Il Dolce Viaggio: Montalcino and Pienza

From Chiusure we continued our southward course, eventually crossing from the Crete Senesi into the upper reaches of the Val d'Orcia. Our next stop was another hilltop beauty, the wine town of Montalcino. This was another name familiar to me from browsing the shelves of my favorite Italian food store in Miami. Montalcino's specialty is the Brunello grape, which is a slightly larger version of the Sangiovese grape that is used in wine throughout Tuscany. This difference is apparently enough for bottles of Brunello di Montalcino to be considerably more expensive on average than Chianti. As we climbed the serpentine road leading up to the old town we passed several wineries that were advertising tastings but neither Mei Ling or I drinks enough wine to make a visit worthwhile. The parking lot was adjacent to Montalcino carefully restored fourteenth century stone fortress. This fortress was the last refuge of the Sienese after they lost their capital to the Florentines but it eventually fell to the Medici in 1559.

We embarked upon an exploration of Montalcino via one of the narrow, atmospheric streets that traversed the Centro Storico longitudinally. The facades of the buildings demonstrated a variety of colors and styles and were very well maintained. We spotted a wine store that offered tastings and thought this might be a good alternative to the wineries. Inside there was a large metal and glass case which contained several bottles of wine from which a standardized pour could be commanded with a press of a button. The proprietor assisted us with two pours, each of which consisted of about four sips. This was enough for us to feel that we had satisfied our obligation to taste wine in Montalcino without becoming either inebriated or impoverished.

We made another stop at a cafe for refreshments for the kids. Mei Ling and I relaxed in the sunny courtyard while the kids played foosball inside. The golden stone walls and planters around us created a peaceful atmosphere that was only disturbed by the excessively loud conversations of other visitors about their wine tasting exploits.

We only had to walk six hundred meters to reach the opposite end of the old town. Few visitors made it past all the cafes and wine shops to the northern reaches of the city. There were some interesting small alleys here for us to explore without being disturbed by the wine-hunting crowds. From the walls the hillside dropped away steeply and then transformed into a landscape of forested ridges.

We headed back in the direction of the fort along Via Giuseppe Mazzini, the main commercial artery of the town. This led into Piazza del Popolo in the very center of the old town which was dominated by the tall belltower of the improbably skinny Palazzo dei Priori. Numerous plaques displaying the coats of arms of former city governors are set into the stone facade of the thirteenth century building, which still serves as the town hall of Montalcino.

After Montalcino we had to go out of our way to check in at our Airbnb in Montepulciano, as our host wanted to hand over the keys directly and make sure we weren't too unsavory. This personal interaction used to be invariably required in Italy and other southern European countries but on this trip we noticed an encouraging trend towards self check-in. Montepulciano was an unfortunate exception so we lost some time driving there and then had to rush back to the hot springs at Bagno Vignoni to enjoy it while it was still daylight. Bagno Vignoni was a little confusing to figure out because the free thermal pools were below the town in an area called Parco dei Mulini. We stopped at the town first but didn't go in far enough to see the large basin of steaming water in the central square. I eventually found the dirt road to Parco dei Mulini where we found a serene turquoise pool a short walk uphill from the parking area. A gentle flow of water from above coursed over a yellowish mass of travertine to keep the pool filled. It wasn't as warm as a typical hot spring but it was quite toasty where the fresh water entered the pool. Cleo was turned off by the cloudiness but the boys braved the mucky floor of the pool to join me on the travertine shelf.

Although I had read there were several pools, we only found one that worth entering. Mei Ling and Cleo discovered another pool below but it was green and filled with mud and vegetation. Climbing up ward from the turquoise pool led to dead ends among the ruins of the old mills. Once we had changed and dried off we returned to the upper level to see if we could find the other pools. This time I saw the narrow channel set into the ground that carried water from the town to the top of the travertine hill from where it splashed down to the pools below. It seemed that down in the free pool we were getting the outflow from the hotel spas in Bagno Vignoni. I could also see an intriguing hilltop town with a fortress at its crest a few kilometers to the south. Some analysis with Goggle Maps indicated that this was Rocca d'Orcia and I resolved to pay the town a visit on another day if possible.

We decided to have dinner in Pienza because we knew that otherwise we might not have a chance to see the town at all. As we approached the hill on which the town stood we immediately knew it had been a good decision. A line of medieval buildings stretched across the hilltops, fronted by perfect droplet-shaped cypresses. When we drove up the serpentine road to the old town we had one of the most magical views yet over the Tuscan countryside as the sun slowly dropped behind distant mountains.

Pienza is frequently described as the ideal Renaissance city because it was refashioned by its native son Pope Pius II according to Renaissance principles of architectural design and urban planning. Bernardo Rossellino was entrusted with the project and was responsible for the pleasing arrangement of distinguished buildings around the central square Piazza Pio II as well as the harmonious integration of Pienza into the Tuscan landscape.

The first restaurant we scoped out was called La Bandita, but when we walked in we found ourselves in a rather barren lobby without any tables in sight. I asked the doorman if I could see a menu and I saw that the first three listings in the secondi were all variations of burgers, which I found to be a turn off. We walked to two other restaurants in town that both had very typical Tuscan selections that we were quite tired of, and something made us decide to return to La Bandita. The doorman showed us through a catacomb-like tunnel back into a very busy and modern restaurant whose energetic atmosphere bore no resemblance to the dull entrance of the building. We had actually been in the lobby of the boutique hotel of which the restaurant was a part. All the tables in the rear garden were filled and the only place where there was room for all five of us was a long table inside. The only problem was that there was a solitary gentleman tucking into his own dinner at one end of the table. The hostess told me that he was the owner of the restaurant and asked me if we had any problem eating there and of course we didn't, and she confirmed with the owner that he was fine with the situation as well. When I took a closer look at the menu past the burgers I realized there were a number of very interesting dishes such as pan-seared mullet and ravioli with osso buco and foie gras. As far as food went we were going to be just fine. I took the kids with me to wash up and by the time I got back Mei Ling had wangled a newly-emptied table in the garden. I was disappointed because I had been looking forward to a chat with the owner who had spoken perfect English with what sounded like an American accent.

Dinner turned out to be excellent and we were seated right in front of the open kitchen, which is always a big plus. John the owner came by our new table and we had a brief chat. He turned out to be an American after all, although he had grown up in Taiwan and had been living in Italy for quite some time. I was really fascinated by the fact that he had bought a hotel and restaurant in this small Tuscan village and he told us he still wasn't really sure what had made him decide to do it. We both agreed that Pienza was an amazingly beautiful city and how remarkable it was that neither of us had ever heard of it before doing intensive research on Tuscany.

After dinner we returned to Piazza Pio II where families had gathered and children were playing. John had told us he preferred Pienza to Montepulciano because the old town was flat and compact, while Montepulciano was on a slope and the locals preferred not to walk uphill to the more lively parts of the Centro Storico. It seemed that Pienza was a town where everyone knew each other and regularly came out in the evenings to socialize in the main square. We spent another half hour walking around and checking out the viewpoint over the Val d'Orcia from the balcony on the southern edge of the town. Pienza was the fifth city in Tuscany we had visited that day but without doubt it was the champion for beauty and atmosphere. It was growing late so we wandered back to our car for our drive back to Montepulciano, our base for the next two days.