September is the month of wine, or better, the grape harvest. If this is true for most regions in Italy, for Tuscany and the towns around Florence, its sacrosanct. 

Imagine a large cart filled to the brim with a pyramid of wicker-covered wine bottles and pulled by Chianina oxen (the white ones to be exact) that are blessed at the Cathedral before trumpeting through the city center. This is the big event on the last Saturday in September, when this traditional and historical re-enactment takes center stage in memory of the route that the wine coming from the Ruffina contado took when it was offered to Florence’s Signoria. Of course, in the city’s most authentic tradition, everything is accompanied by the historic parade of the Florentine Republic. 

Are you curious about where the cart full of wicker wine bottles comes from that parades through the streets of the city center? From Rufina, a town close to Florence that is famous for its production of excellent red wines. In the last week of September, this small village celebrates the king of the territory’s wine and food products with tastings, exhibitions, performances, activities and, of course, stands that offer a wide selection of products to eat. On Saturday, the cart is brought to Florence for the Carro Matto. 

Where: Rufina 

Just before the Carro Matto is the Chianti Classico Expo in Greve in Chianti. It takes place in the triangular piazza of this town in the heart of the Chianti, Piazza Matteotti, with stands where wineries display their best products. You can taste Gallo Nero wines and participate in various activities organized over the four days of the event. It’s a great opportunity to visit this elegant town and taste some of the most famous wines in the world, filling your cup directly from producers themselves. 

Never been to Panzano to visit the famous butcher “poet” Dario Cecchini? Vino al Vino could be the perfect occasion. During the second weekend of September, the small hillside village in the municipality of Greve in Chianti transforms into party central and welcomes visitors with its locally-produced wine. Producers belonging to the Unione Viticoltori di Panzano in Chianti take center stage, offering samples and tastings that will amaze your taste buds. Don’t miss the chance to stroll through the town: Panzano definitely has its fair share of head-spinning things to see. 

Typically Tuscan, the Festa dell’Uva in Impruneta pits the city’s four neighbourhoods, Pallò, SS. Marie, Fornaci and S. Antonio, against one another in a competition to build the most beautiful cart. The carts are paraded through the city on the last Sunday of September and can sometimes be over ten meters high! The theme of the carts’ decorations is, you guessed it, grapes! But each neighbourhood can choose to follow a traditional style or something more modern. Of course, in the days leading up to the parade and on the day itself, wine is plentiful.