Tuscany

“Tuscany,” Goethe observed, “looks like Italy should.”

When we began talking about traveling to Italy, Tuscany was the area I most wanted to visit. I wanted to rent a Tuscan Farmhouse where we would feel at home, a nice little car and spend a week enjoying the twisting roads of the countryside while visiting as many Tuscan villages as time would allow. In preparation, I had researched the villages and all the photography spots I hoped to see. 

The region of Tuscany embodies much of what I think of as classic Italy: Historic walled towns with narrow winding streets, rolling countrysides filled with vineyards, olive groves, slender cypress trees and dirt roads leading to villas with terracotta tiled roofs.

We started our stay by picking up an Audi A3 in Florences. We had reserved a VW Golf but we arrived 4 hours early and were given an upgrade. I was very pleased. We tucked our luggage comfortably into the hatchback and off we went. After weaving our way out of Florence, we started towards San Gimignano and Yim looked at the clock and said, “We’re early. Let’s go see the leaning tower of Pisa,” and off we went.

We were in Tuscany and we had a little sports car. Let’s go…

One hour later, we rolled in to Pisa, found a free public parking lot, walked a few blocks to the walled Piazza dei Miracoli and there it was. As simple as that. No fee to enter and the tower was much more impressive that I had expected. The area was sparkling clean, and the marble was absolutely beautiful.

Pisa is best known for its iconic Leaning Tower. Already tilting when it was completed in 1372, the 56 metre tall white marble cylinder is the bell tower of the Romanesque, striped-marble cathedral next to it.

The Piazza is dominated by four great religious buildings: The Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistery, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Camposanto Monumentale.  The weather was excellent and we enjoyed wandering around the entire Piazza.

After a 1 hour visit and a Caprese baguette, we jumped back in the Audi and headed for San Gimignano.

Our Tuscan Farmhouse

Our Tuscan Farmhouse, Podere San Luigi, was located in Pancole, which is a very small village (population 105) in the municipality of San Gimignano. When making our reservations, the owner had told me the farmhouse was on a dirt road and as we approached through the village, sure enough, we turned down a cypress lined road, surrounded on both sides by vineyards and olive trees.

We were greeted at the front gate by the owners, who have lived in the Farmhouse for over 20 years, given a tour of the property and our accommodations and handed a set of keys.

The ancient farmhouse was everything I hoped for – weathered stone with flowering bougainvillea and well tended gardens, bursting with roses and iris. The property sat on the top of a ridge above a series of valleys below on both sides and the late afternoon sun made the sitting area in the front yard a pleasant place to enjoy our first day.

The property is ideally located, with San Gimignano and Certaldo each a ten minute drive and Poggibonsi, a 20 minute drive, where there was a wonderful PAM Supermarket, which had everything a traveler could ask for including a bakery and an exceptional food counter, which made farro, quinoa, rice and eggplant side dishes, most stuffed with local olives, vegetarian lasagna and had an excellent produce section. We also found the best creamy balsamic we have ever tried. Most of our days ended here with us buying fresh foods for dinner.

Little did we know when we booked the farmhouse but the Via Francigena, an ancient walking trail that takes pilgrims on an epic journey from Canterbury in England across the channel to France and through Switzerland, before crossing Italy on the way to Rome, ran directly in front of the house. Most every day, there were scatterings of hikers walking along the side of the road.

San Gimignano

San Gimignano was the nearest town and our first stop. San G is a walled village well known for its medieval architecture and towers that rise above all other buildings, creating an impressive silhouette from the surrounding valley. 

Some history; At the height of its glory, San Gimignano’s patrician families had built 72 tower houses as symbols of their wealth and power. Each family had its own private army that would periodically battle things out from the protection of its respective family towers. I’m been trying to imagine this since I learned of it – did these small armies charge neighbouring towers and to what end? They were virtually impenetrable. I found this fact so ridiculous…

Although only 14 have survived, San Gimignano still retains a rough and tumble appearance.

Torre Grossa, the tallest tower in the town, at an impressive 54 metres, sits in the centre of the city. The construction of the Torre Grossa started on August 21, 1300, four months after Dante Alighieri visited the city. Municipal authorities wanted to enrich San Gimignano with a tower that would become the city’s symbol, fulfilling a military function, as a watchtower, and a civil function as a bell tower.

We climbed the 218 steps to the top and were rewarded with sweeping views of the countryside below.

Some of those towers now function as museums. Should you be so inclined, the Salvucci Tower, shown in the forefront of my photo below, has been turned into a vertically spread apartment complex divided into 11 floors, for a mere $888.00 CDN per night. Such a deal. These two sister towers, which have stood side by side for more than 700 years, were built by the Salvucci family simply to show off. At the time they were built, no one was allowed a vanity tower higher than the old City Hall’s 170 feet. So the Salvuccis built two 130-foot towers — totalling 260 feet of stony ego trip.

Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990, San Gimignano delivers what all the descriptions claim. It’s a medieval town filled with a variety of shops showcasing traditional crafts, such as pottery and handmade textiles. There are many food shops filled with local specialties such as saffron, olive oil, cheese and, of course, wine, where samples of some of the region’s finest are available for tasting. Being inside 700 year old storefronts adds some serious panache.

San Gimignano

Although San Gimignano is gorgeous, it is also quite crowded, so heading away from the centre square and wandering the narrow streets allowed us the chance to step back in time while just enjoying where we were. The walls are centuries old and the walkways have such interesting detail. On one path down, as we walked I noticed that the stones were set in such a way that every three or four feet, they were staggered upwards, so there was an edge to help with your footing and allow the water to be dispersed towards the centre of the path, rather than building momentum on it’s downwards journey. Those little things that you don’t get to see if you are in a crowd, the details of the workmanship.

For lunch, we stopped at Dulcisinfundo. We had chosen this restaurant the night before and were standing at the front door looking at the menu when the owners came to open up, their arms filled with bags of groceries, ready to start cooking for the day. They had several vegetarian dishes and we enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. Their traditional recipes used seasonal products sourced from local farms, including their own, where they produce an award winning San Gimignano Saffron.  Their head waiter was a gregarious and knowledgeable addition and thoroughly entertained us with stories of the 700 year old building we were in while explaining the house specialities to us.

At the end of our meal, we walked outside and were greeted with a sweeping panoramic view of the Tuscan countryside.

Monteriggioni

Monteriggioni, built between 1214 – 1219, was our next stop. A bit of historical background – the medieval walled town, which was never intended to be a village and which is now surrounded by olive groves and vineyards, was built on a hill by the Sienese in the thirteenth century in order to protect their front line from their historical rivals, the Florentines, who were seeking to expand their territories. It is high up on a hill and would have been particularly imposing to anyone attempting to scale the structure.

It was a 45 minute drive from our farmhouse, which made me think about distances. I mentioned to Yim when we went to buy our vegetable plants in Bradford after we got home that Monterigionni was the same distance from us in Pancole as the nursery was. For some reason, it crossed through my mind that in ancient times, Florence marauding over Monterigionni must have been like Toronto attacking Collingwood.

As you turn off the main road, we drove right up to the top of the hill to the town gate. To the right of the Porta di San Giovanni was a small parking lot. It was very easy to access.

Since I do not own a drone, I did purchase a photo to show exactly what the village looks like from above. This image of the small walled city intrigued me. I wanted to feel what being inside that small space surrounded by huge walls was like – what it would have felt like to actually live there.

Monteriggioni

Considered one of the best-preserved medieval towns in Italy, Monteriggioni boasts some pretty impressive exterior walls with fourteen towers, a few which are crumbling, on square bases with a tiny town inside. Beyond the square and the main street that connects the two opposing gates, there isn’t much to see. It consists largely of a tightly woven set of cobbled streets that wind between the historic buildings and green spaces, but it is worth stepping away from the main street to peek and stroll down the passageways. I could imagine that hundreds of years ago, this was probably a pretty good place to live. Residents must have felt pretty safe behind those walls.

Once you go through the front gate, you are in the main Piazza di Roma, which is dominated by a church with a simple, plain façade. 900 years ago, the piazza was a large vegetable garden that provided essential food items when the castle’s population came under siege. You can see this better if you pay the $4 Euros and walk up to the platforms that have been erected in a couple of spots along the walls. They are not long sections, but they do provide you the opportunity to visualize how the residents fed themselves. There are many olive trees inside the walls and several garden plots. Much of the herbs for the restaurants come directly from inside the walls but the town had a sad, worn sense about it. 

As a frame of reference, we probably spent an hour here but the image of Monterigionni, completely encircled by stone, compelled me to visit. As you can see, you can walk around the entire village outside but the hedges surrounding it are lined with thorns. I know because I tried to get a variety of photos and could not get through the first line of their still existing defences.

The Val d’Orcia Region

This was the day I was most looking forward to. A day of driving through southern Tuscany in the Val d’Orcia region, stopping whenever and wherever we wanted to. The major hill towns of the area include Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico d’Orcia, Castiglione d’Orcia, Rocca d’Orcia, Monticchello and Montepulciano.

Val d’Orcia’s distinctive landscape comprises a network of farms, villages and towns reflecting agricultural prosperity, the mercantile wealth of Sienna past, the need for defence, and a utopian aesthetic. In other words, the entire region was designed this way. The working landscape of fields, farms, trees and woodlands lay between low hills, which are home to towns and villages.

This landscape is so special that the region has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004.

