Dave & Meredith’s Travel Blog

We spent our last day in Tuscany exploring a hill town that we did not visit in 2008 and that is not visited by most tourists (at least most Americans). A coworker of mine also writes travel guidebooks about Tuscany and Italy and he generously gave me a copy before we left. In his book, he describes a town in southwestern Tuscany called Massa Maritima as an “undiscovered gem” so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be exactly that – very charming and worth a return visit. It’s a very small hill town with the usual picturesque red tile rooftops, great views, steep streets, and cafes tucked away in side alleys. For such a small town, it has a lot of options for places to eat and as we left in late afternoon, lots of cars were passing us in the other direction. The town’s population must expand a lot at night.

The view over the rooftops with the sea in the background.

A typical view down a steep street.

The main square in the old town with the cathedral and campanile.

The cathedral shows a change in architectural style as it was built. The lower part with rounded arches is Romanesque while the upper part with striped marble is Gothic.

The other side of the old square with lots of cafes.

A view down an alleyway with cafes, shops, etc.

– Dave

We spent one of our last days in Tuscany in Montepulciano, one of our favorite hill towns and it didn’t disappoint. The town is very picturesque, not as crowded as some others, offers tasting of local wines, and has plenty of side streets and back alleys to wander. It turned out that the town was preparing for a festival that night and, while sitting at a cafe on the main piazza, we witnessed a group rehearsing a routine that involved lots of drums plus carrying flags and then throwing them high in the air to other members of the group. A very cool thing to watch while we cooled down from the hot sun.

A view from Montepulciano over the surrounding countryside – a very typical view from a Tuscan hill town.

Meredith and me outside the Cantucci Cantine after tasting some wine. I recommend a visit with Adamo who has been making wine for over 50 years.

The group rehearsing their flag routine in the main piazza.

The group throws their flags in the air across the piazza.

More flag waving. 

More flag throwing.

Members of one of the local “contradas” emerging from their headquarters in the evening in full costume before heading up to the piazza for the main event.

– Dave

Who doesn’t love Siena?

We spent a really nice day with Dan and Han checking out the sights and walking around town.  Some pics below:

One of the buildings on Il Campo, Siena’s main square.

An apartment building with one of the town’s many churches in the background.

The Duomo’s nave and dome.

Detail from the organ in the Duomo. 

An original stained glass window from Siena’s Duomo made by a Sienese artist named Duccio in 1288.  It’s now in the Duomo Museum, while the church has a copy.

I could spend hours in the small Piccolomini Library, just off the nave of the Duomo.  The frescoes around the walls portray the life of Aeneas Piccolomini (1405-1464), who went on to become Pope Pius II.  The ceiling is intricately painted with geographic designs and scenes from nature and mythology.  There is a statue of the Three Graces in the middle of the room, and lining all the walls below the frescoes are hymnals with illuminated scores of music.  This room is fantastic!  

- Meredith

Yes.

- Meredith

Since we are here in Tuscany for a week, our typical plan is to visit a different historic hill town each day. On Sunday, we visited Volterra which was one of our favorites in 2008 but this time was made a little more difficult because they were holding a week-long festival. This made the town very crowded and kept some of the most interesting areas (the central piazza) inaccessible unless you were willing to pay for an expensive ticket. Still, there were plenty of beautiful things to see and we enjoyed walking around the town.

On Monday, we visited San Gimignano, about two miles from our villa. San Gimignano is one of the more famous hill towns because it is quite scenic. Many hill towns still have a medieval tower or two but San Gimignano has the most remaining (13 or so). It is sometimes called the Manhattan of Tuscany due to its skyline. We walked up and down the main streets, explored some smaller side streets, and climbed one of the towers that is still open to the public for some great views.

San Gimignano at sunrise

The view from the top of a tower. San Gimignano’s central piazza with the Tuscan countryside sprawling in the background.

People walking past a cafe in the central piazza.

The two of us on top of the tower.

A view down on to Piazza della Cisterna, one of San Gimignano’s other large squares.

Meredith begins her harrowing descent from the tower (don’t worry – she made it back to solid ground).

San Gimignano at sunrise with the full moon behind it.

– Dave

We’re staying in a villa in Tuscany just outside San Gimignano. We stayed here during our 2008 trip and loved it so much we decided to come back. Last time, because there were only two of us, we had a small apartment that didn’t have much of a view from the window. This time however, with four of us, they put us at the top of the villa and we can see the beautiful countryside in many directions. So you, dear reader, get three pictures today. I present View from our Window #2:

This overlooks the pavilion where the villa serves dinner three times per week.

Vineyards of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the local white grape variety (yummy!).

Cypress trees and more loveliness.

– Meredith

Well, we left Tuscany over two weeks ago but with everything going on, I’ve had less time than usual to devote to working on photography. Better late than never: a gallery of pictures from Umbria and Tuscany is now here. As usual, the Photo Galleries page is also updated. I hope you enjoy them. Stay tuned for plenty of photos from Cinque Terre, Lake Como, and Venice.

- Dave

Well, it’s probably about time to tell you about what we did a couple weeks ago, right? We’ve been off of our normal blogging pace for the last week or two so we’ll try to catch up in the next few days.

