An Osteria in Chianti-

“Ultimo is Chianti.” The truth of these words—and the epic, century-long existence of one inimitable Ultimo Gori—is the essence of An Osteria In Chianti, Dario Castagno’s fourth book. A native “Chiantigiano” himself, Castagno delves into the history and character of Tuscany through Ultimo’s extraordinary arc, which begins with his 1908 birth, the tenth child of a sharecropping family eking out a frugal existence in the rock-strewn fields of Chianti Senese. When Dario initially meets Ultimo in 1983—after the then-septuagenarian tosses his Vespa into a tree as if it were a sack of wild mushrooms—it is by chance. But the 25-year friendship that followed was clearly meant to be, in the most profound of ways.

Shortly after first encountering Ultimo, Dario also crosses paths with a mysterious and elegant gentleman in a bar. Overhearing Dario’s tale of the rough-hewn Vespa-hurler, the enigmatic stranger gives him an important envelope to deliver back to Ultimo. He then launches into a spellbinding recantation of Ultimo’s life, his own place in it—and the evolution of Chianti itself. Tales of pre-modern Tuscany, tragically lost family members, unrequited love, friends humble and noble alike, World War II, swapped identity, imprisonment, and redemption cascade together. They are inter-cut with episodes from Dario’s deepening companionship with Ultimo. Ending with glimpses into a realm of magic, and a most fitting continuation of Ultimo’s legacy, An Osteria In Chianti takes the reader on an irresistible journey that—spiritually and historically—is Chianti.