Your comment about Florence and things being closed reminds me of a conversation, just a couple of days ago, w/an Italian friend who owns a small business in Rome. He said much of Rome was "closed" because of the Italians going on vacation. I have heard, time and time again, about August being a not-so-good time to visit Europe because of the locals being on vacation. But, if one's schedule only permits August travel, go for it. Just be aware of the possible situations you may face. So glad it worked out for you, CStone. And please, keep the report coming.
Carol

I'm enjoying your report as well—not too long for me!

Day 4

Today we spent 8 hours with Luca Garappa, a local tour guide/driver. While not inexpensive, this was a fabulous way to see things we wouldn’t otherwise see and go places we wouldn’t otherwise go. Luca is native to the area, and lives just outside Siena. He speaks English well, and is so flexible about planning the trip around your interests.

He picked us up at our hotel at 9:30am, just as we had planned via email. He had maneuvered his small van up the tight streets of Montepulciano, and parked a couple of blocks away. DH took the front seat, so he could enjoy the views that up until today I had been enjoying as the passenger. Our first stop was just a few minutes away at a small winery – Palazza Massaini. The winery, which is housed in a charming old castle which probably dates back 500 years, produces chianti and orcia red wine, as well as olive oil and grappa. We spent a few minutes wandering through their gardens, noticing some very old buildings a short distance away that seemed to be falling apart. Luca mentioned that you see that throughout Tuscany – often it’s property that the land owner doesn’t want to sell, but doesn’t have the funds to restore. Such a waste, as these are beautiful, historical buildings that will fall apart without proper care. We tried each of the wines, as well as the olive oil. All were very good, so we decided to buy a couple of bottles. We were charged 9€ for a bottle of orcia and a bottle of olive oil. I couldn’t believe it – so inexpensive.

After leaving Palazza Massaini, Luca left the main road between Montepulciano and Pienza, and took us on a tiny rural road. We drove past fields of hay, sunflowers, olive trees, etc. We saw from a distance large estates, which were likely summer homes for rich Italians. We stopped at a small cheese farm, Azienda Agricola San Polo. We watched an employee making ricotta cheese, and sampled several types of pecorino cheese – from the young, soft cheese to the dark rinded mature cheese. The darker the rind, the longer the cheese has been aged. There was some wonderful cheese that was wrapped in walnut leaves, imparting a unique flavor. Since we couldn’t buy it all, we bought ½ a round of two of the older cheeses, and had those vacuum sealed to bring back with us. Apparently they will keep for a long time in a cool and dark spot, so we have set them aside – a great excuse for an Italian-themed wine and cheese tasting party in a few weeks.

We then headed to Montalcino, with a few stops along the way for the obligatory pictures. Luca knew the best places to stop for the scenic views. As we drove, he told us about his current endeavor to become an olive oil sommelier. It was fascinating to hear him tell us about olive trees, how the best olives are grown, the process of making olive oil, etc. He actually has a few olive trees, and makes his own olive oil. He only makes a few bottles, but someday would like to do much more.

In Montalcino, we split up and did a bit of shopping. DH stopped at a couple of the huge enotecas there. You can sample brunello from numerous wineries – a credit card keeps track of all that you’ve tasted, and you’re charged at the end of the tasting. I wandered through the gift shops, and also took pictures of this lovely little town. It was Monday, so many of the stores were closed, but that meant the town had a quiet and tranquil air about it. Nothing like the tourist inundated scene I was expecting. We met up at the bottom of the main street in a small park, and took a scenic walk up to the fortezza. This side of Montalcino overlooked miles and miles of vineyards and forests.

We ate lunch at Osteria di Porta al Cassero. This is a small restaurant close to the fortezza. Very casual and rustic atmosphere. I suspect Luca eats here often, as he seemed to know the folks well. We started with some bruschetta and white beans. I had pici with tomatoes and garlic as my main meal, and DH had a delicious chianghiale stew with white beans. We had a glass of the house rosso and brunello, which were both quite good.