The Cypresses of San Quirico

The famous cypress trees of San Quirico d’Orcia grow on a series of soft hills along the SR2 Road between Val d’Orcia and the Ombrone Valley. These evocative trees are among the most photographed sights of Val d’Orcia and a true icon of Tuscany. We happened upon them purely by accident and Yim noticed them as we approached.

Cypress trees serve practical and aesthetic purposes. The tall, dense trees are planted as windbreaks along roads and near buildings but their striking vertical forms are also deliberately arranged to add visual interest to the landscapes.

In the Middle Ages, cypress trees were planted as part of the development of any new community, with a large cypress, or on occasion, cedar tree forming the central point of every convent or monastery. They were said to be a symbol of immortality to signify sacred space and a detachment from the everyday mortal world. I found them quite majestic and their presence strangely beautiful. They are also much larger than I thought they were.

Pienza

The small town of Pienza is said to be one of the most beautiful places in Val d’Orcia but during the time of day that we arrived, it was raining quite hard and then began to hail. We tucked ourselves in tight under an awning and waited it out but the rain never completely stopped.

The name Pienza comes from Pope Pius II, who was born here, and it means the city of Pius. Pope Pius wanted to transform his birthplace, which was then the anonymous village of Corsignano, into the ideal Renaissance town. The construction of Pienza started around 1459 on top of the ancient hamlet and took about four years.

His death put a stop to the urban reorganization of the new city and the Pienza of today is the same as how it appeared in the mid 1400’s. The almost completed work was enough to make Pienza one of the most wonderful examples of Italian Renaissance architecture.

We never really got the chance to visit. Most everything was closed and there’s not much shelter so we did not stay as long as it’s reputation dictates that we should have. However, the photos I did take certainly had a nice street clean feel to them due to the rain.

Gladiator Avenue

Gladiator Avenue, where the final scenes of the movie were filmed, lies just south of Pienza so we headed out in search of it.  We did find it but I was simply not prepared for the effort some of the photos I hoped to capture would take. The winding roads often made no sense to me and finding a vantage point for this particular property was quite difficult.

I did not want to drive down someone’s driveway for my photos so I satisfied myself with the few I did capture.

When we arrived in Rome, we watched Gladiator one night and enjoyed seeing this same scene in the movie.

San Quirico d’Orcia

San Quirico d’Orcia is another of the small villages found in the Val d’Orcia and lies between Montalcino and Pienza. It is also situated along the ancient Via Francigena and modern day pilgrims and hikers still pass through San Quirico as they follow the ancient path.

It was a charming little village and because we arrived around 3 in the afternoon, almost empty. Stores close between 1 and 4 pm so this was the first village we had almost to ourselves. San Quirico preserves the charm of local Tuscan life and is worth a stop during Tuscan wandering.

This was our last stop in Val d’Orcia. It was time to head back to the Farmhouse…

Siena

Siena was surprisingly large but certainly walkable.

We were meeting Dorothy and Mark for the day. During our planning, we had read that every Wednesday, there was a huge outdoor city market which ran from 8.30 am to 1.30 pm at La Lizza and thought it may be interesting. It was huge, with stalls lining the street selling everything you could imagine; fashion, food, art, household items, and more. The food section was staggering. Even if you don’t buy anything from the stalls, which we did not, you will get to experience the authenticity of a local street market in Italy. This was geared mostly at locals and at one point, Yim had asked about some pricing and the woman took one look at her and doubled the price. She saw a tourist, but she most certainly did not make a sale.

From there, we wandered over to Piazza del Campo. This is the main square of Siena where locals spend time relaxing, often with some food and a bottle of wine. There were people everywhere we looked.

Piazza del Campo is shaped like a shell and divided into nine sections, in memory of the Nine Lords who ruled the city at the end of the 13th century, and is stunning in its elegance. The Piazza is overlooked by some of Siena’s most important monuments including the Palazzo Pubblico, inside which the city’s governments have convened since the 13th century, when the Nine (I Nove) took office. Dominating the Piazza del Campo, is the Torre del Mangia, which stands 285 feet tall, the third tallest historic tower in Italy. Due to these attractions, the Piazza is a bustling place, even in the middle of the week in April, as there are multiple corridors which funnel into the square.

If you walk just 10 minutes from Piazza del Campo, the streets are much quieter and start to feel local. 

Of course, we wandered over to the Duomo, with its unmistakable black and white marble façade and Italian Gothic style. It is over the top in my opinion, but architecturally interesting. I was more intrigued by the unfinished wall adjacent to the Duomo. Work was started to enlarge the church in the early 14th century but, in 1348, the Black Plague swept through the city and decimated the population. Work was stopped and was never restarted.

From there, the four of us led each other around the rest of Siena, criss crossing our way through town until we came to a nice viewpoint of the city, where we stopped for a rest, then walked back towards Piazza del Campo and headed home.

Siena was a lovely city.

