At the beginning of the seventies, the Chianti was a territory that was still to be discovered. The land had been abandoned by the exodus of so many young people who had rushed to the cities a few years before, in search of more congenial and better paid work. This had also been the trend all over Italy. Then the English, Germans, Swiss, Americans, and lastly the more skillful and shrewd Italians put a stop to this unfortunate trend. They began to rehabilitate their buildings, mainly consisting of beautiful, stone farmhouses, large farms and numerous medieval fortresses which became again the homes of people speaking many languages with different ideas about life in general, and frequently also about making wine. Life resumed full growth, not in the sense of former times but a new life. There the Chianti became a sort of prototype of a new way of conceding and understanding the countryside. A style of living that led to the coining of a new word abroad: “Chiantishire”.
To someone like myself, born and brought up in Florence and still living here, torn between an innate pride of belonging and a less blissful state of cultural isolation, the term arouses a certain perplexity. The word, an exquisite, Anglo-Saxon invention, seems to have been coined by the American writer and journalist, Burton Anderson now a “Chiantigiano” by adoption. However, some sustain that the word was coined at the end of the sixties, when the citizens of her Majesty the Queen first came here to discover a countryside similar to their own. Chiantishire was spoken of as if it were a place with a British calling, taste and style of living. The term is not very convincing even if it sounds right. The Chianti has always been and continues to be a Tuscan land, a land that preserves the style, traditions’ tastes, and even the defects of the people who have always lived there. Nevertheless it is also true that it is probably the most multilingual countryside in the world. Therefore, if we really have to use the English language, why not call it Chianti country?
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See also:

The Markets of Chianti, Meeting a Stranger, Tuscan Antique Furniture, Chianti by Bike, Chianti Artists, Chianti at The Bar, Chianti Theatrical Festival, Music and Culture in The Vineyards, Villa Le Barone, The Art of Hospitality at Podere Terreno, Chianti English Style, The Legendary Millemiglia in Chianti

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