Trips
Fri., 10/7/16 – Pienza
This morning we went off for a visit to a winery, a church, and the hilltop town of Montepulciano. Our tour started with a visit to Tempio di San Biagio a site we had visited last year. Today it was too foggy to look out across the landscape.
The next stop was at the Villa S. Anna Winery. It is referred to as the “women’s winery” because three women run it today. They grow their own grapes – the only ones they use – on 42 acres and bottle 80,000 bottles a year. We toured through the fermenting cellars, the two aging cellars, and the bottled cellar. Their largest barrels of Chianti wine have glass air locks on top. These allow the wine to breathe but not let in oxygen. It is thought that Leonardo de Vinci invented the air lock. Then we sat inside for a lengthy, educational wine tasting session led by the owner. We tasted Chianti Colli Senesi after cleaning our palates with water and bread sticks. Then we were served brueschi and sampled Rosso di Montepulciano. Then we ate lunch meats and sampled Nobile di Montepulciano and finally Poldo with lemon tarts. It was probably the best winery tour we have made.
San Biagio
|
Villa S. Anna winery |
Villa S. Anna winery - vineyard
|
Villa S. Anna winery |
Fermenting cellars - Mold
|
Fermenting cellars - air lock |
Wine tasting lesson
|
Snacks to go with wine tasting |
On the way back to Pienza we stopped at Montepulciano. We did not visit this town last year. It is another hill town. The 1600’s church was never finished but has paintings on wood inside. The town hall is similar to the one in Florence and there is a 1400-1500 Ducal Palace.
|
Montepulciano
|
Montepulciano |
Street scene
|
Palazzo Tarugi (right) & Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (left)
|
Well of the Griffins and Lions with the Medici coat of arms in the Piazza Grande |
View from town |
View from town
|
Palazzo Ricci - Wine Cellars
|
Pici and other pasta |
Painted guitar
|
Pulcinella Clock Tower |
We were very tired by the time we got back to the hotel but after a brief rest we went out to dinner with Tommaso and eight of our group. Marge and I just shared grilled vegetables and each had a pasta dish.
|
Sun and clouds |
Dinner Restaurant
|
Sat., 10/8/16 – Pienza, Pitigliano and an Etruscan Necropolis
We have been driving through the Val d’Orcia, the Orcia Valley, with towns on the top of many of the hills and farmland in the valleys. The fields are mostly plowed under now in very deep furrows and only the vineyards and olive orchards are green.
Pitigliano was the town we visited today. It is called “the Little Jerusalem” because when Jews were expelled from the Papal States during the counter-reformation persecutions, the rulers of Pitigliano did not apply the restrictions against money lending and Jews and Catholics lived together harmoniously in this town. During WWII all of the town’s Jews escaped the Nazis with the help of the town’s people.
Sorano - on the way to Pitigliano |
Sorano - on the way to Pitigliano
|
|
Pitigliano |
|
Medici Aqueduct |
Medici Aqueduct
|
Medici Aqueduct |
Medici Aqueduct - Fountain of Seven Taps |
Tommaso conducted a tour that included some University of Minnesota football players - this was their gift.
|
Town square - Red Ribbon tree project
Children come and sit at tables, are given paper and crayons, and are to draw their “impression of the world,” how they see the world today. The drawings are hung on a tree with red ribbons.
|
Statue of AI Villan |
Jewish Quarter
|
After walking through the Jewish quarter, we gathered for lunch Ceccottino after which we wandered around town until time for departure to the Etruscan Necropolis.
|
Jewish Quarter
|
Jewish Quarter |
Lunch
|
Lunch menu |
Sfratto - stick-shaped cookie with a honey nut filling
|
Pici pasta |
Wild boar or Cinghiale in a meat shop - it is a local emblem as well as a local delicacy
|
Our next stop was at the Sovana Etruscan Necropolis. Farmers have found many ancient tombs carved with hammer and chisel into the soft tuff. These are at least 2300-years-old and some are ornate like small Greek temples. We walked into an “Etruscan Road,” via cava. As the road was used, carts wore deep tracks in the tuff. Then the road was scraped deeper to even off the surface. The walls are stratified showing how many times this has been repeated. The top two meters were probably was done by Etruscans and the deepest done in medieval times.
|
Map of the Etruscan Necropolis and town |
Etruscan Necropolis |
Etruscan Necropolis |
Etruscan Necropolis - Etruscan road
|
We spent a little time walking in the town of Sovana. It is the same as all of these towns – central square with church and town hall. Sovana also has an Etruscan Archives Museum.
|
Sovana
|
Sovana
|
Sovana |
The thunderheads started forming on our 1 ½ hour ride back to Pienza. It then poured rain. As we got to our rooms a gorgeous rainbow appeared. It was full at first and then halved and became double. The sun and clouds and rainbow made the valley come alive.
|
Rainbow over Tuscany
|
Rainbow over Tuscany |