Montefolonico, Italy
Here is a Stone Sanctuary in Montefolonico, Italy. Are they trying to keep the stone mushrooms in or out? Inquiring minds would like to know!
Look here to participate the One Word Photo Challenge presented by Jennifer Nicole Wells!
Montisi, Italy Garden Center
Montisi, Italy Door
Today for my first entry of Thursday Doors, I am presenting the doors of a garden center in Montisi, Italy! This was a long, narrow, building with several doors, where flowers and trees were lined up for viewing and sale, in this very small village in Italy! It just goes to show you doors and flowers go together, and women are women, they want a garden or patch of flowers! If you are looking for an authentic Italian, Tuscan, Hilltop Village you have come to the right place! Montisi, population 500, even offers a unique, guided map for a tour of their village! For a look at more of my favorite Italian Doors in Montisi, look Here! Enjoy!
I have over 37,000 photos in my Collections and I swear half of them are DOORS! So you will see me here a lot!
This is just one of many photos in the Thursday Door Collection featured by Norm2.0! Won’t you join in or take a peak at all the doors?
My favorite road in the world! The road to La Foce, home of Iris Orego and her beautiful house and gardens outside Montepulciano, Italy ! Enjoy!
The Road to La Foce, Italy
Today head south through the beautiful Tuscan hillside to the village of San Casiano dei Bagni. The village was discovered by the Etruscans and known for the abundant (42) thermal springs which were later developed by the Romans. There are still 5 star spas to be found here!
The Drive to San Casciano dei Bagni
San Casciano dei Bagni, a hill town overlooking the Val di Paglia, springs from a thick woods of oaks, chestnuts and ancient pines. The medieval village reveals a labyrinth of narrow roads winding around a church. Today the main entrance from the south, the “Porta,” leads to the Piazza Matteotti, where there are spectacular views of the valley below. There is also Ristorante Daniela, located right on the piazza. I was drawn to the charming cave-like ambience. Greeted by Daniela herself, we were delighted with the specialties of the house. Our meal of Tuscan ham, cheeses, homemade soup and pasta, was washed down with good local wine. Enjoy a day in San Casiano dei Bagni!
Ristorante Daniela is located at 6 Piazza Matteotti, San Casciano dei Bagni, Italy.
Our day trips from Montepulciano continue. Today we explore the village of Montefollonico, a small medieval hamlet surrounded by thirteenth century walls of fired bricks. In ancient times the village was called Monte a Fullonico. The Romans called “fullones” people that worked the cloths, so Montefullonico was the mountain of the cloth workers. The first noted people that lived here settled near the Benedictine Monks Abbey in the 8th Century. The monks raised sheep and dyed the wool. These small Tuscan villages give you a variety of views of the Italian countryside and life here. Enjoy!
The Sheep!
Next is one of my favorite spots in Tuscany! I am showing additional pictures I took of La Foce, the beautiful country estate of the American, Iris Origo, and her family. Her daughter continues to run the estate, garden, restaurant and B&B. There are tours offered of the estate and multi-layered gardens. This would be another excellent choice for a home base while touring Tuscany by car. For more about the story of La Foce I have detailed information in the post: https://cadyluckleedy.com/2013/04/11/war-in-val-d-orcia/. It is a must read about this heroic woman and her life in Italy!
For more information about La Foce see: http://www.lafoce.com
Montisi
The hill town, Montisi, population 500, is an ancient Etruscan necropolis. As small as it may seem, the village is divided into four communities, each represented with their own flag. The Castello is the area of the medieval castle. The Piazza, is the flat area located near the castle. San Martino is in the northeastern part of the village and the Torre, takes the name of the Tower of the Grange of Santa Maria della Scalla (a farming estate owned by a monastery), which was destroyed by retreating German troops in 1944.
The Civic Tower and the Colonna, in Two Different Communities
Civic Tower and the Colonna
Walking up the small hill to the restored tower, currently, the Grange is a private home built around two main courtyards, with a small theatre used for shows and concerts. It was here that a clay hand-made map was posted on the wall to point the way around the narrow streets in a circular fashion to locate all the sites on the hill. It reminded me of a scavenger hunt map! See the chunks of terra cotta on the wall? Following the terra cotta signs, the lane reminded me of the Stations of the Cross along a beautiful garden walk!
