Montepulciano, Pienza, and Siena

The morning came and we had a good breakfast at the Hotel Sangallo, with lots of coffee. I, for one, was in dire need of it, as the travel and constant go-go-go had worn me down a good bit. Between the coffee and the rest of the day, it was a good day to recuperate. We left the Hotel Sangallo and Dalton and Maggie said their good-byes to “Hotel Dog”. The day was beautiful, and we wandered through Montepulciano, taking in their town piazza, the duomo, and the beautiful views that seemed to crop up around every corner. We stopped in and went to the wine cellars at Cantine Cantucci, and then made our way down the main street to the other end of the town. Mich and my mom were in search of the market as today was market day, but we never found it. We did, however, find several other neat little finds, including another wine cellar walk which includes some Etruscan tombs, and degustazione de vini (wine tasting). Having tasted, I bought some wine, while my mom got some pecarino cheese. The website, if you are interested is http://www.pulcino.com/, and they do ship (although unfortunately, you cannot ship alcohol to Alabama). Excellent stuff.

Having spent several hours in Montepulciano, we got back in the cars and wound our way to Pienza, where we stopped and had a lunch of wine, cheese, bread and olives, followed by more gelati. After lunch, we poked around the town a bit, finding the local duomo and, of course, more beautiful views, before getting back in the cars to head towards Siena.

We arrived in Siena around four or so, and after we returned the cars, we went to our hotel, the Hotel Bernini. The hotel has a veranda with some great views, so we went up there and had a bottle of wine and then went to the main piazza, the Piazza del Campo. We ended up sitting there for quite a while, just people watching, resting, and letting the time go by. Dalton and Maggie raced around the piazza, acting as children will, and it was good to sit and just let the world go by for a bit.

After that, we went to the absolutely fabulous restaurant Guidoricci's, right off the Piazza. The food was nothing short of excellent, and our host was wonderful as well. The restaurant had been previously listed in some of the guidebooks as a great place to eat, and had been taken out for some reason… their loss. We had a great meal, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Fortunately, Dalton’s fever had gone by this time, although he still was struggling with a bit of a cold, so we doped him up yet again, and moved on to bed.