Mable and Melek led us up the short steep path, through an olive grove, into the little hill top settlement of Lucignano in the early evening. Lucignano is a great example of a defensive medieval hill top town, constructed as three circular roads, one inside the other and each higher up the hill than the next. All three streets are solidly lined with tall terraced houses with most of their windows facing inwards.
We walked completely round the top two roads, which did not take long, ending up in the small main square on the very peak of the hill and containing a pretty little church faced with alternating white and dark marble, presumably aping their much wealthier neighbours in Siena and elsewhere.
Our quest was to find somewhere to eat and being a Monday not much was open. We identified a little restaurant but unfortunately it had a clear “no dogs” sign on the door. There were two tables outside and so we hoped that we may be allowed to eat with Mable and Melek there. I went into the restaurant and asked the proprietor, in my best Italian, if we might eat outside because we had dogs and much to my confusion she said we were welcome to bring the dogs in because it was far too cold to eat outside!
Team Basil then proceeding to eat two delicious, thin, crisp pizzas, followed by a shared homemade Tiramisu all washed down, in my case, with a coffee and a compulsory grappa. Grappa is a spirit distilled from the skins of grapes left over after the wine making process. It can range from rocket fuel to a very pleasant digestif and tonight’s was a good one.
This morning was a shock to the system. Gone were the 25ºC blue skies and in its place was a windy 9ºC. Back on with the long trousers. We travelled a mere 30 minutes to the town of Montepulciano and found Basil a picturesque place to rest overlooking the the Tuscan countryside from a large aire (43.095812, 11.787846 €10 with services).
Montepulciano is one of the highest of the Tuscan hill towns at 665m (2,200 feet). It is built along a long narrow ridge with one main street and a few smaller ones running at right angles to the edge of the ridge and in the one place where the ridge is wide enough a few streets parallel to the main corso which is where the Grand Piazza, Duomo and other official buildings are located.
It is yet another stunningly beautiful medieval town inspired by the renaissance and although there are no singularly outstanding buildings it is a fascinating place to explore with dozens of palazzi, churches and piazzas, with every now and again and a view down a narrow alley and a vista across the Tuscan hills, far below.
Our intention tomorrow is to visit a small nearby town and then move onto a campsite next to Tuscany’s largest lake for a few days to catch up with laundry and other domestic housekeeping.
