early morning gunshot

Sunday 19th September I was woken abruptly this morning by gunshot, causing me to leap from my bed. The shot sounded really close, and for a few moments I was quite disorientated, and had to think where I was. I looked across at Angie still sound asleep in her bed, probably exhausted from being kept awake in the night by my snoring. I walked across to the window and quietly pulled open the heavy shutters, outside the early morning sun shone hazily through a thick violet mist which had enveloped the old monastery and the surrounding countryside, it appeared quite eerie. Our bedroom window directly overlooked the parking area outside the walls of the hotel, and there were several trucks and cars with hunters unloading their dogs and guns.  I stood quietly for a couple of minutes watching them, a few more trucks and cars crept through the mist their tires crunching on the gravel driveway, they parked and unloaded more guns and dogs, then one of the hunters looked up and caught sight of me standing there in the window, he gave me a lovely smile and waved, "buongiorno Signora" he called.  "Buongiorno" I called back, then suddenly he started speaking rapid Italian, and I had absolutely no clue what he was saying, although I'm sure it was nice because he was still smiling.  I shrugged and with a smile said "English, spiacente, non parlo Italiano"(one of the few Italian phrases I had learnt, meaning, sorry I don't speak Italian).  The hunter shrugged, smiled and turned back to follow his dogs. "Who are you talking to?" Angie said rousing herself from her sleep.  "The hunters" I replied.  I watched  as they slung the guns casually over their shoulders and followed the dogs that were all running excitedly off towards the forest and disappearing like ghosts into the morning mist... We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the hotel before packing and checking out.  In hindsight I should have called this blog "packing and unpacking", its all I seem to have done for the past four years, and this vacation is no different, but its how I organized it, and so far the plan has worked brilliantly. We drove away from the hotel, back down the steep, narrow road and suddenly came through the mist as if out of a cloud.  Looking back, the top of the hill was completely engulfed in white cloud. We had enjoyed a lovely stay at Badia di Pomaio, and a truly wonderful meal in their fabulous restaurant.  I would stay here again quite happily.

La Tenuta Le Viste

Sunday 19th September
 Tenuta Le Viste

It didn’t take us long to find our next hotel, despite the road being another narrow, winding, off the beaten track location.

We pulled up outside a set of enormous gates, pushed the button and waited; it wasn’t long before a very friendly voice, in broken English welcomed us, opened the gates and directed us to pull inside.

What greeted us was a large, immaculately manicured garden, surrounded by olive trees, lemon trees and assorted pots overflowing with flowers.  Two adorable little Cairn terriers rushed over, one called “Turbo” the other I’m sorry I don’t remember the name, both followed closely by Alexandra, the owner of Tenuta Le Viste.

I must at this point clumsily attempt to describe this property; the location of Tenuta Le Viste can only have been chosen by the Gods!  This incredible seventeenth century dwelling sits high on the Florence hills, in an oasis of beauty and peace surrounded by olive trees. 

You have heard I’m sure the expression “a million dollar view” well Tenuta Le Viste has a view that is absolutely priceless, breathtaking does not describe it.

             View of Florence from the garden terrace

Angie and I were completely blown away by the location.  The house itself was in immaculate order, furnished with beautiful antiques, heavily beamed wooden ceilings, stonewalls, and beautiful brick floors adorned with antique rugs.  There are four guest rooms, one of which is a suite fit for royalty.

               Breakfast at Tenuta le Viste

Our room was beautifully furnished, with a bathroom of Carrara marble.  Every convenience and luxury is provided, its peaceful, luxuriously comfortable and within minute’s by car from Florence.  I would quite happily have just stayed there and relaxed for the evening with a glass of wine, Alexandra has a wonderful wine list for all taste’s and budgets. 

Unfortunately I hadn’t researched enough to realize that you need to book in advance if you wish to dine here, which was a real shame, as the menu looked amazing.  Next time!

           Just a portion of the wonderful breakfast available here.

So Angie and I unpacked our things for the night and headed into Florence.  We were both totally oblivious to the fact that one is not allowed to drive in Florence without special permit, consequently I’m still waiting on the tickets that I’m sure will arrive any day now…

Being a Sunday evening we both thought the city would be quiet!  How wrong could one possibly be!  However, as throughout our Tuscan vacation we managed to find a parking space right in the center of Florence and bang outside Hermes, which, fortunately for Bob was closed.