Pieve of the Santissima Annunziata
The Pieve of the Santissima Annunziata
The Map
Markers on the Montisi Walk
Markers on the Montisi Walk
Markers on the Montisi Walk
Mother Mary Pray for Us
The Markers on the Walk in Montisi
Streets of Montisi
Main Walk Montisi
Walking Montisi
The Only Cat in Town!
Returning to the lower ground of the village there is now a frescoed wall playground, the ruins of castle walls, and beautiful flowers, doors and windows. We spent a lovely afternoon in Montisi!
On Our Way to Pienza
From Monticchiello we are off to Pienza, a small town that we can see on the hill in the distance. Pienza, is on a hill, but after arriving in the town, walking here is on flat ground. Unlike Montepulciano, which is all up hill, Pienza is flat. There is a parking lot outside of town, but since it is full, we drive closer to the school and find a spot there. Walking to the Town Gate, Porta Prato, I stop and admire a beautiful lawn and garden. Before I know it an older gentleman came from the porch of the house and down to his gate to talk to me. He speaks Italian and when he realizes I am an American, he thanks my husband and me for saving Italy in WWII! Then he opens the garden gate and offers me a tour of his lovely flower garden. It was beautiful and just one of the many flower gardens in this small village. Directly in front of Porta Prato is a public garden and the fragrance here is unbelievable! The lawn is surrounded in a small bush hedge covered in white blossoms that are so fragrant! I tried asking everyone and no one knew what that bush was and even my elderly gentleman friend was gone when I went back by his house to ask him, as we made our way out of town. Darn! That’s what I will always remember about Pienza, the flowers and the fragrances.
Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-1464) was born in Corsignano, the small town on a hill overlooking the Orcia and Asso Valley. In 1458, Piccolomini became Pope Pius II and when he returned to his home town, he decided to transform the town with the first humanist concept of urban design, (Renaissance) with the aid of Bernardo di Matteo Gamberelli, known as Rossellino, ingenere di palazzo, of Pope Nicholas V in Rome. Rossellino was responsible for the overall layout of the town which consisted of a main street joining two town gates. On this basic structure he planned the major buildings around a town square, which served as an outdoor room, called the Piazza Pio II. The Piazza is surrounded by the Duomo, the Piccolomini Family Palace, City Hall with the Bell Tower, and the Bishop’s Palace. All were designed by Rossellino in five years time. In 1464 the work stopped because both Pope Pius II and Rossellino, the architect, were dead. What we see today was completed a century later. The town was renamed, Pienza after the Pope. What remains now is a mixture of old stone, potted plants, grand views and a fragrance not to be forgotten.
Monticchiello
Under a Tuscan Sun Road
Monticchiello is a very small village on the way to Pienza. I love the zig-zag road with the tall skinny cypress trees, just like in the movie, Under a Tuscan Sun! Asking about these trees I found that the Cupressus Sempervirens are known in Italy as the Italian, Tuscan, or Graveyard Tree. The tree is known as a symbol for mourning and associated with death because it fails to regenerate when cut back too severely. It’s branches were also used to fumigate during cremation and were also suitable to making wreaths. They are often planted around cemeteries because their roots go straight down rather than spreading out, so little damage is done to the graves sites. Arriving in the village I am surprised to find a new sub-division of homes being built on the outskirts of town. It looks out of place, but I can see why one would want to live here. The beauty of the village is the landscape; soft, rolling hills, dotted with the cypress trees, under a bright lapis lazuli sky and the warmth of the sun. It is exactly what you imagine an Italian landscape to be. You can relax and slow down. No one is in a hurry here. The older village consists of pale ochre colored stone houses with pastel colored doors, surrounded by manicured gardens. The Church of Santi Leonardo and Chrisoforo dates back to the last half of the thirteenth century, with a structure of a single nave and three apses. It has a Gothic facade adorned with an oval portal with a rosette. Going up the hill there is the ruins of the Cassero Tower, from days long past. This is the place to be to get away from it all.
