Post card pics in southern Tuscany

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  San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Yesterday we explored the area known as Val d'Orchia which is the southern most region of Tuscany. It contains some of the jewels of Tuscany including Motelpuciano, Pienza, San Quirico and Montalcino, home to the famous Brunello wine. You tend to see many post cards of the area in souvenir shops and photographic studios and we thought it would be nice to try to capture some of these scenes ourselves.

There were one or two calamities on the day as well.

We set Sophie for Montepulciano, which is about 100kms from San Gim. That got us into the area, but we were advised to try and do the area from west to east to capture the best of the light. So we proceeded onto Pienza, famous for its pecorini sheep cheese. Anne loved the town and described it as the best she'd seen in Italy so far. The cuppacino at the local cafe was also superb - very hot for once - and I think that helped! 

We unfortunately had a small accident in the parking lot which set us back a bit in terms of time. I clipped the local baker's van while parking and caused a bit of a dent. I expected that I'd have a mad baker come charging down the road, but everyone was very relaxed. (We are finding that the Italians are in fact incredibly relaxed and friendly, by the way.) We soon had a small crowd around the car and one after one, they tried their hand at interpreting the insurance forms which I had to fill in. In a combined effort, we got it done and set off again.

On the way to San Quirico, we decided to seek out a famous post card scene which I am sure most of you have seen. It's the one with the cypress trees lining a winding road leading up to a beautiful villa. Even for Sophie, and with help from the tourism office, finding Lucciola Bella was extremely difficult and frustrating, but it was well worth it once we got there and we got some good shots.

It was here that my second calamity happened. We had stopped at an old castle at Chiantera which is one of the vantage points for the Lucciola Bella shot. I climbed onto a 14th century wall and then had to make my way past a large concrete octagon shaped ball perched on the wall in order to avoid the telephone line spoiling my shot. As I was maneuvering around the ball, it began to move and I lost my balance. I landed on my hip which was cushioned slightly by my camera back pack containing some expensive camera and computer equipment. I felt alright though, and was relieved to see the large ball still perched on the wall. My camera, lenses and laptop also seemed to have survived. An alarmed Italian woman then appeared from "the castle" and was very concerned about my well-being. She produced a first aid kit with bandages for my grazed arm and I was soon strapped up and ready to go. But not before having a long conversation with her about the highlights of southern Tuscany with her speaking in rapid Italian and Anne and I using English. It somehow worked and another friend was made.

Next stop was Montalchino. This area produces the famous Brunello wines. It is an area of 16 square kilometres with about 250 producers, so very concentrated. We had lunch at a place called Vineria de Potazzine. Anne had the Risotto al Brunello Radicchio  and I had the Salsicce e Fagioli. After that, we walked through the town and did a tasting at Enoteca Barlanzone where we met Gail, who presented a very interesting tasting. She is an ex-South African who left Cape Town in 1979. Small world! So far as the wines were concerned, I found them to be a bit over-rated, or perhaps over-priced. Excellent color, bouquet and nose, but the taste could have been fuller with perhaps a bit more fruit. I did, however, buy a souvenir bottle of Fossacolle 2007 which I plan to have with my Fiorentina t-bone steak when we have that. 

It was already early evening when we made our way back towards Montepulciano with the sun behind us. On the way we stopped for a few classic shots: a church and farmhouse on a hill (another popular post card), some bales of lucerne in a field, a well known clump of cypress trees and the one of the town of Montepulciano falling off a hill with San Biagio Church below. Sounds crazy I know, but it's really great to get these shots.

We then spent about an hour walking through Montelpuciano. It is also well known for its wine as well as its pecorino sheep cheese. It is a stunningly attractive town, full of vistas, odd squares and corners, with lots of churches. The main street in Montepulciano seems to go on (steeply) forever, and there are great shops and enotecas. 

It was getting late after a busy day and we made our way home to Villa Ducci arriving back at about nine for dinner and in time to see the moon rise over San Gimignano. See the photo below.

Today, we will shortly be making our way to Il Vicario, a villa close by where the owners, Katia and Fulvio, will be taking us through a Tuscan cooking course. We have chosen the advanced version so I shall have to watch Anne closely!

Master Chef, here we come!

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Pecorini sheep cheese, Penzia	Penzia Main Street	View from Pienza	Restaurant at Piazza Di Spagna, Pienza
Perfect door and window, Piazza Di Spagna	Piazza Pio II, Pienza	Cheese and wine shop, Pienza	Italian bicycles, Pienza
Street in Pienza with view into countryside	Montelpulciano with St Bagio Church on right	Nice looking ristorante, Montepulciano	Street, Montepulciano
Lucciola Bella, La Foce	Italian woman who gave a helping hand	Got her!	Bella Luccio, the famous pic
Poppioes in field outside San Quirico	More poppies, San Quirico	Anne in filed of poppies	Kevin in filed of poppies
Even the car looked good!	View from Montalcino, home of Brunello wines	Street in Montalcino	Anne trying hats
Views over rooftops, Montalcino	Example of an Enoteca, Montalcino	Lunch at Vineria de Potazzine	Wine tasting at Enoteca Barlanzone, Montalcino
Our kind and accomplished hostess, Gail	Bales in Tuscan field	Bales in Tuscan filed	Olive tree
Tuscan villa with bales in field	View from Montepulciano, early evening	Church in Montepulciano	Rooms for hire
Typical Enoteca, Montpulciano	Cafe and street, Montepulciano	Street, Montepulciano	Windows and shutters, Montepulciano   Comments!
Moon rise over San Gim from dinner at Villa Ducci

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