Our next stop was Sant’ Antimo Abbey. The Abbey dates back hundreds of years, and has seen many different uses over those years. It now houses eight monks, and also serves as host to numerous tourists! Before approaching the Abbey, Luca took us up a steep road, where we had a beautiful view of the Abbey and the surrounding area. Vineyards, cypress trees, a small town were spread in front of us. After taking many pictures, including some close-ups of the nearby vineyard and the ripening grapes, we drove down to the Abbey. We arrived just before 2:15, which is when the monks enter the Abbey for their afternoon chants. We are not Catholic, and the chanting was in Latin, but the experience was still incredibly spiritual and moving. After they completed their chants, we were able to explore the interior of the Abbey. Luca described to us how the Abbey was used 500 years ago, as a way station for pilgrims’ trips. Very interesting to imagine what the Abbey was like back then.

Luca drove back towards Montalcino, stopping in another scenic overlook. He must know them all! We had a beautiful view of the town, of which we took many more pictures, of course!

One more stop to this amazing day – just past Montalcino, Luca pulled off onto a side road and entered the Fornacella Winery. Fornacella is a tiny place, producing just 18,000 bottles of wine per year. About 4,500 – 6,000 of those bottles are Brunello. The rest are Rosso and a table wine. A lovely lady took us around the small property. She spoke very little English, but her passion for the winery was abundantly clear. She and Luca would have a conversation, and then Luca would translate for us. She showed us the vines, and explained how they had just thinned out the grapes. They only like a few bunches of grapes per vine, so they cut off any others during the growing season. After exploring a bit, she took us to the area where they age the wine. There were several large barrels of different vintages and types of wine. After all of this, we finally got to try some of the wine. She opened the door to another building, and inside was the nicest little tasting room. And the best part was that she had prepared a feast for us to munch on while we tasted the wine. There was bread, pecorino cheese, another type of cheese, and bruschetta. All of this was served with their olive oil, which had a delicious spiciness to it. Yum! We started with the table wine, which sells for 1.50€ per bottle. Delicious. I would serve this at a party with no qualms at all. We then moved on to the rosso, which was wonderful, and only 9€. The brunello was outstanding, and again a steal at 20€ per bottle. We wanted to buy lots of everything, but shipping wine to Texas in August is not a good idea. So, we settled on three bottles of olive oil, three bottles of rosso and three bottles of brunello, which we carried back to Houston in our luggage. Plus an email address so we can contact her in the fall and have some shipped in the cooler weather!

Luca drove us home, and we sadly said goodbye. I cannot overemphasize what a wonderful day this was – we packed so much into those 8 hours!

Coming up – Dinner and a day of relaxation

good idea to have a driver if you're going on a winery tour!

Lovely memories are floating by as I read your enthusiastic report. I can picture all the towns you went to with Luca, and I can taste that lovely Rosso di Montalcino. (I wish!)

CStone,

I am really enjoying your report. It does bring back lots of wonderful memories, as well as our own driving in Montepulciano experience. I think we found that same little, steep street through the arch!

Do continue!

Dinner and a day of relaxation

After such a busy day, we decided on a casual dinner. As we walked through Piazza Grande to the restaurant, we happened upon a competition. Several sets of boys were performing with flags and drums, dressed in the typical medieval costumes. The performances were very entertaining. We really enjoyed watching local children perform the traditional events of the area.

Trattoria di Cagnano didn’t open until 7:30, which was typical for restaurants in Montepulciano. So, we wandered around the main shopping area a bit, and returned to the restaurant at 7:30 on the dot. We had a small table on the outside patio, which overlooks a small piazza. It was a very nice setting on the main street of the town. The dinner itself was good – we started with prosciutto and melone, as well as a beef carpaccio. DH was in a pasta kind of mood, and wanted to try a couple of things, so we got a pici with tartuga (truffles) and a risotto with saffron and arugala. I wanted to try a pizza, so we also ordered a pizza. Everything was good, though the waitress chastised me when I asked for parmesan cheese for the pizza. “That is not how Italians do it,” she said, but then quickly backtracked and offered to bring out the cheese if I wanted it. However, I was in Italy, so chose to eat it the Italian way. And it really was very good.

Day 5 – A Day of Relaxation
When flushing out an itinerary for the trip, I had struggled with what to do on this day. There were numerous options, including visiting the beaches of Tuscany, exploring Cortona and Arezzo, travelling to the Chianti region of Tuscany, driving down to Orvieto or returning to some of our favorite spots from the previous few days. However, in the end, we decided that we wanted to stay put and enjoy our time in Montepulciano. What a great decision this was!

