Hot Air Balloon Flight over Chianti and Val di Pesa

The launch field sits below Cantina Antinori, and the route follows the Val di Pesa from there. Almost everything that passes underneath is working land: vineyards in ruled rows, olive groves on the drier slopes, and ploughed fields in between. The larger wine estates read from the air as clusters of cellar buildings among the rows. What the ground looks like depends on when the balloon goes up. Bare vine rows early in the season give way to full green by summer, then to leaf colour around harvest, so two flights over the same stretch of Chianti in the same year look different from each other. Departure is from San Casciano in Val di Pesa. The exact meeting point is sent by 4.00 pm on the day before, by WhatsApp or email, and it can move if the weather changes. Wind sets the direction and the distance, which is why no route map is published in advance.