A Week of the Good Life in Montepluciano

“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux

I promised a short and sweet post about our week in Montepulciano and I'm finally able to deliver. It has been almost three weeks since we arrived in Montepulciano but they have been so full I haven't had time to blog.

I can not think of a better place than Tuscany for recharging the batteries. We did not do justice to this beautiful part of the world. Hiring a car and touring around would have been lovely but after more than six weeks of travelling we were in serious need of some down time.

Life is good in this part of Tuscany, on the edge of the val d'Orcia, the food is delicious, as is the vin Nobile red wine and there are lovely towns to visit, if you can drag yourself away from the pool. I think perhaps life is not so good at the moment financially for those living there as we had many interesting conversations with locals about the state of the economy but I promised to keep it short and sweet and so I will move on.

The weather has been most unusual this year, apparently a real problem for the grapes, with a very wet and mild summer. We were very lucky and had perfect weather, around 25 degrees every day, one evening thunderstorm and no other rain.

And so the weather was perfect for relaxing by the pool, Rob and the kids swam for hours every day and are brown as little berries. I got a lot of blogging done and enjoyed a week of home cooking. The Thermomix got a workout making daily batches of banana and strawberry ice cream. Our Italian neighbours in the Agriturismo when offered ice cream straight from the mixing bowl said "ahhh Bimbi" which is what they call them here.

Our Agriturismo, "Nobile", could not have been better it had everything we needed and the owners were kind and helpful. They came to pick us up from Chiusi railway station, about half an hour away and dropped us off in Perugia, over an hour away, at the end of the week and charged less than return taxi fare to Chiusi.

While we only visited Montepuliciano once, being able to sit in the garden relaxing or doing some yoga with the view of this beautiful town was sensational.

 Agriturismo Nobile sits in the shadow of Montepulciano and we took advantage of the free shuttle there on one day and enjoyed visiting the town. We were able to sit in the main square, which I recognised from one of the Twilight movies, whilst being entertained with beautiful classical music coming from one of the buildings on the square.

Pienza

I have to say that our visits to Pienza, also courtesy of the free shuttle, were a real highlight. We enjoyed everything about this little hill town very much, feeling like we had stepped into a Renaissance painting.

XIVth Century Frescoes in Church of San Francesco

The views from the town walls are of cyprus lined roads wending there way through farmland, olive groves and grapevines.



We loved everything from the best gelato in Italy;

Gelateria Toscana

lovely medieval houses converted to shops selling artisan goodies including leather work and wrought iron, all wonderful for window shopping;

and the grand Piazza Pio II. Pope Pius II is the towns favourite son, having transformed his home town based on a model of renaissance perfection.





We took a walk outside the walls of the town, it was lovely, shaded easy walk past farm houses with spectacular views as we made our way downhill away from the town.

The Parish Church of Corsignano was exceptionally beautiful, not in the manner of a Gothic Cathedral but due to its Romanesque and pre- Romanesque serene simplicity. The façade includes ancient symbols of fertility and has a cylindrical bell tower that was built in the tenth century. Inside the church the kids explored a little crypt off the where reliquaries of saints were once stored. 

We marvelled at the ancient baptismal font where in 1405 Pope Pius II was baptised  as a baby when this was the parish church of the town.

On the advice of the most helpful lady, Anna, in the small tourist office by the town gates we continued our walk straight down from the church along a gravel road, past ancient fruit, nut and olive trees.

We stopped when we reached this classic view, you might recognise it as Mel Gibson's home in the film Gladiator filmed here.  

From here our uphill hike back to the town was not as easy going but we had to keep an eye on the time. Arriving back in town we just had time for delicious takeaway wood fired pizzas sitting in the shade waiting for our lift. We really enjoyed our dip in the pool that afternoon.

On our last night we organised to have our dinner in the Agriturismo dining room. For very little money we enjoyed a range of antipasti, various bruschetta, home made picci pasta, roast meats and ribs and the richest chocolate mousse I've ever tasted. The wine and Vin Santo were also superb.

We left Montepulciano feeling rested and revitalised and ready for anther busy week, this time in Perugia. So perhaps this post was not so short but life is certainly sweet.