January 29, 2012

Betty has been on the road for ages...was in Seattle for two weeks, came home for 8 hours and took off for China for another week.  Just got an email from her this morning and she said her flight out of Qingdao was delayed several hours due to heavy pollution.  Jeez. 

OK...today is the day I put this Italy thing to bed. 

After Florence, we had one more night, and the plan was to hit a couple of Tuscan hilltop towns to close out the trip.  The decision was an AM (1.5hr) drive to spend the day in Siena, then another 1hr or so in the afternoon to spend the night in Montepulciano.

Siena is one of the largest hill towns in Tuscany.  They were built on top of hills with large walls as protection from the other city states.  History told us that the walls were not successful and they were conquered and controlled by Florence in the 14th century and that a building ban was imposed on them to ensure they did not gain enough power to later threaten the dominance of Florence.  What that left was a town whose historic core was frozen in architectural time. 

The town was a series of small streets...kinda like Venice only w/o canals and more hills.  There is an attractive central Duomo, similar in style to the one in Florence, but using black and white marble. 

Siena has two very cool traditions...first is the contrade.  Full history at that link, but briefly, Siena was divided into 17 neighborhoods that were used to supply the military in the middle ages.  Each contrade had an animal symbol representing it and you can see images of these animals on buildings as you cruise through town. 

The contrade bleeds into the second tradition that I loved about Siena.  In the heart of the city is the Piazza del Campo.  Very large and interesting...we grabbed a sandwich from this neat little shop (guess what was on the menu)

 

And then enjoyed a picnic in the Piazza.  Yet another lovely sunny day.

And we finally got a slice of the pizza with the french fries on top.

 

The Piazza is ringed by a road that you can kinda see in this photo

Every summer, they have the Palio horse race..  Each Contrade nominates a jockey and straws are drawn to see which neighborhood gets which horse.  The race dates back to 1283...the jockeys ride bear back, everyone gambles like mad and the whole scene looks just insane.  The winning Contrade brings home the Palio.  So awesomely barbaric.

We hit the road after lunch so we could arrive in Montepulciano before sunset, and the ride between the two was everything I had expected to see in Tuscany and more.  Even in the winter, you could see row after row of farmlands dominated by hilltop farmhouses or small towns.  Rolling hills back lit by a waning sun...every building painted in the same soft pastel palette.  I fell in love with it just as Diane Lane did in Under the Tuscan Sun. 

We rolled into Montepulciano late afternoon...it is the highest hilltop town in Tuscany and has a commanding 360 degree view.  Our hotel (Mueble Il Riccio) was everyones trip favorite....we were all lamenting that we only had one night to spend here.  Great common room where you can sit and enjoy a glass of the local vino

And their rooftop deck offered the view to die for.

The hotel was owned by a family and the owner said he was the 7th generation in it.  I offered to be adopted but he has a 14 year-old son that he is grooming to be the 8th generation.  Fabulous breakfast the next morning of meats and cheeses along with some freshly baked pastries made by the wife.  She even personalized our lattes.

The town was super mellow and a joy to stroll around.  Walking from amazing views to little handcraft shops was a great way to wind down our vacation.   That night, we had another superb meal at this place where the old lady chef (with boobs hanging down to the waist) would come out after each course to make sure we were happy.  We were.

Final day was the 2.5 hour drive to the airport for the long flight home.  I made the case at our last dinner that Italy is the best country in the world.  It has it all...unique towns, tremendous history, must see architecture, millenniums worth of amazing art, world class shopping, perfect climate and topography, the people were delightful, and they definitely get the Gold Medal for food.  Here is a short list of names that we directly came across on our trip:  Bernini, Casanova, Marco Polo, Ceaser, Donatello, Dante, Medici, Hadrian, Vivaldi, Galileo, Machiavelli, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, all the Popes (good and bad), Raphael, and Michelangelo.  I will admit personal bias due to heritage, but I have traveled a decent amount in my life and say without a doubt in my mind that it's the best place on Earth.  I expect to travel more and hope to be proved wrong, but cannot imagine another place that has so much to offer.