An Osteria In Chianti

"Ultimo is Chianti." The truth of these words—and the century-long existence of Ultimo Gori—is the essence of Dario Castagno's fourth book. A native "Chiantigiano" himself, Castagno explores his land through Ultimo's epic life, which begins with his 1908 birth as the tenth child of ill-fated sharecroppers in 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-y...