                Me, with the Pont Vecchio bridge behind.

We walked around the lovely old historic streets and buildings,  now heavily populated with designer stores, and expensive jewelery outlets from up market names like Tiffany and Cartier.  We strolled leisurely across the famous Pont Vecchio bridge, bought some delicious gelato, wandered through the piazza, window shopped in the fashionable streets, drank delicious Italian coffee while we people watched, and eventually made our weary way back to the car to drive back to Tenute Le Viste, completely forgetting that we hadn't made a dinner reservation, and totally innocent of the mountains of tickets that I’m sure will descend upon me over the months to come.

Fortunately Alexandra had some wonderful wine, and a dish of snacks, which we had on the terrace overlooking the beautiful city of Florence all lit up like the night sky…

For what its worth, I can not recommend this little hotel highly enough.  I have stayed at the Four Seasons in Manhatten, Ritz Carlton’s around the world, and many other luxurious and exclusive hotels, but Tenuta Le Viste now ranks among the most wonderful vacation spots that I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

For more information go to www.tenuta-leviste.it

                                        Side view of Tenuta Le Viste

e-mail info@tenuta-leviste.it

More wine country

The views from the top of the hill were absolutely breathtaking.  We parked the car and walked up to the castle, a couple of other people walking around informed us that the castle was closed, not what we wanted to hear, we were both really hungry.  We walked around the grounds, and picked some grapes, which were dangling temptingly from the veranda terrace.  Other people picking the grapes informed us that they were decorative, and not part of the vineyard’s wine crop.  (I hope they were right!)

The grapes were warm from the sun and tasted like strawberries.  We only picked a few as we didn’t want to get into trouble, then headed back to the car to continue our search for a restaurant. 

Back on the main road towards Firenze (Florence) we drove through Impruneta and came across “San Martino Restorante Pizzeria”…  Angie had her usual spaghetti with tomato sauce, and I ordered Gnocchi, which was a gastronomic delight, mouth wateringly delicious.  We ordered olive oil and balsamic for our bread, Angie still can’t get used to the Tuscan bread, and I have to say I agree with her. The bread in Tuscany is made without any salt, and unless its fresh from the oven and served with some oil or other dressing, its really quite bland.  A little butter or oil and a gentle sprinkling of salt soon fix’s it right up!

            View from the Castle

Wine Country

Sunday 19^th September

Getting out of Arezzo was almost as difficult as finding our hotel last night, but we were having fun despite our predicament.  Fortunately Angie is a good sport and was able to inject humor into our frustration at (what seemed like continually) taking the wrong roads. I don’t think either of us was that impressed with Arezzo, although having said that we really loved our hotel.

We had planned on taking the autostrada to Montevarchi, but once again I took the wrong turning and ended up on the SR69, another secondary road.  However, despite my inability to follow the signposts once again luck was with us, as the road appeared to be running parallel to the autostrada, and in the right direction.  There was very little traffic on the road and as we were making good time we decided to stay on the SR69.

At Montevarchi we turned off onto another side road the SR408, and then eventually on to the SR429 into “wine country” Chianti.  The beautiful windy roads took us past countless vineyards, through rows and rows of Cyprus trees, Olive groves and breathtaking scenery.  I was stopping the car every few minutes to take photographs.  As we drove through Radda in Chianti there were wine tasting tents all through the village, which was teeming with people, but there was nowhere to park, after driving around for a while we finally came across a parking space but we were so far out of town and at the foot of a very steep hill so we decided to move on. A couple of miles outside of Radda we came across another vineyard offering wine tasting, WE parked the car and ventured inside, Both of us tried a couple of different Chianti’s but we were not impressed enough to buy, The vineyard also produced and sold olive oil, and balsamic vinegar of various vintages.  I tried some of the 30 year old balsamic, it was like nectar, I had to have it, besides we couldn’t really leave without buying something, after having had a few tastings, so I bought the smallest little bottle of the 30 year old balsamic, it cost about $50, but was so delicious, and I will use it sparingly, I just hope customs don’t take it off me when I fly back, I think its OK.  There was a lovely little restaurant at the vineyard, but having enjoyed a very extravagant day (culinary speaking) yesterday, we both decided to find something a little less expensive for our meals today.

