Ahhhh Tuscany!
We recently got back from two wonderful weeks in Tuscany
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| Tim and Jayne - on the road! |
Instead of driving down all in one day, we stopped after seven and a half hours driving (which should have been six but we, again by accident, booked our holiday to coincide with a two week school break and thus got caught in heavy stop and go traffic through Brenner Pass – which is the mountain pass through the Austrian / Italian Alps) in Nogarole Rocca, a small village just south of Verona.
We stayed at a wonderful hotel. It is set in the grounds of the La Rocca castle. We settled in, had our first glass of wine in their beautiful grounds, went for a pizza and then off to bed.
The next day, just north of Siena we stopped for a cappucino (EUR 1.20 - amazing) and a pastry, at this wonderful little, typical Tuscan cafe / bar. It was perfect!
San Quirico d’Orcia (SQ) is a charming, walled town on the northern edge of the Val d’Orcia, in southern Tuscany
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| This cafe/bar is located beside the highway at the edge of the town of Monterrigioni. |
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| You see the machine to the right of the man's shoulder? It is a combination wine fridge that dispenses wine. |
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| You could get freshly made sandwiches with fresh cheese and sliced meats. |
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| San Quirico d'Orcia |
The apartment that we rented is called Casa sul Giardino (click here for their website). It is owned by an American and her German husband. It is such a small world – they met in Erlangen (where we live), there good friends live in Herzogenaurach (where adidas HQ is and where Tim works) and they are going on an extended family vacation next year to, no other, than Vancouver Island!!
The place was perfect. The owners love to hike, bike and cook – right up our ally. It overlooked the Horti Leonini gardens which are a splendid example of giardini all'italiana: they were designed in about 1540 by Diomede Leoni, a friend of Leonardo di Vinci.
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| View of Horti Leonini gardens from our apartment in SQ. |
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| (Jayne got a new camera a couple of months ago and this is one of the features - you can pick one accent colour and the rest of the picture is B&W) |
The streets of San Quirico d'Orcia...
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| Gorgeous Dress! |
Tuscany’s beauty and charm defy description. There are never-ending picture perfect landscapes of olive groves, vineyards, cypress trees and beautiful green and gold fields. It truly is amazing.
The distinctive landscape of the Val d’Orcia, flat chalk plains interspersed by conical hills topped by fortified settlements like Pienza, Montalcino and Montepulciano, have inspired many Siennese artists. Here are a couple of photos that we took that many of you will have seen many times before, as they are photos that are seen in most guidebooks, calendars and any marketing material for Tuscany
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| Just outside of SQ |
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| Five minutes west of SQ |
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| Near La Foce - about 20 minute drive from SQ |
Oh, here is another one that you see in guide books.
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| Located between SQ and Pienza |
Tuscany
Be it pecorino cheese from Pienza – sheep cheese,
or
the bisteca alla fiorentina (t-bone steak) – from the Maremma region (SW of SQ)
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| Our first red meat in months (beef is quite expensive in Germany, as it is here in Italy - but we couldn't pass it up) |
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The rosemary stuffed pork roast. A pork sandwich EUR 3.00
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| There is the roasted pig in the glass showcase. See the pig's head on top of the showcase? When we ordered a pork sandwich, they just carved the meat right off the pig. |
or
the succulent rotisserie chicken - the most moist chicken we have eaten (EUR 6 for a whole chicken). Sorry no photos. It is all wonderful.
Not to mention the pizzas!!
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| Don't be fooled by Tim's face - this was (again) one of the best pizza's we have ever had. Look at the size of them. Very thin crust - amazing! |
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| And this is where we ate the best pizza ever. It was just around the corner from our apartment in SQ. (shh, but I think we ate there three times) |
spritz, bruschetta, biscotti, cappuccino (not to be consumed anytime after lunch - according to the Italians),
krafts (marmalade or creme filled donuts)
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| OMG! |
spritz, bruschetta, biscotti, cappuccino (not to be consumed anytime after lunch - according to the Italians),
krafts (marmalade or creme filled donuts)
And I haven’t even started to talk about the wine.