I started the day with another try at a morning run. I ran downhill for 1 ½ miles, ending up well below the town. I then turned around, and attempted to run the same route uphill. I made it to the Porta al Prato, and had to stop. After catching my breath and walking/running back to the hotel, I showered and ate breakfast. In the meantime, DH found a local laundromat (just 1 block from the hotel), and did a couple of loads of laundry. It took a while to figure out the machines, but once that was done, the washing and drying was quick.

We then headed out to do some shopping, and really explore the town. The main street in Montepulciano seems to go on forever, and there are great shops of every variety to be found. We bought olive wood spoons and cutting boards, calendars, herbs and spices, and ceramic wine stoppers. Our favorite store was not on the main street, but instead close to the Piazza Grande. Creazione d’Arte is a huge store filled to the brim with ceramics. Every style and color imaginable is available. The most interesting thing about the store is how big it is – it actually extends down and under the street. When the owner was expanding, he discovered Etruscan ruins, and has arranged the pottery to highlight these. We spent quite some time here, as we decided what pieces we wanted, what colors would work best, etc. Everything was beautiful, and it was tempting to buy much more than we eventually did. While we wandered through the town, I did my best to impart some history and architecture lessons on DH, educating him on the various buildings we were seeing, when they were built, and why they were significant.

For lunch, we ate at Ristorante Ai Quattro Venti, a small restaurant right at the edge of the Piazza Grande. We started with Mozarella Caprese and Bread soup. Then had ravioli with butter and sage, and gnocchi with tomato sauce. Good, hearty food.

We spent most of the afternoon relaxing, and packing for our departure to Florence in the morning. Packing up was bittersweet – we had enjoyed our stay so much, and were very sad to leave Montepulciano. However, we were excited about seeing and experiencing Florence. Even though we were close to the end, Montepulciano still had a couple of surprises in store for us…

For dinner, we had reservations at La Grotta, a beautiful restaurant nestled up against the Temple of San Biagio. The restaurant was about a ten minute walk from our hotel, down a very steep road. As we slowly walked downhill, we observed cars coming uphill, trying to find a parking place. We would find out why they were coming into town shortly. Before settling in for dinner, we wandered around the exterior of the Temple. It is a huge building, with amazing views of the Tuscan countryside. The sun was setting, so of course we had to stop for a few pictures.

Our dinner at La Grotta was lovely. We sat in the garden outside, and were greeted with two glasses of prosecco. We each started out with an amuse bouche of a spinach and ricotta tart. We then split the parmesan soufflé. This was divine – it melted in our mouths. For our main course, I had gnocchi with rabbit and green peas, and DH had a steak served with a small salad. We drank a bottle of vino nobile de Montepulciano with dinner. It was a slow and relaxing dinner, and fit perfectly into our slow paced day.

After dinner, we made the long uphill walk back to the hotel, noting that there were many more cars than before parked on the side of the road. Apparently Calici di Stele, which occurs on August 10, is the main summer event in Montepulciano. And what an event it was! There were different musicians set up all over the town. There were also numerous wine tastings, with tables set up in different parts of the town. We first headed to the Piazza Grande, where there was a huge flag and drummer demonstration. These included significantly more participants and spectators than what we had seen the day before. The performance was enthralling, and we found a perfect spot to view it all. After the demonstration ended, the performers marched out of Piazza Grande and down the main street, with all the spectators following. We were pulled along with everyone else. We followed the crowd for quite some time, past a performer playing a guitar, many Italians talking and laughing as they sampled different wine, groups of teenagers flirting with each other, and so much more. The people watching was amazing.

We eventually headed back to the hotel, but first took a short detour to a side street where some teenagers had set up huge speakers and a DJ was spinning some trance music. About a dozen teenagers were dancing around the area, pulling in folks as they walked by. We watched for a few minutes, enjoying the dancing and laughing of the kids. When we returned to the hotel, it had been transformed. The terrace of our hotel had been overtaken by a Jamiroquai cover band, complete with a large screen playing Jamiroquai videos. We could actually lean out the window from the bathroom in our room, and see the top of the performers’ heads. Luckily, we weren’t too tired, so we stayed outside and watched the band for a while. This was such a neat experience – a local festival that was geared to the locals. We couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying, but we felt like we were a part of everything. It was a great way to end our stay in Montepulciano…

Coming up – off to Florence

What treasures you are laying up for future memories. I love that you found unexpected pleasures, and local celebrations.