We left the vineyard and continued on through the picturesque town of Greve in Chianti.  It was getting late and we were both beginning to feel a little peckish.  Since Radda we hadn’t come across any restaurants in the small villages we had driven through. We eventually came across a signpost for a Castle that Angie had spotted on the map, she thought it might be interesting, and possibly somewhere we could get lunch.  We turned onto a small side road and followed it up a narrow steep hillside towards “Castello di Verrazzano”, a local tourist attraction. The road wound steeply around the hillside climbing higher and higher, eventually we reached the top, where there were large parking lots, but they were empty!  The castle built around the eleventh century still produces wine today, and is well known for its Verrazzano Rosso.  The name Verrazzano means “land of boars”  Had I researched it I could have booked us into one of their fabulous wine tours and dinners.  OH yet just another reason I’ll have to come back to this incredible country…

On to Arezzo

After our wonderfully decadent lunch, we headed back to the car stopping along the way in the little shops to admire all the wonderful fruits and vegetables, cheese's, meats, breads and pastas all produced locally.  The food here is so good, I would have enjoyed filling a basket with all the goodies to take home with me, but I settled for a small bag of blue striped farfalle.  In the little piazza a local man was sitting on the church steps with his Jackdaw, which was hopping around his shoulders and up and down his arms, as tame as could be.  We stopped to take some photographs before moving on.

Back in the car we headed out of Montepulciano on the 454 to Laviano where we joined a wonderfully scenic road to Cortona.  Both Angie and I were keen to see the hill town of Cortona as its the home of Francis Mayes, the author of "Under the Tuscan Sun" among other books.  Her descriptions of the town and surrounding areas made it sound truly delightful, it was just another place not to be missed.
Once again we didn't have time to venture inside the city walls, we drove around for a while but with the afternoon light beginning to fade we forgot the side roads and quickly joined the S71, fast route to Arezzo.
This was definitely the largest town we had encountered so far, quite industrial, and much flatter than any of our previous towns.

The directions I had to our hotel were horrible, and needless to say we got terribly lost; even using lulu we couldn't locate it.  In desperation, after driving around in circles for about an hour, we pulled into a gas station to ask for directions, not an easy task bearing in mind neither of us spoke any Italian, but Angie is never deterred by such unimportant issues as language.  At the gas station several people came over very keen to help, not a word of English was spoken between them, but with my trusty map, hand signals and much patience Angie managed to get a rough idea of the location of the hotel.

I still don't know how we found it, and I honestly don't think I could find it again if I returned, but find it we did, eventually, up a long and very narrow, winding road, through the woods, three miles from the historic center of Arezzo.
Our four star hotel "Badia di Pomaio",  in the La Badia area, turned out to be a beautifully restored, ancient 17th century monastery.  The hotel has seventeen rooms, two fabulous restaurants, a pool and gorgeous grounds, not to mention the breathtaking panoramic view of Arezzo.

Our room was quite lovely, it had heavily beamed ceilings, two comfortable twin beds, a large marble bathroom, a writing desk in a nook off the bedroom, and a small sitting-room.  The huge windows overlooked the countryside and mountains in the distance.

I took a shower while Angie headed out to explore the hotel and grounds.
That night we dined in the hotel's main restaurant, and once again the food and wine was really spectacular.
Today was definitely my favorite day of our trip so far, each day I don't think it can get any better, and each day I'm surprised.  Italy truly is a country to fall in love with...


For more information or details on this hotel go to:   www.badiadipomaio.net  and click on "translate this page" to choose English,
or:   www.hotelbadiadipomioarezzo.it

Montepulciano, OH the joy of great food

Leaving Sorano we followed the secondary road  until eventually joining the 478 to Chianciano Therme. The 'Terme' part of the name means Spa. We decided not to stop here as time was marching on and we wanted to get to Montepulciano in time for a late lunch. At 1,950 feet above sea level, this medieval hamlet is the highest hill town in Tuscany, it also has breathtaking views over the surrounding countryside.  Built on a sloping, narrow limestone ridge in the heart of the Vino Nobile wine growing territory, Montepulciano is most famous for its wonderful Vino Nobile di Montepulciano made from the Sangiovese grapes, not to be confused with Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which is made in Abruzzo using the Montepulciano grape variety. 
We innocently drove through the ancient narrow streets, and parked in the Hotel La Terrazza parking lot in the center of town, completely oblivious to the fact that you are supposed to have a special permit to drive here.  We were lucky, we didn't get clamped, or ticketed (that we know of, of course a ticket could still arrive!).  
Happy with our luck at finding a great parking space we headed out in search of the shops, and a restaurant.  I turned off the main shopping road and wandered down a quiet little street where I discovered a true Tuscan gem, "II Restorante Borgobuio" owned and run by husband and wife,  Elda (the chef) and Pier, the head waiter, tennor and restaurant entertainer...