After the week in Umbria, we spent a week in Tuscany near San Gimignano and it was wonderful.  Our villa was really nice and the people who ran it were fabulous.  They served a great dinner three nights during the week we were there and it was some of the best food we’ve had on the trip.

During the week, we visited Volterra, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, Pisa, and some wineries in Chianti.  Of these towns, our favorites were San Gimignano, Siena, and Volterra.  Here are some snapshots from that week; Dave will also post a gallery of the nicer shots from our time in both Tuscany and Umbria [Sometime real soon now! - Dave] :

Above: A view of San Gimignano from the road our villa was on. The approach to most of the hill towns looked similar with a walled city up on a hill. San Gimignano though is known for its towers since, in many hill towns, the towers have been toppled or torn down over time.

Above: A typical view of the surrounding countryside from the inside of a hill town. Sweeping views look beautiful to us but in the past were practical for city defenses.

Above: A typical steep, winding street through a hill town. Many are too narrow for vehicles. This was in Volterra on the day we traveled from Umbria to Tuscany. Notice how there is no one on this road. It was a Saturday (see next picture).

Above: The main street leading up to the city center of San Gimignano. This was taken on a Monday. Notice the difference in the crowds in the street compared to Volterra above. San Gimignano is beautiful and definitely worth a visit but it’s also one of the most well known hill towns in Italy so be prepared for crowds.

 Above: A view of Siena’s Campo de Fiori surrounded by a typical spread of buildings with red tile roofs.

Above. The ceiling of the Piccolomini Library, a room off the side of the nave of Siena’s Duomo. This is over 500 years old and the colors are still incredibly vibrant. Definitely worth a few minutes’ side trip if you visit the Duomo.

Above: The countryside around Tuscany is an endless view of vineyards. This was on a foggy morning in the vineyards below our villa looking back towards our room.

Above: When we left Tuscany to head to the Cinque Terre, we went via Pisa and spent a few hours there in the middle of the day. The guidebooks are correct: there isn’t much to see in Pisa besides the Leaning Tower. The other two things to see are right next to it: the Duomo and the Baptistry. All three are related: the Leaning Tower’s official name is the Campanile which is a bell tower for a church. It costs 15 Euros to climb the tower so we didn’t bother. It wasn’t worth $50 for two people.

Above: In my opinion, the Baptistry was more interesting than the Leaning Tower. It’s enormous and the inside was deliberately designed for great acoustics. Every 30 minutes, one of the park officials would close the doors, walk to the center of the first floor, and sing for a few minutes. The echoes last so long that it is possible to for someone to sing a 3-note chord with themselves. We saw (heard) the park official do this several times. Very cool! Most tourists left before they closed the doors, seemingly unaware that they’d see this if they stuck around for just another minute or two.

By the way, if you go to Siena, go to a little shop called “Pizzicheria De Miccoli” right in the center between the Campo and the Duomo.  A man named Antonio will make you amazing sandwiches to eat there or take away.  We ate while standing in a corner of this small shop and watched people come in and buy salami, cheeses, wine, cookies and cakes (Antonio gives samples freely so you know what you’re getting before you get it).  My sandwich (roast pork and pesto) was the best sandwich in the world.  And it was huge.  I dropped a little on the floor (klutzy), and Antonio made me a platter with cheese, salami, a cheese brioche and an artichoke to replace what I had dropped (it was like a second meal).  One of the most fun lunches I’ve ever had.

- Meredith

Here is the view from our window in our villa/apartment in Tuscany:

- Meredith

Our strategy for Tuscany and Umbria was to base ourselves in two separate villa apartments over two weeks (one east and sort of south and one west and sort of north). The way most of the villas and farmhouses work here is that you rent a place for a week starting and ending on a Saturday. So, the first apartment we stayed in was from May 3 – 10, and the one we’re in now is from May 10 – 17. Here are the two locations on an interactive map:

View Larger Map

Villa #1 was in Umbria, just over the Tuscan border. That allowed us to see some of Umbria, as well as visit some of the hill towns in Southern Tuscany. Here are some photos of it:

Our Villa in Umbria

Our Villa in Umbria

Using this villa as a base, we visited the towns of Assisi, Spello, and Citta della Pieve in Umbria, and Cortona, Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano in Tuscany. Although there are so many hill towns to visit here, each town has a different combination of character, sights, and charm. Of the towns we visited during our first week, Cortona, Montepulciano and Spello were our favorites (see pictures below). One of the nice things about this area is just picking a destination for the day, getting a map at the Tourist Info center, and then just wandering around. We stop for food, wine and gelato at various points in the day, step into churches and enjoy the art and architecture (I try to guess the century based on the style and then read any signs posted in the church to see if I’m right), and wander around tiny alleys until we get to a point in town that has a fabulous view of the surrounding area (usually up high or out on the city walls). It’s a pretty chill way to be a tourist. It’s working for me, especially after the craziness of Rome and Florence.

Typical Street in Spello

Typical Street in Cortona

View of Cortona from Santa Margherita Church on top of the hill

View of the countryside from Montepulciano

Villa #2 (where we are now until Saturday) is about 4 kilometers from San Gimignano in Tuscany. We’ll provide a report at the end of the week about the towns we visit from here (obviously San Gimignano, Siena and Chianti country are on the list, but we’ll get to some more out of the way places too).

- Meredith