When the weather is nice and warm, one of my favourite things to do when I was younger was to pick up my motorcycle and explore the little villages in my region. The back roads of Tuscany are charming and lead you to many special places, but in order to discover some of the hidden gems you need to do a bit of homework. Many years ago I visited the village of Montespertoli, not far from Florence, and I found it rather unremarkable. Little did I know that the tower on the hill that dominates the area was hiding an incredible secret and was much more interesting than I thought. That historic small castle was the favourite place in the world of Sidney Sonnino, one of Italy's quirkiest and most respected statesmen from the early 20th century, the place where he wanted to turn his ideas about modern agriculture and societal issues into practice. This ancient castle has found a way to preserve its heritage and become both sustainable and a great cultural centre. That's why this week What's Up Tuscany will bring you to this village 15 miles from Florence to tell you all you need to know about the remarkable Castle Sonnino. If you listen to the entire episode you will learn about how the heirs of the famous statesman made this place one of the leading producers of wine and olive oil in the Florentine Chianti and also how they paired up with US and Canadian universities to have students and teachers come here to have specialised courses on all sorts of subjects. You will also learn about the great man himself, how he was very different from the rest of Italian politics and how his ideas on modernity changed the country forever. In the final part you'll also know about the luxury apartments you could rent in this very special castle, the wine tasting tours and the more cultural events that are held in this little gem hidden in plain sight in the hills around Florence. Email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larno.it Twitter: @arno_it / @WhatsupTuscany LINKS TO SOURCES (ITALIAN ONLY) https://www.castellosonnino.it/history/ https://www.castellosonnino.it/contacts/ https://www.lastampa.it/cultura/2017/01/15/news/caterina-de-renzis-sonnino-nel-mio-castello-insegno-la-cultura-del-made-in-italy-1.36626556/ BACKGROUND MUSIC Pipe Choir - Bom Bom Breakthrough (Instrumental) Catmosphere - Candy Coloured Sky Pipe Choir - Earth 2 Earth WUFO - Hyde Park The Passion Hi-Fi - Buried Pipe Choir - Almost Time (Instrumental) Wayne John Bradley - Blues Rock Original Instrumental All released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-bom-bom-breakthrough-creative-commons-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/argofox/catmosphere-candy-coloured-sky https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/p-c-iii-earth2earth-creative-commons-instrumental https://soundcloud.com/argofox/wufo-hyde-park https://soundcloud.com/freehiphopbeatsforyou/free-the-passion-hifi-buried https://soundcloud.com/pipe-choir-2/pipe-choir-almost-time-instrumental-creative-commons https://soundcloud.com/ayneohnradley/blues-rock-original-instrumentalcreative-commons http://www.pipechoir.com/