Our Apartment, San’t Antonio
We are back in Montepulciano, making it our base camp for exploring the surrounding hill towns of Tuscany. After renting a car in Florence and driving to San Gimignano, now here we are on Saturday evening getting settled in at Sant’ Antonio, the restored apartments on the grounds of an old monastery, in the hills around the village of Montepulciano. Late afternoon is spent meeting other guests from all over the world, who will also be spending a week here in Tuscany exploring. After our brief introduction to each other, the local maps were passed out, and we all decided to head out to the grocery store in Montepulciano before the store closes at 6pm. The store is not open on Sundays, so we must get in and get out if we want anything to eat or cook while we are at Sant’ Antonio. It was a mad dash to the grocery store! Parking is limited, and the store very busy, so we parked in the church parking lot and walked down to the store. A hint in the grocery store; we had to put one euro in the grocery cart to use it in the store and when we brought it back in we got the euro back. Also, do not touch the fruit or vegetables without putting on the plastic gloves that are provided! We were warned by our hosts about this! Although, when I shopped in the smaller shops up the hill in Montepulcinao, this did not seem to be the case. In the smaller shops the attendant was quick to help me with my selections.
We explored the hill towns during the day, all the guests going in different directions in their cars. It was fun to sit on the veranda in the evenings and over a glass of wine and nibbles find out where everyone went during the day and what they liked about the places they went to. Our neighbors to the left of us were German and Spanish. Our neighbors to the right Canadian, and in the family apartment a group, who came here every year from Hawaii. There were other guests in apartments here as well, so we were a large group of 25 or so. On one evening, during the week, we all came together to share an evening meal, prepared and served by our hosts, in the large meeting room on the premises. There was also a pool here in case you didn’t want to do a thing but relax. The other option is staying in the village of Montepulciano itself. Sant’ Antonio now offers apartments in town as well.
Another time I stayed in the Politian Apartments, when I came to Montepulciano to study Italian at the Il Sasso Language School. At that time, I didn’t have a car. The Politian Apartment was in the village. It was a huge two bedroom apartment with all the amenities, (washer, dryer, microwave, big stove and oven) and tastefully decorated with antiques. There was a beautiful walled garden that I enjoyed sitting in to do my homework. The owners were on the premises and more than helpful. There were other guests staying in other apartments, but I was up early and off to school so didn’t get to know them. We all seemed to have different agendas as they only stayed a few days and then were gone and replaced by new guests. The shops and restaurants are plentiful and the locals very friendly. Parking is LIMITED and outside of the village. The streets are pedestrian-only, but a tiny, tiny bus goes through town from the bottom of the hill to the tippy top. It only stops at the bottom of the village, (the entrance), a designated place in the middle, and the very top of the village. If you stay in the village be prepared to haul your luggage up, up, up the hill at some point! Pack light! For more highlights of Montipulciano see past blog posts about the Politian Apartments and the Il Sasso Language School. These are some reflections if you want to make Montepulciano your home base for visiting Tuscany.
Next we are off to the hill towns!
For More information about Sant’ Antonio Apartments see: http://www.santantonio.it
For more information about Politian Apartments see: http://www.politian.com
Palazzo Vecchio
Rooftop Sculpture in Florenc
The Window of the World
Thinking about our visit to Florence I can’t get over all the beautiful art we have seen in the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace, the Duomo Museum and the Accademia. I was especially excited over the artwork of Artemisia Gentileschi, (1593-1653) that SB pointed out to me in the Uffizi Gallery ( Judith Beheading Holofernes) and the Pitti Palace (The Conversion of Magdalena, Judith and Her Maidservant and David and Bathsheba). I first read about Artemisia Gentileschi in a book called, The Passion of Artemisia: a Novel, by Susan Vreeland. Delving into the themes of art, history and the lives of women, this is is a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Gentileschi painted many pictures of strong and suffering women from myth and the Bible. Her works include victims, suicides, warriors and especially, the Judith story. When you read the book and then see her paintings, her real life and her paintings intertwine and give you perspective of the times and how this woman lived and painted, and why she did so. Even her style of painting called chiaroscuro, which represents a strong contrast between light and dark, gives us a glimpse of her life.
