Green Gold and Authentic Flavors

The pungent smell of freshly pressed oil. The intense green flowing from crushing. The scent of Cinta Senese lard aged in marble. The ruby-red meat of Chianina steak. Hands dirty with soil after olive picking. The sound of olives falling into nets. The peppery taste of new oil on toasted bread.

You can't understand Tuscany without tasting what it produces.

For centuries, these hills have lived on olives, pigs and cattle. Three excellences that made the territory's gastronomic history: extra virgin olive oil from Tuscan hills, Cinta Senese cured meats (Slow Food presidium, nearly extinct indigenous breed now saved), Chianina beef (the world's oldest cattle breed, symbol of Florentine steak).

From Podere Grotta Antica you can live these traditions as protagonist: visit working olive mills (October-November), participate in olive harvesting, taste oil with professional sommeliers, visit the Cinta Senese pig farm at San Gregorio Agricultural Company (few km from Podere!), taste cured meats with the producer explaining aging, eat genuine Chianina steak in historic restaurants.

It's not just tasting: it's immersion in Tuscan peasant culture.

This tour isn't done in one day. It's a guide to gastronomic experiences to live during your stay. Each season has its protagonists: autumn = new oil, winter = aged cured meats, spring/summer = Chianina grills.

And remember: returning home with a demijohn of new oil and a Cinta Senese salami is taking home a piece of authentic Tuscany.

Green Gold from Tuscan Hills
Tuscan oil isn't just a condiment: it's a cultural identity. Terraced hillside olive groves, manual harvesting, cold pressing, intense fruity flavor with artichoke and almond notes, spicy and bitter (sign of quality!).

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Olive Harvest (October-November)

THE MAGICAL TIME OF YEAR
From mid-October to late November the hills come alive: entire families harvest olives with nets, rakes, hands. It's a collective ritual repeated for centuries.

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Visitable Olive Mills

FRANTOIO SOCIALE DI MONTEPULCIANO
- Where: Montepulciano (25 km)
- When: October-November (working), year-round (visits)
- What: Modern facility tour, oil tasting, sales
- Reservation: Recommended (frantoiosocialemontepulciano.it)

One of the area's historic mills. During harvest (Oct-Nov) you can see arriving olives, washing, cold pressing, oil extraction. The smell is intoxicating!
Guided tasting: An expert teaches you to taste oil like a professional (blue glasses, warming in palm, olfactory analysis, tasting with air aspiration for oxygenation).

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FRANTOIO DELLA FATTORIA DEL COLLE
- Where: Trequanda (30 km)
- When: October-November (working)
- What: Organic mill, visit + tasting, sales
- Particular: Organic certified, local cultivars

🫒 EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Tasting Oil Like a Professional

THE TECHNIQUE:
1. Blue glass (to not be influenced by color)
2. Warm glass in palm of hand (68-82°F)
3. Smell deeply (fruity, herbaceous, vegetal notes)
4. Taste a small sip
5. Aspirate air through teeth (striping) to oxygenate

6. Analyze:
- Fruity: intensity (light/medium/intense)
- Bitter: presence (sign of quality!)
- Spicy: throat sensation (polyphenols, antioxidants!)

DEFECTS TO RECOGNIZE:
- Rancid (old nuts smell)
- Moldy (spoiled olives)
- Metallic (metal contact)

Remember: Good oil MUST be bitter and spicy! It's not a defect, it's QUALITY!

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Typical Tuscan Cultivars

FRANTOIO: Most widespread. Medium fruity, balanced bitter and spicy. Artichoke, grass notes.
LECCINO: Sweeter and delicate. Light fruity, less spicy. Almond notes.
MORAIOLO: Intense! Very fruity, decisive bitter and spicy. For expert palates.
PENDOLINO: Pollinator, rarely pure. Delicate.

Best oils are blends of different cultivars for perfect balance.

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Buying Oil: What to Look For

✅ "Extra Virgin" label (not generic "olive oil")
✅ Origin: "100% Italian" or "Tuscan IGP"
✅ Harvest date (not expiration! Oil should be consumed within 18 months of harvest)
✅ Cultivars indicated
✅ Cold pressed (<81°F)
✅ Dark bottle (glass or tin - light protection)
✅ Acidity <0.5% (extra virgin <0.8% by law, but good ones <0.5%)
Fair price: €12-25 per liter (less = suspicious, more = excellence or marketing)

Where to buy:
- Olive mills and farms (best quality/price ratio)
- Farmers' markets (direct producers)
- ❌ NO supermarkets (low quality, often blends with foreign oils)

📍 Podere's tip
If you come to Tuscany between October and November, the olive harvest and working mill experience is UNMISSABLE. New oil is magical: brilliant green, very intense aroma, so spicy it makes you cough! Mills work 24/7, you can smell it for miles. Book a guided visit with tasting, you'll learn to recognize good oil from poor. Then go to a farm and buy directly from producer: 5 liters of new oil for €60-80 lasting all year.

And taste 'fettunta': toasted Tuscan bread, rubbed with garlic, soaked with new oil. Absolute simplicity, unforgettable flavor.

At Podere we use oil from our olive grove and selected local producers: we'll introduce you!

Indigenous Breed Saved from Extinction
Cinta Senese is an indigenous Tuscan pig breed recognizable by the "cinta" (white band crossing shoulders and front legs on black body).

History: Raised for centuries in Tuscany, nearly extinct in '50s-'60s (replaced by "modern" fast-growing breeds). In the '90s a group of passionate breeders saved the breed. Today it's Slow Food Presidium and recognized as gastronomic excellence.

