Here's what Linda, a TalkTuscany.com traveler, had to say about the town of Lecchi and Casa Sevelli in Tuscany, Italy.

Lecchi, Casa Sevelli provides quiet, small-town getaway

A quiet street in Lecchi.

By Linda L.
McMinnville, Oregon

I have many fond memories of our three weeks in Italy but my favorite place was Lecchi in Chianti.  Lecchi is a town of around 150 permanent residents located between Florence and Siena.  The village is so small it wasn’t present on many of our maps.

We found a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of a three-story 15th century stone house called Casa Sevelli.  It rented by the week and was very affordable at €100 per night.  It offered all of the amenities we needed for our family of four, including two teen-agers.

In the backyard of our apartment was a pool to be shared only by the occupants of the two apartments in our building.  We had exclusive use of it the entire week we were there. 

There was a one-lane road through the village lined by stone buildings on each side adorned with window flower boxes.  When delivery trucks drove through town they literally cleared the buildings by a foot on each side.   

Each day we would exchange "buongiorno" with the friendly locals who gathered in front of the Community Center to visit in the warm sun.   While Lecchi’s local store offers most everything essential to life, the town of Radda in Chianti is the nearest shopping area. That hill village only a 10-minute drive away and offered everything from wireless Internet shops to shoe stores.

Emily shows off her kitchen efforts.

Lecchi has a wonderful restaurant called Ristorante Marlborgetto.  The food was fabulous and the owners are young, very gracious and spoke good English. We became regulars and they welcomed us warmly and fed us well.  Matt and Emily took cooking lessons making four courses, which were enjoyed by all of us, paired with wines selected by Simone, the owner.

While we were content to spend most of our time in Lecchi that week we did venture out a few days.  Siena was only 20 minutes to the south, Florence an hour to the north.  But we so enjoyed simply driving the winding roads of Chianti to visit the other hill towns such as Panzano, San Gimignano, and Gaiole.  All were short drives through beautiful vineyards and olive orchards.

Unknown to us ahead of time, we were visiting Lecchi during their annual celebration on the first weekend of September. Each local village has a celebration and Lecchi’s was the charcoal festival.  Charcoal was essential to life and they still celebrate the tradition of making charcoal.  A charcoal stack smoldered all weekend long.  Local wineries poured wines in the afternoon while whole chickens rotated on the rotisserie.  Long dining tables were set up in the street lined with bottles of local Chianti.  After the meal there was music and dancing until late into the night.

The sun was warm and the views of the Tuscan hillsides were comforting, it was the most quiet and relaxing place imaginable.  I will return to Lecchi when I visit Italy again.