Tuscany Adventures--Pienza, Montalcino, and Montepulciano

Our road trips for today weren't long in distance--the longest being about 40 kilometers (or 20 miles), but given the two-lane roads and slow drivers, it does take a bit to get to your destination. However, we were confident we could squeeze in the highlights of Montepulciano and Montalcino, with a quick stop at Pienza along the way. 

Montepulciano is a small hill town in Tuscany, known for its medieval architecture and its nobile wine, which per Google is a medium-bodied wine with notes of cherry, plum, dark berries, and a subtle spice. It is delicious, though my palate isn't sophisticated enough to note anything other than "I like this." As someone who doesn't enjoy more robust wines, I found it very easy to drink alone or with food.

 

It's an ancient city, with inhabitants recorded in the 3rd and 4th centuries, even before the Etruscans (and then followed by the Romans). While the two main streets are flat, it's otherwise a pretty steep city, so we stuck to the main road and enjoyed a few wine tastings and the narrow, winding, cobblestoned streets. It was pretty empty, since this is low season, but the shops full of cured meat, red wine soap, and other tourist wares were still open. We also got hustled into a winery by a very pushy (but delightful) Italian lady in a fur hat who had us try every wine in available (eight!) and pared with them with a variety of aged pecorino cheeses and salamis. The wild boar salami was great, but the real revelation was the pear pecorino, which somehow managed to capture the juicy brightness of a pair with the savory element of the pecorino. I ate both mine and Taylor's serving of truffle pecorino. 

Next up was Pienza, so tiny you can walk end-to-end in five minutes (if you weren't being stopped by admirers of Elowen, declaring over the bambini bella). Pienza is unique because it was built to embody the "ideal Renaissance" city, and the design was spearheaded by Pope Pius II (Enea Piccolomini, and you see his family name all over Siena too). It was also Pius II's summer residence, with a lovely palace and a Renaissance hanging garden you can still see today, looking out over the vista of fields. While we only saw the entryway of his residence, seeing the gardens is now on my bucket list should we come back. 

After Pienza it was getting late in the day, but we still decided to do a quick tour of Montalcino and grab some lunch in hopes that would get Elowen through until her nap. Montalcino is another hill town known for its wine--brunello is a red wine as well, with fresh fruit flavors that give way to dried figs, candied cherries, hazelnuts, and leather (again, from Google). Brunello is the more prestigious wine, but like the little plebian I am, I did prefer overall the Montepulciano's sweetness. 

Montalcino is another medieval town, very similar to Montepulciano but featuring a 14th century fortress at the top of the town and amazing views over the Val d'Orcia, the landscape that's considered the jewel of Tuscany. We did a winetasting while we waited to get into the restaurant--La Taverna di Baietto--because they were filming a show segment in there! (Show unknown.) I had a Caprese salad and a pinsa, which is a pizza on a Roman hand-kneaded dough similar to focaccia. It was topped with spicy tomato sauce, salty mozzarella, and bacon (which is really prosciutto)--and it was the BEST pizza I've ever had. Elowen had ribollita, a traditional Tuscan bean soup, and Taylor had stewed cinghiale (wild boar). So, so good. 

Then it was back to Siena, with us both singing all the way and meowing "Flight of the Bumblebee" at intervals to keep Elowen awake (it worked). The cypress trees out in the green fields, glowing even in winter, were as gorgeous as they look in the pictures. 

After letting Elowen nap, it was time to eat yet again! We ate at a little restaurant called Casato. It was fancier than anywhere we'd been so far, which made me nervous with a toddler, but Elowen did amazing--especially once she got her duck ragout with chestnut flour pici. I had a soft egg over potato puree covered in truffle, followed by pillowy gnocchi covered in pungent pecorino (with truffle, can't have too much of that). Taylor had a squid ink pasta and a reimaging of eggplant parmesan, which was thinly sliced aubergines in burrata with a slightly sweet tomato sauce. 

After wandering around a bit more to see the lights strung over the old city streets and try to spot some contrade emblems, it was into the taxi to the hotel. By the way, the taxi drivers here are gems and they love Elowen. One of her current hobbies is singing at the top of her lungs, whether being pushed in her stroller down the bumpy streets or riding in the car. One of the taxi drivers conducted her as she sang, while another declared "she is wonderful."  They all patted her head and gave her high fives and seemed genuinely delighted with the piccola. 

The fortress at Montalcino