This lovely, little restaurant created within an underground cave, part of the 500 cellars of Palace Venturi, is a joy to behold, with its vaulted ceilings,  interesting antiques, saffron lighting and very friendly service, turned out to be one of the best restaurants I have ever had the pleasure of eating in.  With Pavarotti at his glorious best belting it out over the sound system, and Pier joining in (quite well, I might add).  All the tables were brimming with family's, couples, business people and locals, the atmosphere was both sophisticated but informal, with a warmth that made you feel as though you were eating in someone's home.  Pier made a great fuss of "Angelina" (as he called Angie), and me "Heeter"!  

The food was absolutely superb, I had an asparagus risotto, possibly the best thing I've ever eaten, and Angie had pasta with a scrumptious home made tomato sauce, all washed down with the most delicious wine, yummy, scrummy, I was fully indulging my love affair with Italian food and wine, as is evidenced by my expanding waistline!  We took our time over lunch, and were put under no pressure to move on and free up the table, as is so often the case in many restaurants today.  I really believe they would have let us stay all day, had we chosen to.

We would have happily stayed, for dinner too, but our itinerary was calling, we still had to get to Cortona, and then on to Arrezo and find our hotel for the night... 
Before leaving, Pier managed to talk us into a dessert, which neither of us really wanted, it was just easier to say yes to him, we had a tiramisu which we shared, and I had a cup of espresso to wake me up ready for the drive ahead.
You can visit this restaurants web site:  www.borgobuio.it

Exploring Pitigliano and Sorano

Saturday 18^th September

Our stay last night was at the Spa Relais Orientina, just a few minutes drive outside the center of Pitigliano.  A small family run hotel, friendly, and very comfortable with a good restaurant.  The spa facilities looked lovely, but didn’t (for us) operate at very convenient hours, they closed as we arrived at 7pm last night, and didn’t open until 11am this morning meaning we didn’t get to use the spa at all, we were both disappointed as we had been looking forward to a swim and a sauna before dinner. 

The hotel rooms were spotlessly clean, and the beds moderately comfortable, I would stay here again and happily recommend this hotel to anyone visiting this area.

                                         Taken outside our hotel, Spa Relais Orientina 

After breakfast we drove back into Pitigliano, through the entrance gate, once provided with a drawbridge, into the old walled town. We parked in Piazza Garibaldi, and strolled leisurely through the lovely old medieval town, built in 1545.  The history of this whole area can be traced back to the Bronze age (2000-1000 B.C.)

                                              One of the beautiful little streets in Pitigliano

There was a collection of lovely old vintage Citroen car’s on display in the Piazza, and many of the locals and visitors were wandering around admiring them.  Angie and I headed off to explore the little streets.  I bought a bottle of locally made wine to take back for Bob. Pitigliano produces a lovely white wine called Bianco di Pitigliano. 

 We peeped into the Cathedral dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, built in 1509.  The baroque style interior was characterized by a magnificent high altar, on either side were two statues symbolizing Faith and Charity,  and on the walls are two paintings by Pietro Aldi (1852 - 1888), an artist born in nearby Manciano.  We slipped quietly in  to light a candle and say a prayer.

                                        Angie outside a local store

Pitigliano sees far fewer tourists than other Tuscan hill towns and cities, which is a shame because this stunning little medieval town is a real jewel in Tuscany's crown, and very worthy of a visit.  

Dug into the tufa beneath the city are underground caves and tunnels, which have been in use since Etruscan times when the cliff was dotted with tombs.  Today many of the caves are used for storing wine. There is also a Christian cave chapel dating from 400AD, it is said to be the oldest in Italy.

