A Tuscany Tour

Letter #50: Ethical animal breeding, the Sword in the Stone, and the best vineyard ever.

Begnardi Vineyards with my bestie

7/22/23

We weren’t sure what to expect with the farm tour that Wednesday—we hadn’t Googled anything. But it was incredible. The farm is owned by this woman, a vegetarian no less, that wanted to figure out a way to ethically raise animals for meat. And so she owns about 1500 acres of land across the southwestern Tuscany in Paganico, 1100 acres of which is forest for the animals to roam free in, year round. They breed Cinta Senese Pigs and Maremmana Breed Cattle that forage for their food in the forests, their diet supplemented with the farm’s own organic hay and grains.

They have developed a method of slaughtering the pigs at home so that they are never scared or traumatized by being moved to an actual slaughterhouse for the “end of life” procedure. Our tour guide, Valentina, explained to us their method of providing the animals with as humane a life as possible up until the very end. The carcasses are then hung up and carted off in a special refrigerated truck to a slaughterhouse where the meat can be checked over to ensure the quality meets the standards deemed by the European officials. The meat is then returned to the farm and butchered in-house. The pigs will come up to humans very easily, unafraid and looking for food, so the farm has a “stunning” method that delivers instantaneous death. The cows, however, are so wild that they do not allow humans to get close enough to use the same stunning method. Thus, the cows are still sent to the slaughterhouse for traditional methods of killing. Valentina described to us how scared the animals can be in this new, sterile environment, traumatized right before end of life, thus releasing increased hormones moments before they are killed. Tenuta di Paganico is working to change this method for meat production in order to honor the health and life of the animal. It is, of course, much more expensive and time-consuming to operate in this manner.

We were able to see both animals in their habitats, including three herds of cows grazing in the pastures, that would disappear into the woods whenever we ventured too close—not even Valentina’s dad, who has been their primary caregiver for 10 years, can get close to them.

The pigs came nearby easily, looking for food. There were three in total outside where we were standing. Recently, there had been an outbreak of swine flu in Africa, and now all the farms are under strict regulations to keep humans away from the pigs, and they are keeping their breeding numbers low right now. If even one pig is found positive for swine flue within a 50 km radius, ALL pigs must be slaughtered within a matter of 72 hours. You could tell the guide was struggling not to tear up when she told us this. The farm is not even given the opportunity to test the animals—there is no leeway—and so the pigs are killed no matter what, all the lives and the meat wasted. You can imagine how heartbreaking that might be for a small family-owned farm that takes the care and lives of their animals very seriously.

They do not produce the meat commercially—they sell the meat only from their little shop, in their restaurant, and to local customers in the surrounding area. They do not have a large enough operation to produce enough meat to support supermarkets or restaurants—and anyway it doesn’t seem that that would align with the owner’s values in creating this farm. They are constantly working on projects with different universities to find ways to improve the meat-farming industry for both the animals and the environment.

Hil and I were looking for a tour about cheese-making, olive oil making, bread-making…and somehow stumbled onto one about ethical animal breeding. 😂 But it was beautiful and enlightening and we enjoyed the tour a lot.

Tenuta di Paganico's shop, the pigs cooling in the sun, the farm, the Maremmana cows, and some rabbits

8/4/23

We had originally planned to see the Sword in the Stone on our way to Rome on Thursday. It would’ve been out of the way, adding another hour of drive time onto our trip, but we figured would be better to lump all of our far drives into one day.

We changed our mind, however, after the farm tour, deciding instead to head to Chiusdino to find the Sword in the Stone and then have lunch. This was some ancient artifact/site that Hilary had found in one of her many historical documentaries she likes to watch. I didn’t ask any questions—I was just so happy she made the effort to travel to Europe with me in the middle of summer when flight prices are at their peak, that I obliged to plan our trip around this alleged sword that cannot be removed from this alleged stone by San Galgano Giudotti. Hil even chose our AirBnB location because it was in driving distance of Chuisdino. And thankfully we did otherwise we would’ve never found Pari.

We saw an old ruined abbey and walked up the hill to the chapel that housed San Galgano’s sword in the stone. I have a hard time getting excited about ancient sites (not sure what’s wrong with me), but I spent my time admiring the old architecture and taking photos of Hil ,who was so happy to finally reach this place.

When we’d had our fill, we walked over to the hilltop, outdoor wine bar. We each ordered a salami panini and split a bowl of Tuscan bean and vegetable soup. It was SO satisfying sitting among the breeze and trees, eating this belly-warming soup. We wrapped half our sandwiches to go and walked down to the car. We had about a 45 minute drive back to Pari along narrow, winding forest roads. We were both sleepy from the sight-seeing, so I was nearly slapping myself to stay awake as I white-knuckled the drive along these precarious roads on the way home.