Characteristics:
- Slow growth (18-24 months vs 6-8 for industrial pigs)
- Free-range or semi-free-range farming (oak woods)
- Natural feeding (acorns, chestnuts, herbs)
- Marbled meat, sweet and aromatic fat
- Superior quality cured meats

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San Gregorio Agricultural Company ⭐

CINTA SENESE AT KM ZERO FROM PODERE!

What: Cinta Senese farm + artisan cured meat production + wine tastings
Visits: By reservation
Contacts: Ask Podere to arrange

San Gregorio Agricultural Company is a reference point for Cinta Senese in Val di Chiana. Here you can:

VISIT THE FARM:
- See pigs grazing in woods (free-range farming)
- Understand difference from intensive farming
- Learn breed history and recovery

TASTE CURED MEATS:
Guided tasting with producer explaining:
- Rigatino (aged bacon)
- Capocollo (coppa)
- Lonza (loin)
- Fresh sausages
- Tuscan salami
- Prosciutto (rare and precious!)
- Lardo (sweet, aromatic, melts in mouth)

TASTE WINES:
San Gregorio also produces wine. Paired cured meats-wine tasting.

BUY PRODUCTS:
Direct sales (vacuum-packed for travel). Fair prices, excellent quality.
Reservation: Mandatory (contact through Podere)

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Other Cinta Senese Producers in Area

CINTA SENESE DI ANTICA MACELLERIA FALORNI (Greve in Chianti)
- Where: 80 km (1h) - only if going to Chianti
- Note: Historic butcher shop since 1729, Cinta Senese temple

AZIENDA AGRICOLA POGGIO AI GRILLI (Pienza)
- Where: 35 km
- What: Farm + direct sales

🐷 CINTA SENESE - The Tuscan Pig Slow Food Presidium

Recognizing Genuine Cinta Senese

BEWARE OF IMITATIONS!

Genuine Cinta Senese has:
✅ DOP mark or certified farm indication
✅ Adequate price (cured meats cost 30-50% more than normal)
✅ Traceability (producer must indicate origin)
✅ White-pinkish fat (not yellow)
✅ Sweet, delicate flavor, not "gamey"
❌ NO: "Cinta senese type", "Tuscan cured meats" without certification

World's Oldest Cattle Breed
Chianina is an indigenous cattle breed from Val di Chiana (from which it takes its name). It's considered the world's oldest cattle breed (over 2,200 years of history!).

Characteristics:
- Giant cattle: bulls up to 1,800 kg, cows 1,000 kg, height 1.8-2 meters
- Porcelain white coat
- Slow growth (24-30 months)
- Lean, tender meat, delicate flavor
- THE meat of Florentine steak

Recognition: IGP (Protected Geographical Indication) "Vitellone Bianco dell'Appennino Centrale"

🥩 CHIANINA - Queen of Florentine Steak

Florentine Steak

WHAT IT IS:
Loin cut (with T-bone) from 12-24 month Chianina calf, 3-4 cm thick, weight 800g-1.5 kg.

HOW IT'S COOKED:
- Very hot grill (wood or charcoal)
- 5 minutes per side (rare inside!)
- Coarse salt after cooking
- ❌ NEVER well done (it's sacrilege!)

HOW IT'S EATEN:
- Rare (red inside, grilled outside)
- Sliced, bone aside (to gnaw!)
- With simple side dishes (beans, potatoes)

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Where to Eat Genuine Chianina Steak

OSTERIA ACQUACHETA (Montepulciano) ⭐⭐⭐
- Distance: 25 km (25 minutes)
- What: THE legendary area steak
- Price: €45-55 per kg (minimum 1.2 kg per steak)
- Reservation: MANDATORY (even 1 week ahead in high season)
- Atmosphere: Rustic trattoria, shared tables, chef grilling in front of you
- Note: Queue outside even with reservation. Worth it!

LA GROTTA (Montepulciano)
- Distance: 25 km
- What: Traditional cuisine, excellent steak
- Price: €40-50 per kg
- Reservation: Recommended

TRATTORIA DARDANO (Cortona)
- Distance: 40 km
- What: Chianina steak + Tuscan cuisine
- Price: €45 per kg

ANTICA TRATTORIA AL VERZIERE (Chiusi)
- Distance: 2 km ⭐ VERY CLOSE!
- What: Homestyle Tuscan cuisine, local Chianina
- Price: €35-45 per kg

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Visitable Farms
Some Chianina farms offer guided visits (by reservation):

What you see:
- Cattle grazing (spectacular seeing these giants!)
- Stables and farm management
- Breed explanation, history, characteristics
- Direct meat sales (vacuum-packed, frozen)

Where: Ask Podere for updated contacts (farm availability changes)

📍 The final Podere's tip
Tuscany = oil, cured meats, wine, steak. But the difference between 'eating Tuscan' and 'LIVING Tuscan food' is meeting who produces. Going to the mill and smelling crushed olives, visiting San Gregorio and seeing Cinta Senese pigs grazing, eating steak at Acquacheta with chef grilling in front of you: this is living the territory. And then bringing home 5 liters of oil, 2 kg of cured meats, some wine bottles: it's bringing home real Tuscany.

At Podere we only use selected local products and personally know producers. We put you in contact, organize visits, give you tips on what to buy. And in the evening you can dine at Podere with products you bought during the day!

Ready for the taste tour?

Book your stay at Podere Grotta Antica and discover Tuscan gastronomic excellences directly from the source.

From new oil just pressed to Cinta Senese cured meats, from Chianina steak to pecorino cheeses: each taste is a journey into peasant culture that's resisted for centuries.

We await you at Podere with contacts of best producers, already organized reservations, advice on what not to miss. Just bring your appetite and desire to discover: we'll take care of authentic Tuscany.