Cortona

According to legend, Cortona was founded by Dardanus, the founder of Troy. The story goes that while fighting a local tribe, he lost his helmet on Cortona’s hill, and the town that grew up there took its name from this missing headgear.

The Etruscans built the first set of town walls in the 4th century BC, and these portions can still be seen. As a member of the Etruscans’ 12-city Dodecapolis, Cortona was one of the federation’s leading northern cities. Its importance was further maintained under the Romans due to its proximity to the important consular road, the Via Cassia.

However, Cortona’s fortunes waned during the Middle Ages as the plain below turned into marshland. Despite resisting neighbouring cities such as Arezzo and Siena, the town was captured by Naples in 1409 and sold to the Florentines two years later.

The village came into view from quite a ways off as we approached from below and the winding roads leading up to it were a joy. It is situated high up on Monte Sant’Egidio, with sweeping views over Lake Trasimeno and the plains of the Val di Chiana. As we wound our way up, we came to a fork in the road and directly in front of us on the hillside was the church of Santa Maria Nuova, which was an enchanting sight. Its dome rises above the trees and the sun illuminated it from the east.

Santa Maria Nuova

We happened to visit on April 25, which is a national public holiday commemorating the end of World War II in Italy and we were met with a small gathering of locals holding flags marching through the town while beating drums. It was a relaxed gathering and dispersed at the town square, where everyone seemed to branch off for coffee.

Entering the village you soon realize how charming Cortona is, with its steep streets, ruined Etruscan and Roman walls, narrow alleys, and medieval buildings. As with many of the Tuscan villages, the place has very ancient origins and has remained unchanged but Cortona had a real sense of vibrancy and lots of local life. It felt alive.

We like to wander and enjoy the towns we visit, visiting shops and taking photos of the beautiful details. Cortona’s narrow steep little streets and alleyways provided us a few hours of discovery. Each street was jam-packed with beautiful colourful doors, plants, bright pottery, decorative fountains, or a myriad of other things.

The steep streets of Cortona may require some effort to navigate, but the views and charming medieval scenes are well worth it. The only exception is the main Via Nazionale, referred to as the “Ruga Piana” or “Flat Street” by locals, which connects Piazza Garibaldi and Piazza della Repubblica.

Cortona was our favourite of the towns we visited. After a wonderful lunch, we headed out along on our adventure.

The Castle of Montecchio Vesponi

On our way home from Cortona, we decided to take the long way over and through the central mountains and came across the imposing Castle of Montecchio Vesponi sitting high up on a hill between Val de Chio and Val di Chiana. Its location made it an important strategic point for control of the ancient route between Arezzo and Cortona. It wasn’t on our plan but such is the joy of driving through Tuscany – finding Castles built in the ninth century that you can go explore.

A Brief History: The first settlement on the hill dates back to Etruscan-Roman times, and it may have been a pagan sanctuary. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the castle allied themselves with the city of Arezzo along with the other castles of Mammi and Monticello. Around 1234, it was acquired by Arezzo, which made it a stronghold against Cortona. In 1289, the fortress was taken over by Florence.

We found it irresistible and found our way up along a narrow road which seemed to be cut through a field before reaching the summit, where there was a flattened area, so we parked the car and continued the final hike up to the huge front doors, which were closed. We wandered around the entire perimeter and left scratching our heads as to what this was.

It is now owned by Countess Orietta Floridi, who has done considerable restoration and holds special events, commemorations, school projects and archaeological excavations in an effort to understand its history.

The Castle is currently subject for UNESCO candidacy.

The Beauty of Tuscany

Tuscany’s landscapes are a testament to nature’s artistry. The rolling hills, lined with vineyards and olive groves, were a constant distraction to me while driving due to their everchanging beauty.

On our last morning, we woke before dawn and left the farmhouse as the sun was rising. It had rained the night before and I was hoping that the moisture would turn to fog at sunrise when the temperature began to rise. As we left Pancole, the slow illumination of the sun was highlighting the low lying fog moving through the dips and valleys and the clouds above. This was one of the most beautiful mornings I have ever witnessed.

I now fully understand why photographers want to spend weeks in Tuscany… the weather dances here.

At the beginning of this post, I wrote; “Tuscany is famous for its evocative rolling hills, dotted with stone farmhouses and towering cypresses, picturesque vineyards, and medieval towns”. The photo above, taken the morning we were leaving, showcases that beauty.

Tuscany was a delight for me and I could easily have stayed longer. It is breathtaking with its mix of gorgeous natural and man-made landscapes and coupled with the medieval towns made every direction I looked seem photo worthy.

I think we really got this part of our Italy trip perfect. Being able to drive through the beautiful countryside visiting on our own and stopping as we pleased was wonderful and our farmhouse was the perfect Pied a Terre.

Tuscany is one gorgeous place to visit.