Montepulciano - A Tuscan Hill Town

Part of what being in a hill town means
is that you must walk up and down stairs like this.

Sorry that this one is out of order. It took us a while to get all the pieces together.

Our host in Florence arranged for a taxi to take us to the car rental agency near the airport.  It was a much longer drive than the one we had from the train station when we arrived but was 10 E less.  Getting our rental car was easy; getting all of the luggage in was a bit of a challenge.  Patti and I had a wall of 3 suitcase/backpacks between us. Fortunately, it was only about a 90 minute drive and mostly on highway.

Towns built upon the cliffs

At the top of town a path leading to the fort

We had made arrangements to meet our host Luca at the church in the lower part of town.  He guided us to the apartment.  He told us to pay attention.  Well even with four us paying attention, I don’t know that we could find our way again with some help from Google maps.  We wound around the hills up into the old part of town.  Many streets are one way and others are open to locals only. 

We arrived at the apartment and were happy that there were only 20 stairs up to the door.  The apartment was spacious with kitchen, dining and sitting area combined.  Two bedrooms and two bathrooms made for a comfortable stay.

Piazza Grande with the Duomo in the background

A Commedia del-Arte figure strikes the town bell

We unpacked and then went out to explore.  This is where we came upon the brass shop and Cesare, which you can read about on the blog.  We went up to the Plaza Grande where the city hall and Duomo are located.   The plaza was covered in mud and straw, the aftermath of the filming of a TV series called Medici:  Masters of Florence.  A cart used as a prop was in the middle of the square.  Cleaning efforts were underway but the evidence remained for the entire two weeks we were there.

Street scenes in Montepulciano

We went back up the Plaza for dinner at Al Quattro Venti.  We enjoyed it so much, we went back several more times during our stay. Steve and Patti shared an outstanding Florentine T-bone steak from one of the famous Tuscan Chianina cows. We ate that again, too. When brother Kent and his wife Jina came to spend five days with us, that was our choice for dinner with them, too.

Food at the market

Ancient plaques on the wall

The next day was market day so we headed down to see what it was like.  Unfortunately, while exploring an old small church, I missed a step and twisted my ankle.  So back to the apartment for me for ice and rest.  David, Patti and Steve went to the market and told me all about it and brought home dinner!

View from the tower

 The next day we did the Rick Steves’ driving tour around the area.  If you are in the area and have a car, we highly recommend taking this tour.   If you missed it, there is a page describing the tour.

The next three days we spent exploring Montepulciano, including following Rick Steves’ walking tour.    We had some great dinners and enjoyed shopping on Courso.  Of course, we visited Caesar’s shop and made some purchases to be shipped home.  Steve and Patti decided to climb the bell tower at the Palazzo Comunale.  I declined due to the number of stairs and David decided to wait for a nicer day since we had the time. 

The door to a Salumeri - where one buys proscuitto

Harvesting olives. Olive trees are wherever they might fit.

Patti and Steve were with us for 5 nights.  We took them to the train station in Chuisi and saw them off to Rome.  Kent and Jina were due to arrive later in the afternoon, so we went in search of a Vodaphone shop to get another two months of service on our phones.  We got back to Chuisi and wandered around.  There isn’t much to see.  As Rick Steves says, it is a place to get off one train and get on another.  We had time to get a bite to eat before the train was due. We later learned that the town does have an excellent Etruscan museum, but we missed that opportunity.

Down into the caves

Kent and Jina were with us for five days.  We repeated the Rick Steves’ drive, took them to Caesar’s shop, went to the Thursday market and did a day trip to Siena.  When walking around town, we found De’ Ricci winery with cave tour.  At the end we had a great tasting.  Something the hostess said turned the light on in my head about how to pronounce things in Italian.  She said Italians pronounce every vowel!  Kent and Jina bought a case to ship home.   We thought we would but later found one we liked better.   We ended up purchasing a bottle of their Super Tuscan to add to our shipment.

We found two more places to taste wine.  The first tasting was at Poliziano in the Plaza Grande.  We were welcomed and offered tastes of one white and four reds.  All were great.  We decided to have a case shipped home mainly because they would allow up to six bottles from other wineries be included in the box. 

Wine tasting in the cellar. Paperwork for shipping wine home.

We had a white wine from Crociani at one of the restaurants so we sought out their tasting room.  Unfortunately, it was closed.  I started back to the apartment while David went on to explore uphill.  He called just as I was making to turn to go up the apartment and said it was now open, so back I went.  Not disappointed.  Really thought long and hard about having a case shipped home, but settled to have three bottles of their white added to our Poliziano case. 

Glass designed to stop the evaporation of the wine. Invented here.

