We will drive you in the heart of Maremma to
discover the land of the Etruscans, for a guided tour especially focused on
"wine and archaeology", but also on food and nature, in the sign of
pleasure and conviviality.
The site of the ancient "Vulci" with its noble Etruscans
tombs, is immersed in an unspoiled landscape on a plateau carved by the Fiora
river populated by a luxuriant vegetation.
You will walk along the shore of the river Fiora lead by an expert archaeologist
to discover the ruins of the Etrusco-Roman town with its temples, basilicas and
private buildings.
A recent archeo botanical research is demonstrating in the genome of the
Etruscan vines a strict affinity with that of the modern vines of Maremma as if
there was a continuity between the Etruscan wine landscape and the modern one,
interrupted only by the black plague of the "malaria" which
devastated this land for more than thousand years.
We will discuss the ancient Etruscans wine making techniques and practices and
the symbolic meaning of the "symposium" ( banquet of wine) among the
Etruscans by visiting the extraordinary archaeological collection housed in the
Antiquarium of "Castello della Badia" .
At lunch you'll taste the traditional flavours and wines of Maremma at "Casale
dell'Osteria", a typical Tuscany style building : the appetizing boar
cold cuts, the soups which in their simple ingredients recall the frugal meals
of the "butteri", the typical "cacio maremmano", tasty
sheep cheese, which should be accompanied by a robust red wine of Sovana or a
"Morellino of Scansano" and the local biscuits dunked in the popular
"holy wine" ("vin santo") of the Etruscan land.