THE air tingles with anticipation during cocktail hour at Le Casacce. As the late summer sun dips behind the parched Tuscan hills, guests gather as if for a theatrical denouement. Champagne corks are popped and the hum of chatter competes with the last gasp of the crickets.
Smells from the kitchen are a prelude to a gastronomic adventure of epic proportions. And then the man of the hour arrives, Enrico – chef, host and all-round charmer.
Grazing the hands of each female guest with a kiss, he can’t hide a wince as he announces the menu for the evening. Driving home the night before, he had a rather close encounter with a wild boar (which would appear on our plate later on) leaving him uncomfortably fixed into a neck brace. But this culinary master was not one for taking it easy.
The meal that followed was to set the tone for the week we spent at Le Casacce – a collection of 16th-century farm buildings renovated into beautiful, spacious villas centred on an elegant farmhouse. Perched on a hillside above the tiny town of Seggiano, it is ensconced between the larger towns of Castel del Piano and Castiglione d’Orcia, about an hour from Siena.
The views from our villa’s balcony were of the quintessential Tuscan countryside – rolling hills interrupted by clumps of Cyprus trees and vineyards groaning with their heavy red grapes.
Following nightly aperitifs while watching the sun drop out of sight after a long, baking day, we would drag ourselves down to Enrico’s restaurant at the bottom of the drive in the main house, usually accompanied by one of the animals in his menagerie – dogs, sheep, cats, a donkey and a few doleful cows.
We ate a six-course dinner that first night – it’s still something we talk about.
It went something like this: wild mushroom soup, followed by wild boar, followed by veal, followed by ravioli with spinach, ricotta and truffles, followed by zabaione, followed by cheese, and all washed down with wines of the region, including a 2001 red from Enrico’s family vineyard.
These nightly sessions on the veranda of Le Casacce were always the fitting end to days exploring the ancient villages and towns of the area.
Our first taste of the local surrounds was the palio in Castel del Piano.
This annual horse race around the town square is smaller than the famous Siena palio, but no less passionate. In fact, there were tears and spontaneous dancing in the streets, and that was before the race had even begun.
An invitation from the local mayor enabled us to watch proceedings from his offices, which looked straight out to the course, where the four riders representing the four boroughs of the town would ride their steeds the three laps.
It’s amazing how long the Italians can drag out a three-minute race. Try three hours. The build-up is as much a part of the event as the race itself, with a procession of locals dressed as minstrels and maidens; a series of false starts that keeps you reaching for a refill of prosecco, and a relentless commentary by various MCs apparently on the rivalry between the riders.
Slowly but surely, the crowd is whipped up into a frenzy – and just when it’s all getting too much for anyone to bear any longer, the race begins at last.
Barebacked and stirrup-less, the riders are off. The roar of the crowd – essentially the whole town, and then some – reaches its crescendo as the winner crosses the finishing line.
A trip to Siena next day seemed sedate by comparison.
Wending our way through the narrow streets and alleyways, we eventually made it to the magnificent piazza, known for its elaborate, cobbled shell-like design. It’s well worth spending a few days in Siena to take in the sights – the cathedral, museums, the Sienese painting and architecture of the Renaissance.
There was a temptation to laze around the pool at Le Casacce under the gentle September sun, but we pushed on and took Enrico’s advice to visit the town of Montalcino, 30 minutes’ drive away.
Like most of these small towns, it is perched on a hilltop with picture-postcard views of Tuscany. This sleepy spot is another series of winding streets of stone houses, ancient churches and the requisite cafes and restaurants with alfresco dining.
The fortified town is famous for its red Brunello wine. We sampled the juice at a restaurant overlooking the valley and ate just about the best pizzas we had ever tasted for not a lot of dough.
Pienza is another short drive from Le Casacce. The Renaissance town has the most divine Duomo, but it’s the cheese shops that beckon. Window displays lured us in to find a spectacular choice of cheeses, including the town’s speciality, Pecorino di Pienza – a hard cheese made from sheep’s milk.
The romance of Tuscany speaks for itself, and it remains a fabulously seductive place to visit. But it’s Enrico’s food that holds the greatest memories for us. The man, like the region, simply deals in splendour.
Bess Manson was a guest of online operator www.directTuscany.com. Seven nights’ self-catering in either Le Casacce or Montale ranges from 600 euros per apartment in the low season (January 7-March 14/November 12-December 24) to 1,200 euros in the high season (August 1-29/December 24-January 9). Smaller apartments sleep up to four, larger apartments up to six. Everything else – food, flights, car hire, and so on – costs extra.
Florence is the closest airport to Le Casacce, with Rome, Bologna and Pisa within a reasonable distance. Destination details at www.lecasacce.net
Package operators to Tuscany include Crystal Lakes, which offers seven nights’ half-board at the three-star Hotel Belvedere in Montecatini from £595 per person from early-May, 2009, flying from Gatwick. Supplements for Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness start at £85.
Crystal reservations: 0871 230 8180, or see www.crystallakes.co.uk