Brunello from Montalcino
Vino Nobile from Montepulciano
Chianti from…..where else, Chianti.
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| Tim doing a little bit of wine tasting and nibbling fine cheese! |
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| This man had too many (no, this is not Tim lol) |
Our first hike was to Pienza. This was an amazing hike. It took us past poppy fields, beautiful old stone houses which are now Agriturism accommodations and past a number of vacated houses (which there are lot of in Italy
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| The hike started out foggy but soon cleared up. As in many other grape growing regions, fog occurs on a regular basis, but it is soon burned off by the strong sun. |
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| Huge abandoned farm house at the top of a hill. We think we should buy this and with Tim's construction management experience we could quickly (no, not in Italy) turn it into a B&B! What do you think? Would you come and stay? |
Another day we hiked to Ripa d’Orcia a privately owned (family) castle about 5 km from SQ.
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| A little Cantina at the front of a farm house! |
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| Poppies can be seen everywhere in Tuscany. In the wheat fields (as above), at the side of the road, growing out of rocks. They are beautiful. |
On our last afternoon in Tuscany
Cycling
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| Alot of the vineyards plant roses at the end of the vines, near the roads. |
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| He wasn't so happy to see us! |
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| Horses in the olive groves. |
Since we drove, we decided to bring our bikes with us. After an email to the owner, we decided that we would bring our old bikes as they told us that either road or trekking/mountain bikes would be fine. Well... we never thought that the hills of Tuscany were more than hills. OMG -the size of the hills stopped us from biking more often.
One day we planned to cycle, on a country path, to Montalcino (about 15 km away). NOT! We started biking from SQ, downhill and continued down hill for about ½ hour. Knowing that Montalcino was situated higher than SQ we proceeded to Plan B – make our way back home. Well…… we climbed about 900 feet in about 3 km and pushed the bikes the whole way. But the views were magnificent.
The trail led us through a vineyard,
through a creek
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| Yikes! At least it isn't salt water. |
into a field of corn and straight through a farm property. And I mean straight in between their barns, by their house and up their driveway – amazing!
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| Alot of the old farms today have added tourist accommodation. Agritourism is huge in Tuscany. They typically have olive groves and vineyards and then sell their olive oil and wine directly to the public from their farms. |
I think we only cycled (walked) about 10km but it took us 3 hours!
Another day we drove to Chiusi, a town about an hour away, and cycled the Sentiero della Bonifica (Path of the Reclaimed Land Arezzo
On our last day, we cycled to Torrenieri and found the most amazing bakery, in the middle of no where! Well, it used to be on the main highway until they build a larger one. The ride to Torrenieri was mostly downhill and, of course, the ride home was mostly up hill.
Running
Well, we were going to run a little more often, but the hills!!!! Anyway, one day we found a lovely (flat) trail that was about 10 km, return. It took us over a creek (yes, another creek)
and to this lovely castle that has been converted into apartments and an Agritourism accommodation. It was a great run.
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| These Cantinas are everywhere in every shape and form. |
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| Please notice Tim's new cycling outfit - Brunello di Montalcino - very nice! |
Well, we were going to run a little more often, but the hills!!!! Anyway, one day we found a lovely (flat) trail that was about 10 km, return. It took us over a creek (yes, another creek)
and to this lovely castle that has been converted into apartments and an Agritourism accommodation. It was a great run.
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| Sooooo many gorgeous roses! |
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| After our run we went to the pools, at the bottom of Bagno Vignoni and had a dip. |
Places we visited....
Montepulciano
Montepulciano sits high on a 605 m limestone ridge and is a major producer of food and drink. Although it is renowned for its pork, cheese, ‘pici’ pasta, lentils, and honey, it is known world-wide for its wine – Vino Nobile Montepulciano. The main street stretches for 1.5 kilometers and is uphill all the way. It is car-free which makes it all the more enjoyable.