We had some similar experiences on our recent trip to Umbria and Tuscany, and I remember buying a gorgeous piece of pottery, at the same place you describe, on an earlier trip to Montepulciano.

Your report is a continuing pleasure....

Looking forward to Florence.

I'm in the midst of trying to decide what to do in Tuscany next summer. Reading this makes me want to do exactly what you did! I'm sure whatever we decide, we'll love it like you did. Thanks for all your info - it's wonderful!

A favorite view is from a resto in montepulciana in the photos below (you have to scroll down-sorry):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32219995@N07/?saved=1

Day 6 – Off to Florence
My initial plan was to take a scenic route to Florence, via Siena, and then detouring to visit San Gimignano. However, we decided to just go straight to Florence, so we took the most direct route, via the A1. We followed the signs to the airport, and had no problem returning our rental car. We had chosen to return the car with a full tank of gas, so filled it up a few miles before we got to the airport. Interestingly, when I received the final bill from the rental car company, they had charged us €14 for gas, plus a €15 fee for not returning it full. I called the rental car company, mentioned that we had filled up just before arriving at the airport, and they reversed the charges, no questions asked. I found that rather strange – it was as if this was a common occurrence. If I hadn’t checked the itemized bill, I never would have known they had tried to charge me an extra $40.

Anyhow, we hopped in a cab at the airport, and it was a 15 minute ride to our hotel, the Antica Torre di Via Tornabuoni. We arrived around noon, and luckily our room was ready. We had reserved room 502 because of its view of the duomo, based on exhaustive research on Trip Advisor. However, instead of taking us to room 502, we ended up in another room, with a huge terrace. It turns out that this room is right next door to room 502, and shares a terrace with 502. This room gets the majority of the terrace, and a spectacular view of Florence and the duomo. Once we realized this, we chose not to complain, and kept the better room .

We were ready for lunch, so we left the hotel and headed out into the streets of the city. Our first impressions of Florence were that it was hot. Very hot, unless you were in the shade. And crowded. There were people everywhere. A huge crowd of people was congregated on the Ponte Vechio, trying to get the obligatory picture of themselves on the bridge with the Arno behind them. We avoided that crowd, and wandered into the Piazza della Signoria. After a quick break, we headed towards the duomo. We eventually found a street market around the church of San Lorenzo. I was finally able to pry DH away from the street vendors, for a lunch nearby at Trattoria Osteria Cipolla Rossa. This is a nice casual trattoria, and we had a lunch of bruschetta with white beans, pasta with tomato sauce and some roasted potatoes. After lunch, we ventured back into the street market, and made some obligatory purchases – a leather purse for our daughter, some beautiful silk scarves, and a lovely oil painting of the duomo.

Now was nap time – we returned to our hotel, pulled the curtains closed, and collapsed. The room was great – we couldn’t hear any of the sounds of the town below, the curtains kept it nice and dark and the a/c worked wonderfully. We awoke feeling refreshed and ready to attempt our Florence run. I found a great route on slowtrav.com, from Robert Rainey. It takes you up quiet, shaded streets south of the Arno to the Piazza Michelangelo, where there are fantastic views of the city. We didn’t do the whole run, which was 6 miles, but cut it short and ended up running about 4.5 miles. It was a great way to see a different part of Florence than we had seen before, plus get a little exercise in to make up for all the food we had been consuming!

We had dinner at La Decima Musa, a small restaurant just down the street from the hotel. We really enjoyed our dinner – the food was good and the service was attentive. We were seated next to a couple from Florence, the man owned a wine store nearby. Given DH’s passion for wine, we had some interesting conversations about wine and Italy. We started our meal with a glass of prosecco, and an amuse bouche of melone y prosciutto and bread with a cheesy spread. We had appetizers of salumi y formagi, and seafood risotto. For our main course, we had monkfish and duck breast. We enjoyed a 2005 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino with our meal.