                      Taken at the entrance gate to the walled town of Sorano

The next item on our agenda was to return to Sorano, which turned out to be Angie's favorite place.  Sorano is four miles from Pitigliano, thirty-two miles from the A1 autostrada, fifty-eight miles from Grosseto, eighty-six from Rome, and one hundred and five from Florence.  The town sits dramatically perched atop a tufa ridge, surrounded by lush vegetation, vineyards, sheep farms and olive groves,  clear evidence of the area's strong agricultural vocation.

                                Our little car just fit through these narrow streets

We drove through the tiny streets, and into the main Piazza, when we parked the car and walked around taking photographs and admiring the lovely old buildings.  When we returned to the car, a funeral procession of about one hundred people was passing slowly through the Piazza, so we sat and waited for it to pass before moving on. 

Pitigliano

Pitigliano

We still had a good hour of daylight ahead of us.  Our decision to take the S2 instead of the side roads meant we were quickly making up for lost time, and should arrive in Pitigliano before dark (we hoped).

We turned off the S2 at Acquapendente onto a secondary road and headed west towards Sorano.  There was no traffic, making it easy to continue at a good speed until we reached the village of Onano, where the road became quite bendy.  At this point instead of following Lulu’s directions, we followed the signposts to Sorano, the road looked more interesting that way, and also we knew that Sorano was only about 4 miles from Pitigliano.

We passed the tiny town of San Leonardo and as we rounded a sharp bend in the road what greeted us literally took our breath away; it was the first glimpse of Sorano.  This incredibly unique, medieval, fairytale town is located on a high plateau on a strip of land in the Maremma, set upon massive imposing cliffs of tufa (yellow volcanic rock, typical for this area), wedged between the Lente and Flora rivers.

We couldn’t believe our eyes, the town literally appears to grow up from the tufa rock with no clear distinction between rock and dwellings, its as though the entire town was carved by a sculptor.   It’s impossible for me to accurately describe the beauty of Sorano and do it justice.

                                            Our first view of Sorano

We were both dying to stop and explore the town, but once again our agenda dictated our schedule.  We were within just a few miles of Pitigliano and the sun was going down.  I stopped to take some photographs before moving on.

                                          Pitigliano

                      
We arrived in Pitigliano at dusk, it took us about 20 minutes to find our hotel as it was 4 kilometers outside the town.  As soon as we were checked in and settled in our room, we drove back into Pitigliano for dinner.  The dinner was a little disappointing, but the scenery was spectacular.

                                         Dinner in Pitigliano

Great Wine,

BONIZIO

Sangiovese Di Maremma, Toscana
Bonizio is made from Sangiovese grapes grown in the Maremma region of southern Tuscany.

Probably the best reasonably priced wine I have had in some time.

Serve at room temperature especially good with pasta, or any full flavored Mediterranean dish.

Enjoy :-)

Road to Pitigiliano

 

Up to this point we really hadn’t utilized our GPS system very much at all.  The route planning I had done before arriving here in Tuscany was proving very worthwhile.   I’d purchased a detailed road map, and used a highlighter to mark the route.  Using the Internet I researched the hill town’s, city’s and villages throughout Tuscany, deciding upon which ones I wanted to visit, then planned the entire trip keeping us off the autostrada, using only side roads.  It had taken me two whole weeks to put the trip together, the biggest problem had been deciding upon which places to visit, as everywhere throughout Tuscany is stunningly beautiful, also Edi had mentioned places that we should not miss. I had a long, long list, and only five days in which to do it. 

So, here we were leaving Siena at four O’clock in the afternoon, with yet another list of villages and towns that we just couldn’t miss, and only a couple of hours before dark!  We both agreed that we absolutely had to see Montalcino, and after that we would set my map aside and use the GPS to take us the fastest route to Pitigiliano.

It was a glorious afternoon as we headed down the S2 through Monteroni d’Arba, and Bunoconvento turning off briefly in the town to try and find a ‘ferramenta’ (hardware store).  I left my converter plug back in the UK and the batteries on both my phone and my computer were almost flat.  Unfortunately the only ferramenta  we found did not have any.  We continued on to Montalcino, another lovely picturesque drive winding past sunflower fields, olive groves and vineyards.  What I find immediately striking and fascinating about the Tuscan countryside are the lines of Cyprus trees everywhere; I think of them as Tuscany’s signature.