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| Our day in Montepulciano started at the market which is held every Thursday from 7 am and by noon they are closing up. |
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| Main entrance into the hill town of Montepulciano. |
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| We have never seen so many wine stores (enoteca)! |
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| You must stop and smell the roses. And there a lot of them in Tuscany! |
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| View from the town. |
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| The narrow streets of Montepulciano. |
We learned of a great tip and that was to visit not just the tasting room of the Cantucci family vineyards, but to go downstairs to the cellar where the wine is aging in the barrels.
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| Adamo (pro. Ah damo). He has been Cantucci's wine tasing host and very passionate tour guide since 1953! |
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| And, he loved Jayne! |
For those of you who care (we don't, but a piece of trivia), the movie “Twilight Saga: New Moon” was filmed in Montepulciano.
Montalcino
Montalcino is perched high above the vineyards of Brunello di Montalcino (Tuscany’s most famous DOCG – full bodied dry red wine grown on vines covering 2000 hectares across the valley). The town dates back to the middle ages and it was like stepping back in time as we wandered through the Il Castello di Montalcino (construction began in 1361), the main church and the palazzo.
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| This is the little house that we are going to buy! lol |
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| This is a another town that is covered in enotecas. Wine tasting and drinking in these establishments are open all day. But wine tasting at the vineyards is very different to that in Canada and the US. You have to make appointments, they are not open to the public. |
except for.....
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| Castello Banfi. Famous American owned vineyards. Brothers John and Harry Mariani, wine importer from New York, in a nutshell, put Tuscan wines and Tuscany on the map. Back in the late 1970s / early 1980s, they helped raise the bar for the quality of Sangiovese grapes for Brunello. |
Pienza
It is said that Pienza is one of the best planned Renaissance towns in Italy
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| Tim having his pork sandwich with 40 school kids. Not so relaxing! |
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| View from Pienza. |
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| Some of the cheese had straw wrapped around it. |
Abbazia di Sant’Antimo
The Abbey of Sant'Antimo (Abbazia di Sant'Antimo) is a beautiful Romanesque church, in a picture-perfect setting just south of Montalcino in southern Tuscany. It sits in a large valley with views of the hill town Castelnuovo dell'Abate, rolling hills covered in olive groves and vineyards, and wild forests. The monastery of Sant'Antimo was in existence in the year 814 and the church dates back to the 12th century. But in 1866 the Italian government decreed the general suppression of the religious orders. It was only in 1992 that religious activity was reinitiated.
Monks live in buildings nearby and this church is used for religious purposes. The monks chant prayers (known as Gregorian Chants) at scheduled times during the day. The time of the day that we were there, there wasn't a service for a couple of hours, so we missed it. Next time!
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| Inside the Abbey. Guidebooks say it is one of the finest Romanesque religious buildings in Italy. |
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| Absolutely gorgeous scenery around the Abbey and Castelnuovo dell'Abate. |
Casteglione della Pescaia
One day we drove to the Mediterranean . We chose to go to Castiglione della Pescaia. It is a famous and popular seaside resort town known for its sandy beaches and pine forest. It is a typical Mediterranean beach with private chairs, umbrellas and clean toilets all for EUR 15 for the day.
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| No, the water was not warm enough to swim in. |
Radicofani
The mighty Rocca of Radicofani rises from the dark ages before the year 1000, it was named for the first time in 973, on the top of an imposing basaltic cliff of 896 meters high.
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| The cemetaries here in Italy are amazingly beautiful. |
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| From the extravegant..... |
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| ....to the poor! |
Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore
Monte Oliveto Maggiore Abbey (Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore) is a stunning abbey perched on the top of a cliff in the Crete Senese area. Construction of the monastery began in 1393 and was completed in 1526, although the buildings were further modified during the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, although the foundations can be dated back to 1313.