One of Gentileschi’s works, David and Bathsheba, completed in 1635, had been found after centuries of deterioration, in a storage deposit area of the Pitti Palace, revealing decay, color flaking, due to improper storage conditions, and humidity damage. The re-evaluation of the Gentileschi’s courageous life and works were brought into focus with the attention of the Florence Committee of National Museum of Women in the Arts, who decided to fund the restoration of David and Bathsheba. Today, Gentileschi is regarded as the most progressive and expressionist painters of her generation.
Thinking of that book, brought to mind another book, called The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant. This historical novel of Florence is a story of love, art, religion and power as told by Allessandra Cecchi when her father brings a young painter to paint the chapel walls of the family’s pallazzo. This story is told while Florence is caught in a state of turmoil imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control and the Medici State, with it’s love of luxury, learning and art. On our walking tours of Florence we learned a great deal about the Medici family and Savonarola. Recalling that book, brought to mind The Lord’s Supper, painted on the wall of the Santa Maria della Grazie Church in Milan, which I have been lucky enough to see.
I was curious to learn how all this beautiful artwork was saved during WWII. Now, I am currently reading, Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis, by Robert Edsel. In particular I am interested in, General Karl Wolff, a German officer, who risked his life to save the collections of the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace. Robert Edsel also wrote, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, now made into a motion picture of the name, The Monuments Men.
San Gimignano, twenty-five miles south of Florence, will be our first stop on our way to Montepulciano, where we will be making our home base for our Tuscany visit.
The parking lot outside the main gate, Porta San Giovanni, was very busy as we approached. The village itself is pedestrian only. Getting in the car parking queue we had to wait for a car to come out before we could go in and take the spot. One in, one out. San Gimignano gives you a glimpse of a real Italian countryside experience, but with just enough shops and restaurants added to make it interesting for tourists. The towers are restored replicas of the original, but they look authentic.
San Gimignano is a small, walled, medieval hill town with fourteen towers of various heights, replicated of the original seventy-two. Before the walls were developed around the town, these towers were a refuge, when ruffians and rival city states were sacking the town. If under attack, the tower owners would set fire to the external wooden staircase, leaving the sole entrance to the house and it’s strongholds, unreachable. Today you can see all these tiny slit entrances way up on the second story of the towers, minus stairs to get to them. Also, notice that the buildings are made of different colored stones and brick. Heavy stones were used for the bottom floors and lighter cheaper bricks for the upper floors. In the year 1300, about 13,000 people lived within the walls. In 1348, a six-month plague left the town with 4,000 survivors. Crushed and demoralized, the town came under Florence’s rule and was forced to tear down it’s towers, and the trade route was re-directed away from San Gimignano. The town never recovered and poverty drove the well-preserved city to be as it is today.
Our walk takes us through the Porta San Giovanni up to the Piazza del Duomo, and the church itself, which features Sienese Gothic art_ Old Testament to the left___New Testament to the right. Further up the hill is the is Sant’Agostino Church, built by the Augustinians, who arrived in 1260. Here there are English speaking friars, who are happy to tell you about the church and their way of life. We stop and have lunch at the Locanda di Sant’Agostino, right next door to the church on a beautiful small piazza. The restaurant serves typical Tuscan home cooked meals, which would be paninos, pizza, pasta and insalatas, served with a local fruity white wine. Walking back down the hill, along the ramparts, there are superb views of the Tuscan countryside. Soon we are inside the Rocca, originally another walled defense area, now a small walled garden of olive trees, where a group of men are singing and playing instruments. I loved our time in San Gimignano, but it is time to move on to Montepulciano. For more interesting history and scenes of Sam Gimignano, view the movie, Tea With Mussolini, a 1999 drama of the plight of American and English expatriate women during WWII. Most of the scenes are of Florence and San Gimignano, where the movie was filmed. In particular it reveals the artworks inside the Duomo of San Gimignano and how the women came to be there and tried to save the art. For more readings about the war and art see my blog postings on Milan, https://cadyluckleedy.com/2014/02/14/one-day-in-milan/ and the War in Val D’ Orcia, https://cadyluckleedy.com/2013/04/11/war-in-val-d-orcia near Montepulciano. See you next in Montepulciano!
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