Arriving at the walled mountain town of Montalcino is a breathtaking experience.  This beautiful little medieval town sits isolated but well protected by the mountains of Amiata in the south, the Orcia valley to the south and east, and the Ombrone valley to the west.  These natural barriers provide protection from the intemperate weather keeping the area the most arid of all Tuscany’s wine regions

Montalcino is best known for its fabulous wine, ‘Brunello di Montalcino’.  The original vineyards were decimated back in 1930 when phylloxera arrived, and completely wiped out the vines.  Then between World War 2, the depression and the poverty following the postwar period, Montalcino was left impoverished, and totally dependent upon its agricultural production.  This period of poverty and isolation very nearly wiped out the area’s previous reputation for its wine.  In the 1950’s a handful of producers began bottling their own wine, known then as Chianti Colli Senesi, which at that time had a greater value and stronger market image than the Brunello.  Gradually over the next couple of decades Brunello di Montalcino regained its reputation as a fine wine.  Between 1950 and 2009 the market, vineyards and producers grew extensively, today in Montalcino there are around 190 producers, and over 1,300 hectares under vines.  Approximately four million bottles of Brunello are produced each year.

Enough about the wine, although for those of you who know me, you know very well my passion for good wine.

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop and explore the town, but I luckily spotted a ferramenta as we drove through, I was able to pull up outside while Angie ran in to see if they had any converters, to our amazement they did; she bought three and we were quickly on our way again. 

I couldn’t help smiling to myself when I thought of telling our tale of visiting one of the worlds most beautiful and best wine producing towns and our only purchase was an electrical converter! 

However, there was no time for shopping or exploring, it was getting late and I was concerned about finding our destination on these roads in the dark. My planned route would take us through small off the beaten track roads that wound up and down the sides of the mountains, and we obviously didn’t have time for that so Angie keyed the address in Pitigiliano into the GPS and once again we set off, but this time with “Lulu” (Angie’s nickname for the GPS) as our guide. 

This is where our trip became a little scary; we had expected Lulu to take us on the road to Lama where we would join the S2 again, but the roads here are not signposted well, they are very narrow and windy in places and come to three and four way junctions with no signs at all, “take the third left at the next junction”, when there were only two choices, or  “turn second right at the roundabout” when there was no roundabout, I was quickly becoming panicky.  We had to admit for the first time we were lost, I was secretly having visions of us spending the night in the car lost on some mountain road, but we had no choice other than to continue to follow the directions Lulu was giving us.  The directions took us down dirt path roads through fields, and lanes barely wide enough for the car, and then through a tiny village; where cars were obviously not catered for, even tiny cars like ours.  At one point we had to drive under a bridge where the walls were so close to the car we couldn’t have opened the car doors to get out if we tried.  We were both giggling and making light of the situation, but I know behind the humor Angie was as concerned as I was.

I’m still not sure exactly where we finally joined the S2 again, our relief was so great, but back on a major road I was able to fully test the top speed of the Fiat as we sped along the highway.  Lulu had brought us through the mountains, fields and villages and delivered us safely back into civilization. 

A violet haze hovered over the mountains and the late afternoon sunlight kissed the treetops as if by the brush of a Renaissance painter.  Cyprus trees lined the highway screening the vineyards and fields of sunflowers; the air was laden with a heady aroma of fresh herbs and flowers. 

How I wished I could have just stopped right there with my paints and a canvas.  There never seems to be enough time in life to just stop and do whatever you want, even this amazing trip is governed by the agenda that I put together to see as much of Tuscany as possible.  On my next trip I will pick one place and just lazily tour from that location and back each day.

Siena

Friday 17^th September

                                                       The Piazza del Campo

When I called Nicolette last night from my hotel room, she scolded me severely for staying in and having an early night, instead of going out on the town.  “You should be out experiencing the Siena nightlife, I’m disappointed in you, you’re getting old,” she said in mock disgust.

 “I’m tired,” I protested, realizing it was a lame excuse, but the truth all the same.  Unknown to Niki there are no discotheques, bars or clubs in Siena, and only one pub.

Before leaving for Europe Ed had made me promise to visit the city of Siena, it is one of his favorite places in Italy, fortunately Angie was also very keen to experience the city, so we planned to have a quick look around before continuing on our journey.