The name for the monks of the Abbey of Monte Oliveto is Monaci Benedettini di Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto. Their particular devotion to the Virgin Mary is visible also in their habit, which is white to symbolize purity.
Monks live on the premises and the church is used for religious purposes. The Great Cloister, beside the church, has a famous fresco series about the life of St. Benedict by the painter Sodoma.
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| The dining room. The Abbey closes at lunchtime so that the monks can have peace and quiet during their meal. We were there just before lunchtime and we could smell the food. It was amazing! |
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| They have been making (and drinking) their own wine since ...... well for a very long time! |
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| Then we went for lunch in this great little cafe in Montisi... |
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| and of course wine. We had a 1/2 liter of their house wine for EUR 2 (just under $3 Cdn). And the fresh bread was served in a brown paper bag - great! |
Bagno Vignoni
Bagno Vignoni is famous for the 16th century baths lying at its center and filled with thermal water which arrives at a temperature of 50° directly from the tiny little town's volcanic springs. Known since Roman times, the water has health inducing properties.
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| The hot thermal bath in Bagno Vignoni is in the center of town. |
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| These little 'canals' are runnig with hot water and they are meant for people to rest their feet in to soothe them. |
Monticchiello
The village of Monticchiello
The day we were there they were having a market selling locally hand crafted products.
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| 'The' entrance into Monticchiello. |
The day we were there they were having a market selling locally hand crafted products.
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| Near Monticchiello (we couldn't arrange a helicopter ride to take this picture, so I got it off the net - sorry) |
San Gimignano
We visited San Gimignano (north west of Siena ) – a walled hill town with 15 towers that looks like a medieval Manhattan
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| A number of the 15 towers of San Gimignano |
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| View from the wall of San Gimignano |
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| Beautiful display outside a enoteca (wine shop) (we can't help it - it is the retailers in us) |
We had lunch at a Bruschetteria. Where they only serve Bruschetta - and wine of course.
It was a lovely town and had wonderful views, but too touristy for us, there had to have been at least 16 bus loads of tourists there and this was mid morning!
We spent a day in Siena Siena Siena
The construction of the Duomo di Siena (Sienna Cathedral) begun in the 12th century, is one of the great examples of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. It truly is amazing.
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| The back of the Duomo. |
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| Bascilia of San Dominco (St. Dominics Church) |
We, of course, stopped for a cappuccino and a sweet at the famous Nannini's
There is almost no traffic allowed in the old city, except.....
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| Bicycles in Erlangen - Motorbikes in Siena! |
What traffic is allowed is very controlled -license plates of the vehicles allowed in, are registered. They even have cameras taking pictures of license plates and if yours is not registered you will likely find a hefty fine waiting in your mailbox when you get home. Well….wouldn’t you know it, on our day trip to San Gimignano, we drove straight into the old town, not even seeing the cameras. Touch wood, we haven’t seen a letter in our mailbox with Italian stamps on it – yet!!
We had many wonderful home-cooked meals in our apartment using the freshest of ingredients.
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| Tim cooking up a storm! |
On our last day there was a celebration in San Quirico, celebrating the arrival of a Pope (?) in town about 1000 years ago. There was flag throwing ceremonies....
That night there was a dinner / dance held in one of the squares which we attended. When we sat down at the end of a table full of people we were welcomed with wonderful smiles and a hospitality that we haven’t seen before. The group of people sitting beside us were locals (and a friend from
After dinner they invited us to join them for a coffee in a little hid away café. Here are some pictures – again, we apologize for the quality……. It is not that we drank too much (seriously), it is just that Tim's camera doesn't work well at night.
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| Typical Tuscan food. Tim had the steak and I had the beans and salad. |
We had a wonderful time in Tuscany and would love to come back. But as we are here, in Europe only for a couple of years, we have plenty more to see.
For now.....until next time!
For now.....until next time!
Our next trip is to
