It is the home of good wine par excellence.

We are talking about the Chianti district, or "Chiantishire", as this part of Tuscany was renamed in the 1980s due to the many tourists coming from Great Britain and the United States.

Numerous farms, villas and typical Tuscan country houses to rent for one or more weeks dot the gentle hills, surrounded by hectares of rows of vines, which are to be reached through characteristic white roads.

• In summer, from your villa or country house in Tuscany you can watch the peasants working and preparing the vines for the grape harvest taking place in September.

• In autumn, you can spend hours by the fireplace with your relatives and friends sipping a new wine and nibbling at roast or boiled chestnuts.

• In winter, you can leave your Tuscan house for amusing excursions to the municipalities of the Chianti district, at the discovery of the numerous festivals and small antique markets taking place in this part of the region.

• In spring, when the countryside is an explosion of colours, you can visit the century-old jewels hidden in the district: the "Abbey of San Michele a Passignano", the "Certosa di Pontignano" or "Monteriggioni" and its "cerchia tonda" mentioned in Dante`s Divine Comedy. All postcard views for your souvenir photos.

Last but not least, do not forget that a holiday in Tuscany, and above all in the Chianti district, must include a tour of the most renowned wineries in the world.