Scattered throughout the Tuscany region are
numerous ancient hill-top towns. Today’s trip took in three of
these: Montalcino, Pienza and Montelpuciano. All are located in the Val d’Orcia which is
renowned for it’s “typical” Tuscan scenery – rolling wheat fields, curved
cyprus-lined lanes, poppies and, of course, vineyards.
This is the route we took. Off the
map and to the North is Florence, further south is Rome.
The Tuscan region is famous for its wine – think Chianti – and most of the small towns sell locally produced vino, along with olive oil, prosciutto, parma, pecorino cheese and cinghiale (wild boar)!
The towns are full of character and great to wander around. This is Montalcino, famous for its peppery red Brunello di Montalcino wine.
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| Montalcino |
Pienza...
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| Now these are what I'd call egg plants. The statues in the middle were brilliant - basically just a front and a back and no middle. |
As beautiful as these towns are, after a while they do tend to look the same, so much so that I didn't even take pictures at Montepulciano, that's not because it wasn't nice but was just because it was the third one we visited.
Castiglione del Largo is not the gem that
Lake Bolsena was – still it was nice to be able to cool down and the kids love
swimming no matter where or how slimy!
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