Montepulciano, the First Day

By CadyLuck Leedy on May 19, 2013

Montepulciano is a hill town in Tuscany in three layers.  There are three hills to walk up.  The first hill is for the tourists, the second hill and plateau is filled with fine craftsmen making pottery, jewelry, mosaics, leather products and woodcarving items all by hand as their ancestors have done for hundreds of years. Dotted between these shops are the clothing shops, great restaurants, wine shops and small grocery stores.  The buildings are huge and people live above the shops. At the end of the second hill is Santa Maria dei Servi Church, one of thirteen Catholic churches in Montepulciano. This is where Politian Palazzo is, on the former grounds of the monastery/church. The crown hill is for the Cathedral, the Fort Museum, the Town Hall, the Duomo Hotel and the Torture Museum. Il Sasso, the Italian Language school, is located between the first and second hill.  I am so glad I don’t have to walk all the way to the bottom of the hill everyday! My first introduction to the school was an evening wine social on the Sunday before school started.  There were forty to fifty students who gathered to have a drink and hors d’oeuvres.  Our hostess was an energetic woman who spoke fast and furious Italian.  Well it sounded like that to me.  The students drifted out to the terrace and I got up the nerve to ask a fellow student if she spoke English.  I think I was in such shock with everyone speaking Italian I must have looked like a deer in the headlights.  What had I gotten myself into? I loved it.  I came home so excited to start school the next day!