo and no plans is the right way to spend a week.

Chianti Classico runs between Florence and Siena along the Chiantigiana, and the choice is which village to sit near. Greve, the northern gateway, has a proper square and the bus from Florence. Castellina, near the Florence–Siena raccordo, is the easiest to come and go from; Radda, east of it, is the best to walk. Most beds are on agriturismi between them, which decides the evenings: dinner is a drive on unlit lanes, and someone stays sober.

It suits couples, groups with a car and anyone content with one thing a day. It suits people without a car badly: no railway enters the hills, the station named for Castellina is twelve kilometres below it, and buses are few, fewer still on Sundays. Castellina's core is a camera zone and Radda's is car-free; park outside and walk in.

Four nights is right. Come from Florence, drop the car in Siena at the finish and let the 131R do the rest. Drive the Chiantigiana, not the raccordo, which only skirts the hills. The villages are empty before ten and after five, and the September harvest is the best time to be here.

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