Our drive through Tuscany
Trip Start
May 06, 2010
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Trip End
May 16, 2010
Where I stayed
Fattoria di Corsignano
Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy
Friday, May 7, 2010
We drove two hours to the Tuscan town of Montepulciano. Although, we were both sleepy, we enjoyed the scenic view and the crazy Italian drivers. We had trouble finding the parking lots Rick Steve's suggested. Finally we found a place to park right outside of the gates. You had to use coins to pay to park. We did not having any coins since we had just got off the plane. All of the shops nearby were closed for their siesta. Thankfully, I found a shop right inside the gates that gave us change. There is a shuttle bus that takes you up to the top of the hill in Montepulciano for 2 euros. We missed it and decided to walk up instead. It was not near as difficult of a walk as we thought it would be. Chris enjoyed taking pictures of all the picturesque streets and I had fun window shopping. 2/3 of the shops were closed, because the shopkeepers were taking their siesta. I had read about this, but it was still weird to see so many shops closed in the middle of the day. The weather was very cool here. Even the locals said it was much cooler than normal. I was on the look out for Osteria Acquacheta. It was a restaurant that I had read about on Trip Advisor and in the Rick Steve's book. I thought it was very close to the main square, but I happened to look up and there it was...a tiny osteria. I wanted an authentic Italian meal and that is exactly what I got! The osteria was tiny, with shared tables. From the seating area, there were a couple of stairs up into the back room where they had a fire burning with huge chunks of raw meat sitting out. We ordered water with no gas and 1/2 carafe of wine for 4 euros. They brought us each one glass and told us that we were to use the same glass for wine and water. I loved it! It made me drink my water quickly, so I could get to the good stuff. We ordered cibatta bread with olive oil and it was wonderful. Their specialty was steak, but we went for the pasta. As usual, I wanted to change my order right after I ordered, but Chris wouldn't let me. I ordered a really thick local pasta, which I loved with four cheeses. It had a strong asaigo flavor, which was not my favorite. I could tell it was a very good, authentic dish, just too strong of a taste for me. Chris loved mine and of course he ordered some sort of garlic, chili sauce pasta dish for himself. He thought his was great too. For water, wine, anti-pasta, 2 pastas, 2 espressos, great food and great atmosphere we only paid 19 Euros. One of the reasons I loved this place was because half of the customers were locals. And man do they eat: anti-pasta, pasta, bread, steak, and then dessert. All for lunch! They're not over weight either.
From the osteria we took a very short walk to the Piazza Grande. Chris took pictures of the towns Duomo and the tower there. On the main square was the Contucci Cantina Darbie had recommended to us. While Chris took pictures of the Cantina, a nice man from the Netherlands and I tasted wine. The wine was so good that we bought ourselves a bottle and drank it that night! We walked back to our car among the back streets. I felt like we saw the town better this way. I loved seeing all the large, unique doors, the pretty flowers on the stoops and the clothes hanging from the windows.
We enjoyed our drive from Montepulciano to our apartment. The drive was scenic and exactly how I pictured Tuscany would be! We stayed on a working farm, Fattoria di Corsignano, that was 10 minutes north of Siena. Our room was very nice and quaint. The hillside here was beautiful. After we got checked into our room, Chris took a very long nap. While he was napping, I started drinking the bottle of wine we bought at Contucci Cantina and wrote in my journal.
I woke Chris up around 8:00 and we headed to Siena. By the time we figured out where we were going and parked it was 9:00. We were searching for a particular restaurant, so we walked around Siena forever! There were not many people around and we kept walking up to the huge duomo. I never felt unsafe, but it was sort of spooking being in front of the huge duomo in the dark with no one around. We finally found the restaurant around 10:00 and it looked like it was closing and we decided we were not hungry. We headed back to the Il Campo and Chris took a few pictures. From there we went back to our apartment and finished our bottle of wine. Believe it or not, I had a hard time falling asleep after all of our traveling, sightseeing and wine. I think I was just excited!
