Italy-Day 15, San Gimignano, Collette Farewell Dinner

This was our final day with Collette Tours.  We spent the morning touring the historic (very) hillside town of San Gimignano, known for its medieval architecture surrounding a triangular town square.  The village is protected by walls and towers built to keep it safe during the Middle Ages.

As we walked up the hill into town and reached the square, our guide, Anton (who was the absolute best), turned to us and said "It's our lucky day, we are here on market day".  The square was filled with vendors selling anything that you can imagine.  

We were slightly overwhelmed because now, not only did we have the tourists to contend with but the locals were also in town.  As we were making our way through the maze of vendors, we ran into Anton again who was coming down hill from the upper area of the square.  He told us to go take a look.  

I felt like I had walked up from Hades with all the crowds into Heaven, where there was food stand after food stand, and no tourists in sight, just a few locals doing their weekly shopping.

I walked around in awe, shooting photo after photo until I came upon this vendor selling local olive oil, honey, and wine.  The local wine in San Gimignano, unlike most of the areas we visited, is a white wine made with Vernaccia grapes.  I bought a bottle of this white as well as a bottle of Chianti to enjoy at our hotel.

Between shopping, we stopped and enjoyed a free gelato provided by Gelataria Dondoli, who had given our tour group a presentation about their gelato, made with all-natural, organic, locally grown products, with unique flavor profiles.

We went off the beaten path for lunch, leaving the square and going outside the walls where we found this cute little Osteria.  We tried the local Vernaccia with lunch and compared that with the bottle I had bought from the market when we got back to our hotel.

They were both bright, crisp, and dry. We all agreed that they were both very nice wines and we were happy to have learned of this varietal.

Our evening ended with a Farewell Dinner provided by Collette. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to this great group of people who made our trip so memorable.