By Chiara Pietrella
Unity is strength, resourcefulness, creativity and quality do the rest. This is the spirit that animates the historic centre of Chianciano Terme, where six willing restaurant operators have decided to “team up” to liven up the village, fully succeeding in the enterprise.
They simply call themselves “friends”, but when we go to meet them, they seem much more than that. In fact, in their gazes we see complicity and participation, but also the desire to create initiative with attention and quality, in order to offer the town of Chianciano a new opportunity for social cohesion and a captivating tourist offer. These are the owners of the bar and restaurant businesses Bradi Toscani, Caffè Centrale, Il RitroVino, La Torretta, Pasticceria Centro Storico and Torotosco, six businesses in the same sector, but with different offers and styles, all based on excellence.
We meet them on a late summer afternoon right at their ‘home’. The village of Chianciano Terme is still quite animated by tourists and inhabitants looking for relaxation and certainly they seem tired for the season that is coming to an end, but not without enthusiasm for the autumn initiatives, starting with the magical and gloomy Halloween, which for some years now has been organized by a group of creative and willing citizens with the support of the Proloco Association of Chianciano Terme and the managers of the six activity, with resounding success.
It is the first time we see them all together and curiosity is immediately directed towards the birth of this extraordinary partnership. “We met during the Covid period, in total self-management, to try to revive the fortunes of sociality, put to the test by the restrictions of the pandemic. There are only a few of us left and each one is complementary to the other; Therefore, mutual support is important now as then. We do not constitute a legal association, what unites us, first of all, is friendship, followed by the desire to do good to a country that we all love”, they explain to us with justified pride.
The group’s meetings mostly take place at the beginning of the season, around March, drawing up a calendar of initiatives for the weekends that they then realize with their own strengths, including economic ones, such as concerts or theme nights. “One of the most exciting – they explain – was ‘Rosso fuoco’, a wine tasting with the winemakers of Chianciano which was animated by engaging street games and musical entertainment. But every weekend saw a different event, from gastronomy to street music”. All these initiatives had an excellent response in terms of participation and demand, giving citizens and tourists another “historic” summer whose rich program ended in mid-September.
Autumn and winter include a program that is perhaps less intense, but no less interesting: in fact, the Halloween party called “The Night of the Witches” is scheduled for October, which this year will have the “Addams Family” as its central theme. The project will start from Porta Rivellini to Piazza Matteotti, recreating the mysterious castle and the living room where the singular characters will be able to interact with children and beyond. Great space will be given to games, with the obligatory stop being the meeting with the enigmatic “Hand”. At Christmas, the historic centre will be decorated again by the same creative volunteers with the support of the group of entrepreneurs. In addition, there are works with children and many other ideas still being defined and which can be followed on social media.
In short, our territory once again proves to be very rich and lively, and entrepreneurship always in the foreground with intelligent, attractive and engaging initiatives. However, there is one last question that we would like to ask the six before saying goodbye: “In addition to the events, what are the reasons to visit the historic center of Chianciano?”. Their response is ready, summarized in three nouns – accessibility, tranquility, excellence – which we like to report without further comments, except for a grateful chapeau to this bold group of friends/entrepreneurs.
Info: Historic Center of Chianciano Terme, tel. 333 5664058
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Instagram: @lanottedellestreghechianciano