After dinner, we walked back to the historic center of Florence, in search of gelato. There was a nice breeze in the air, and the city seemed calmer and less busy. We both agreed that we preferred Florence at night, when the majority of the tourists had departed.

Coming up - our final day

TDudette - what a gorgeous picture - none of my pictures captured the view like this. Wow!

I called the rental car company, mentioned that we had filled up just before arriving at the airport, and they reversed the charges, no questions asked. I found that rather strange – it was as if this was a common occurrence. >>

for this reason I always check restaurant bills for rogue orange juices, items ordered but not received etc. as you say, it's amazing how often these little discrepancies crop up and how quickly they are reversed with so little fuss. I always choose to think that they were an innocent mistake and treat them as such.

BTW, great report. good decision not to complain about getting the wrong room!

Day 7 – Florence
It was our last day in Italy, so we were up early to make the most of it. Our plan for the day was to visit as many historic sites as possible without completely burning out. We started by walking from the hotel to the Ponte Vechio, which was much less crowded than the day before. We took a few pictures, then headed to Santa Croce. After admiring the exterior of the Church of Santa Croce, we headed over to the Bargello Museum. This museum is well worth a visit, both to admire the sculptures within, as well as to examine the building itself. From the Bargello, we wandered towards the Duomo. We admired all the buildings, but chose to forgo going inside, given the extremely long lines everywhere. We skirted around the Church of San Lorenzo to visit the Medici Chapels. There was an exhibition showing, so the admission price was a bit higher than usual. The last chapel, which Michelangelo designed for various members of the Medici family, was particularly interesting.

We were getting hungry, so we decided to try and find a place to eat lunch. Before we left, I put together a map on communitywalk.com of recommended restaurants in Florence. We decided to try Cantinetta di Verazzano. However, when we arrived, we found it was closed for the month of August. Our next try was Il Pennello – again, it was closed. We figured that our third try would be the charm, but we were wrong. Trattoria Le Mossacce was also closed. We ended up finding a small bar called Amadeus. We has some bruschetta, then pasta ragu and pasta chinghiale. It was nothing spectacular, but it was food, and we were famished!

After lunch and a nap, we headed across the river to explore the Oltrarno area. We did some shopping, walked a lot, and checked out a few places for dinner. We had an early dinner at Trattoria Quattro Leoni. This was a really nice little restaurant, set in a quiet square. We sat outside, and were joined by several groups of Americans. The food was great – we started with a mixed cheese plate and an insalata melone (great salad, with greens, goat cheese, cantelope, etc.). DH had a pasta with truffles – taglierini al tartufo nero di stagiene – and I had the famous pear ravioli – fiocchetti di pera in salsa di taleggio e esparagi. The pear ravioli was outstanding! We had a bottle of 2004 Pian delle Vigne Antinori Brunello with our meal. After the meal, we went to the gelato store across the square for desert. We wandered back to the hotel, to pack up for our trip home.

Day 8 – Back to Houston
Our flight from Florence to Frankfurt departed at 6:30am, so the hotel arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 5am. Although we didn’t check any luggage on the way over, we checked both of our bags on the way back, as we had accumulated numerous bottles of wine over the course of our trip. We packed these in the new 3M Wine Skins, then stuffed them in the cardboard wine carriers, and surrounded them with clothes. Each bag had about 6 bottles of wine or olive oil, and there was no issue with weight. I also had a bag of souvenirs which we carried on with us, along with my purse and DH’s backpack.

The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful, and we arrived around 8am. We had a long layover, and some Euros to spend, so we visited the duty free store and bought chocolate and wine. We then found a place to lie down, and each of us took a short nap. Our flight ended up being delayed by almost 2 hours, so we didn’t leave Frankfurt until after 3pm. Luckily, once we were in the air, we made up some time, and arrived in Houston just an hour late. I declared all our purchases, but didn’t have to pay any duties on the wine. We then picked up our car and headed out to the Texas hill country to pick up the kids from camp.

Coming up - just a few final thoughts...

Hello, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your report. What was the landscape like in August? I heard it's dry and less beautiful than in Spring. Did you enjoy it?