Panzano is just a spot on the map. Smack-dab in the center of Tuscany, the village is brimming with personality.

There's Carlo Fagiani who will make you a pair of custom made shoes or boots IN ANY COLOR YOU LIKE and made to fit you perfectly. Last year I had a pair of black riding boots made that fit me like a glove. I ordered them on Monday and I was wearing them with a smile on Wednesday. Carlo is a shoe-making master!

There's also my friend Dario, the infamous butcher, who recites Dante in one breath and sings opera in the other. A butcher shop like no other, inside you can savor delicious bites of porchetta or warm lardo smeared on bread washed down with glasses of his own gutsy red wine poured from a jug.

You're probably tired by now and you want to sit down? Here are some options:
We can go to Mac Dario behind the butcher shop and sit on a picnic table for a half pound burger in a crispy crumb crust with garlic and sage-roasted potatoes for just 10 euro. Best burger, ever!

Or we can go across the street to Dario's more "upscale" joint. We'll sit at communal tables, share wine from a big jug and get full on raw garden vegetables that we dip in Tuscan virgin olive oil, the best Chianti steak tartar, roasted pork with Tuscan herbs and garlic and his famous meatloaf with sweet bell pepper sauce. We'll walk away pleasantly full with new-found friends and big smiles on our faces!

Come with me to Tuscany this October. We'll cook up a fabulous Panzanella for lunch and dine al fresco at our villa, do a little shoe-shopping therapy and then pop over to Dario's for dinner.

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