A barrel cemented into the cave

More barrels and an old wine press

An old well or cistern in one of the wine caves

Montepulciano turned out to be a great place to spend two weeks. It is close enough to several other places that it makes a good hub and it has a lot to offer on its own. Montepulciano is one of the three great wine types of Tuscany along with Chianti and Montelcino’s Brunello. Each is made with Sangiovese grapes, but the different terroir gives them a different taste. Just wandering the streets and enjoying the magnificent countryside views makes this a great town for visiting. Add to that the many shops, the great wineries where one can visit the caves that are still in use for aging wines and people like Cesare and the mosaic artist whose shop we passed every day and Montepulciano is hard to beat.

The neighborhoods have this race every year.
The barrels are rolled up the hills of town to Piazza Grande.
The race route is over 1 kilometer. 

Volterra

Volterra is another of the many interesting Tuscan hill towns. After spending one afternoon walking the streets, I do want to return one day and spend more time. While we saw much of what it has to offer and purchased some lovely alabaster jewelry for Linda, there is much that we did not see in this small town.

Town hall

Coats of arms of past mayors, a common practice in Italy

Volterra is best known for its Etruscan remains (not the Twilight vampire series). The Etruscan empire included most of what is today Tuscany from just north of Rome to the Apennine mountains and the sea. Flourishing in Italy during the time of Greek greatness, its culture included much of what would become Roman culture and the foundations of Western ideals. Ultimately, the Etruscans would be conquered by Rome beginning in 509 BE. Etruscan history lives on in Volterra with the only remaining Etruscan city gate in all of the region and an archaeological park with ongoing excavations on the hill overlooking the town. We only had a quick glimpse of the park in the twilight before we had to leave for home in Orvieto, one of the reasons I would like to return and spend more time in the town.

The Etruscan Gate

After 2500 years, not  much is left to show what this was

Monument to the saviors of the gate

 The gate was saved from a German effort to blow it up as they were being chased north by the Allies during World War II. Local citizens filled the arch with stones from the street and convinced the German commander that there was no need to blow it up. It’s difficult to understand the strategic importance of this gate. It is at the top of a hill that the Allies most certainly would have skirted as they chased the Nazi armies north out of Italy. Once the Germans left, the townspeople removed the stones from the arch and repaved the street. A plaque commemorates their actions.

Remains of the Acropolis

The high-security prison

The archaeological park remains because the Florentines destroyed the buildings and used the area as a way to protect themselves from the townspeople when they took over the town in 1472. The fort that they built to protect their army is today a maximum security prison housing 150 special prisoners. Many would be from Sicily as the authorities like to separate the criminals from their family ties. The Florentine work has left Volterra with a beautiful park atop its highest hill and a marvelous archaeological site where we continue to learn about the Etruscans.

Another of the interesting sights in Volterra is the Roman theater. Forgotten until the 1950s, this theater was rediscovered by an amateur historian who proceeded to excavate it with the help of mental patients at the local hospital. According to the guide book, this work proved to be therapeutic although there is no mention of how many were actually cured by the work. At any rate, the results of their work are interesting as we can now see the outlines of the theater while walking around the edge of the town along its remaining wall. One portion of the backdrop has been rebuilt so visitors can see the different levels of the stage, one for mortals, the second for heroes, and the third for the gods. In the third century AD, the locals began tearing down the theater and using the stones for bath behind the theater. I guess they found more entertainment in the warm water than on the stage.

Note the small door and the few inches of space between the buildings

We had rented one of those audio tour guides which helped quite a bit with learning about the town. The most interesting discovery it shared were the tower houses of Buonparenti and Buonaguidi. They had filled in the space between the two towers with a house once they had quit fighting each other. One narrow dooway was all that led up to the living spaces above the shops on the street. Behind the door was a ladder they pulled up at night for extra security. This arrangement meant that one man could easily defend both homes from any attackers.

Wooden sculpture of the Deposition

We also visited the Duomo built in the 12^th century and the baptistery facing the entrance to the cathedral in Pisan style. One interesting feature is the sculpted relief of the last supper with Judas under the table being attacked by a dragon. Another shows the scene when God asked Abraham to prove his love by sacrificing his son Isaac. Mary is shown with daggers symbolizing the pain she felt as Jesus was crucified. 

Walls braced with arches, another common feature in these old towns.

A sculpture on a wall of a random building

Volterra is also justly famous for its alabaster. The nearby quarries provide the raw material for the many artists who work with the stone. The museum, which we will visit on another trip, has examples that go back to Etruscan times. Several different shops sell the wares and it is possible to visit workrooms where the artists are creating their finery. Alabaster’s transluscent character makes it a very special stone. Carved thinly it makes for stunning and lovely light fixtures. If we still had a house we might have bought one or two, but the condo is just too small for such finery.