Before knowing each other, we were both for many years vegetarians. But years of travel to Italy, motivated and guided by the culinary pleasures of the country, soon put an end to that. By the time we moved to La Petraia we had come to an important realization: either we would raise our own animals as well as partake of the rewards of the Tuscan tradition of hunting or we would return to vegetarianism. We could not justify turning our backs on the killing of animals by only buying meat from a butcher. We wanted an opportunity to raise what we ate, giving each animal the best love and care we could and honoring the end of each and every life with gratitude. In this way we would know what they had eaten and the conditions in which they were raised and gain the comfort of that knowledge at the table.

This new adventure began with a few chickens and soon mushroomed into a population of inhabitants in a variety of structures and large enclosures. Now at La Petraia you can find rabbits, geese, guinea hens, turkeys and ducks as well as the beautiful Val d’Arno hens, a solid white breed being brought gingerly back from the brink of extinction, and the even rarer gallo nero, the black rooster that is the symbol of Chianti wines. All wander freely and graze on a diet of grass, herbs, fruit, chestnuts, acorns, vegetables and grain.

In 2005 we took this animal husbandry to a new level with the arrival of Bella and Bruto, our first two pigs. Black with a wide white band or collar around their necks and upper backs, they were Cinta Senese, or Sienese belted pigs, a semi-wild variety that also recently found its way back from near extinction in the wooded regions of the Province of Siena. Bella and Bruto were the beginning of a tradition we have now adopted at La Petraia and the forerunners of as yet unknown four-legged additions to our family.

Finally there is game, and while neither of us hunt, we enjoy the fruits of the many who do on our property. It gives us great pleasure to share with our guests the boar, venison, and pheasant generously given by the hunters.

Today, the meat we eat is from the animals who share our home with us. The quality of their life has a direct influence on the quality of our own and our guests.