Hil at San Galgano Abbey, the Sword in the Stone, us outside the chapel, and Salendo Wine Bar

We were relieved to get back to the AirBnB, as the drive was exhausting and Hil especially needed a nap. I sat up in bed, typing out my newsletter while Hil napped next to me. The newsletter had been hanging over my head and I wanted to get it accomplished at a time where it wouldn’t take away from our vacation together.

She slept maybe an hour and a half, I scheduled my newsletter, and both of us felt ready for our wine tour that night. I was excited that we’d gotten that scheduled—the penultimate task to accomplish when visiting Tuscany.

Bagneri Vineyards was located near Monte Acuto, about a 25 minute drive away from Pari. We were laughing about how long the drive felt—I claimed it felt like I was driving down the world’s longest driveway. It was another narrow, winding road through the woods, wide enough only for one car, and we were truly on it for 20 minutes out of the 25 minute drive. We saw a sign for the winery early on and reached the actual place ages later.

And yet? It was paradise. Their main building overlooked rolling fields of grapes vies and olive trees. An older man came out to greet us, Michele, immediately complimenting my jewelry and our style. He had that friendly, flattering and affectionate way that many Italian men seem to have.

He was already making us laugh, even though he didn’t speak any English. Again, we used gestures and our recognition of some Italian words to communicate. Anyways, this didn’t end up being a true “tour”. Instead, he seated us at the corner of the lawn, the fields below us, and brought out some white wine. He poured us each a glass and left the bottle in an ice bucket between us. Hil and I weren’t sure if we were waiting for more people to come join us for this 6pm “tour”…? If we’d be given the history of the vineyard or an education about the process of the wine-making? But, instead, no one else arrived so Hil and I had the privilege of sipping our white, then our rosé, then two reds as the sun set over the fields. We had the place to ourselves. If I thought Sunday night with the locals in Pari was the best night I’d had in years, I was wrong. Because this evening at the vineyard was topping that experience.

Michele introduced us to his son, Maximillian, a sweet 10-year-old that practiced his English with us, answered questions about his life and the vineyard, and which subjects he likes most in school. His dad came out in turns, serving us bread and homemade olive oil, cheese, salame, and tomatoes that he and Maximillian picked directly from the gardens in front of us.

I particularly liked the first red he gave us the most. This wasn’t a traditional wine tasting where Michele would describe the type of grape and state of the soil or the weather of the season. We didn’t discuss its scent or any notes of the flavor. Hil and I just drank the wine, made each other laugh, and couldn’t believe our luck in finding this special little place.

Scenes from the vineyard, including our new friend Michele, the tomato garden, and a very naughty kitty that wanted to steal the cheese

Michele, his wife, and Maximillian set up a table in the yard behind us, near the cantina, and proceeded to have their family dinner while we enjoyed the sunset. Here and there, Michele would run over and refill our wine glasses. The “tour” was 20 euros and was meant to last only 2 hours, and yet we found ourselves still there after 9:30pm. The family wrapped up their leisurely outdoor meal and headed inside—such a beautiful life, right?! Dining outdoors every day at the winery?

Hil and I went inside to pay the bill and buy some bottles of wine. I bought a bottle of red, and Hil picked up one red, one white, and 2 bottles of their olive oil. It was at that time we learned that Michele owned the winery. For some reason, we were under the impression that he was a the manager and main caretaker, and that the owner lived elsewhere. How wrong we were! His wife is German and spoke with us in English, explaining that this is a family run vineyard, and they are in fact the Begnardis. It was such a special, intimate experience, and we were thrilled to not have been directed towards a commercial vineyard we’d found by defaulting to Trip Advisor. 🤷🏻‍♀️

As we said our goodbyes and thank you’s for such a lovely evening, we headed towards the car. Maximillian called after us, running down the walkway to hand each of us a spring of lavender. We gave him a hug goodbye, tearing up at how sweet he was. It was such an affectionate experience with this family.

Hil and I got in the car, the darkness setting in in the sky above us, and I drove as slowly as I could back along the longest driveway in the world. Hil lined up some of our favorite classic rock songs, beginning first with Dire Straits “Money for Nothing”, belting out the lyrics at the top of our lungs. Next up, she played CCR’s “Fortunate Son”. We were laughing so hard, singing as loud as we possibly could, me straining to see the narrow road ahead of me, through the woods, without a single street light in sight.

We got back to our AirBnB by 10pm, still reveling in our happiness from everything we saw/tasted that day. We shared one more glass of wine in bed as we talked about how special this particular area of Tuscany is, amazed at how well everything had worked out.

The Begnardi Family having dinner, sunset over the vineyard, and Hil made me a midnight snack

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