Maneuvering the little Fiat through the busy streets searching for a parking space proved to be a real challenge, and we were just about ready to give up, when I unexpectedly demonstrated my ability to drive like an Italian, zipping out of the line of traffic, spinning the car around and sliding into a parking space on the opposite side of the road, just outside one of the main gates to the city.  I had reacted so quickly I failed to notice another driver who had pulled out of the line of traffic into a side street ready to reverse into the now occupied space.  The furious driver glared daggers at me while I simply shrugged and smiled… “I had simply done what any Italian would have done!  How does the saying go?  “When in Rome…”

Angie and I couldn’t believe our luck, finding a space so close to the gate.  We were allowed to park there for one hour; plenty of time we both agreed for a quick look around, and we could be on our way again before lunch.  How wrong could two people be? 

We were both wholly unprepared for what greeted us inside the walled city of Siena; the city is truly magical, it preserves its medieval character with lovely old rose-colored buildings, flower strewn balcony’s, wonderfully ornate church’s, designer stores, antique shops, and narrow cobblestone streets and alleys that rise and fall, reminding you that the city was built on seven hills, scarcely any street in the city is level.  The scent of new leather, delicate perfume from the flowers, and freshly baked croissants fill the air.  Beautiful, elegantly dressed people roam the streets, and of course thousands of tourist’s (not so elegant).  There is a law in Siena forbidding widows to wear black for more than six months, in order to keep the streets looking cheerful for visitors.  Angie and I had remarked how quiet all the roads had been since we left Pisa, we now realized why, everyone was here!

 Scooters and bicycles were everywhere, and everywhere leads to the central Piazza del Campo, which appeared to me to be occupied by probably all of the 20,000 students from the University.  The Piazza is dominated by the Palazzo Pubblico, the magnificent Gothic town hall that boasts the second highest medieval tower in Italy, at 330feet.

We stopped to do some shopping at a local scarf store; everyone in Italy wears a scarf it seems, even the men, and we both thought they would make great presents for our daughters, I decided against buying one for Edi, somehow that male fashion trend hasn’t quite reached the good old USA just yet.

                                                Angie in the scarf store.

                                                          Me, taken in the Duomo

A glance at my watch revealed that our hour had come and gone; we both raced back through the winding streets to the car.  Being so enthralled by Siena we had both completely forgotten the time.  Fortunately the monitoring of parked cars in the city did not appear to take great priority, as we arrived back at the car almost an hour late, and luckily had no parking fine, or worse clamped.  As we were parked right outside a bar, we decided to stop for a drink before moving on.  We talked about the Duomo, which is one of the most prestigious, illustrious and artistically important cathedrals in Europe.  Angie was very keen to see it, and I agreed that it seemed silly to leave without first paying a visit.  We moved the car and made our way back into the city.  It took us a while to find the Duomo as the windy streets resemble a maze and are not easy to navigate.  I thought of dropping breadcrumbs, as I was sure we would never find our way back.  However, Angie had picked up a local city map and assured me we were fine. 

The Duomo was absolutely spectacular.  Intricately carved statues of prophets by Giovanni Pisano in the 1290s fill the Gothic niches of the ornate marble façade.  The striking interior with its vibrant pictorial effect created by the black and white marble stripes that cover the walls and the massive columns that support the arches of the nave aroused wonder and admiration in me, I was speechless, as we walked quietly around inside admiring the incredible mosaic marble floors, that took the artist Domenico Beccafumi thirty years to complete.  The fabulous works of art decorating the drum and ceilings, all the statues and stained-glass windows truly need to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.  I was really happy we had taken the time to visit this amazing cathedral.

                                                                  The Duomo, Siena

Getting back to the car proved to be something of a challenge, as I took us on a short cut, feeling very confident that I had remembered the streets well.  Unfortunately I managed to get us completely lost, and we ended up on the wrong side of the city about a mile from where we needed to be.  Asking complete strangers for directions in a language she didn’t speak never stopped Angie, and we eventually found our way back to the car, with no help whatsoever from me!

It was now four O’clock and we had about a three-hour drive ahead of us to reach our next destination of Pitigiliano.  I really wanted to get there before dark, it was hard enough finding places we were unfamiliar with in daylight, in the dark it would be a lost cause.

                                              A living statue, busking in the streets of Siena