San Casciano in Val di Pesa

The village of San Casciano in Val di Pesa with its whole municipality counts about sixteen thousand inhabitants.

San Casciano is well connected to Florence and Siena by a dual carriageway called Raccordo Autostradale RA03, also known by locals as Superstrada Firenze Siena.

The village of San Casciano in Val di Pesa with its whole municipality counts about six thousand inhabitants. The territory of San Casciano has eight frazioni (a frazione is a small village part of the municipality): Bargino, Cerbaia, Chiesanuova, La Romola, Mercatale in Val di Pesa, Montefiridolfi, San Pancrazio, Spedaletto. Then there are many località, most of times are a mere clump of houses.

San Casciano municipality is part of Chianti, an agricultural region famous for excellent wine and olive oil production. In the whole territory there are many small shops selling local products. For meat lovers don't miss the bistecca alla fiorentina, a typical florentine steak cut not simple to cook for non experts. So it's better to eat it in a restaurant then try to cook on your own.

The wine procuced in the area is named Chianti Classico, among the various ones the famous Marchesi Antinori. Another agricultural product that literally covers entire hills is the extra-virgin D.O.P. olive oil (where D.O.P. stands for Denominazione Origine Protetta, that is Denomination Protected Origin). In Tuscany we enjoy it when it has just been squeezed in late October/November with the bruschetta, a slice of Tuscan grilled bread rubbed with garlic, topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt (and sometimes pepper).
Tuscan bread is different from the bread of the other Italian regions because it has no salt in it.

The olive oil is an ingredient of other local specialities like the schiacciata all'olio and the schiacciata alle olive. There are many bakeries selling them and you really must taste them during your visit in San Casciano.