Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mid-September, half-board is obligatory but given the gorgeous, five-star restaurant who
cares?
Caffè Ginori
(Piazza della Vittoria)
With its shaded terrace and interior dating to 1946, Caffè Ginori is
where locals drop by to jaw at the bar or gorge on exquisite miniature cakes almost too
good to eat. This was the favourite hangout of Italian heart-throb Marcello Mastroianni
when he had a summer villa in town.
CAFE
TOP OF CHAPTER
Bolgheri & Around
This tiny walled village is dominated by its toylike, red-brick castle taking in the city gate
and Romanesque Chiesa di SS Giacomo e Cristoro, restructured towards the end of the
19th century. But the main reason people flock here, bar browsing its pricey tourist shops,
is to taste wine - notably its locally produced, internationally famous 'Super Tuscan' Sas-
sicaia.
From Bolgheri head 5.7km west along the SP16 to
San Guido
to pick up tasting notes
and lists of wine estates where you can taste and buy at the
Strada del Vino e dell'Olio visitor
centre
( 05 6574 9705; Castegneto Carducci 45; 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Mon-Sat)
, within a pretty
walled rose garden; the centre also arranges visits to wineries, olive farms and honey pro-
ducers.
The short drive is stunning - along a dead-straight, impossibly romantic, century-old
Cypress Alley
built from 2540 trees and made famous by Tuscan poet Giosuè Carducci in
his 1874 poem
Davanti a San Guido.
Each year in July the 5km-long tree-lined avenue
Sleeping & Eating
Strada Giulia 16
( 331 2661699;
www.stradagiuliabolgheri.it
;
Strada Giulia 16; d €150-190; )
Strada Giulia 16 is
both the name and address of this hybrid B&B-boutique hotel in a centuries-old house.
Location alone, within the historic walls of Bolgheri, renders it instantly charming and its
B&B
€€
