hilltowns recap

We got back from our hilltowns trip on Friday night and I had a great time - Tuscany is a beautiful area and so different from Rome, so the break was very much appreciated. I'll recap the trip over the next few days.

10-08-2007 MONTEPULCIANO, PIENZA

So we were off to the hilltowns today, which I am so excited for. The first stop was in Montepulciano where the bus dropped us off at the church of Madonna di S. Biagio and then we had the morning to walk up the hill into the main town. I sketched for awhile, took in the amazing panoramic views, and wandered through the residential parts which were mainly deserted; I always feel like I’m invading someone’s private property but these are the places that capture the real feeling of the town – lots of orange, brick, and stone here. As you walk up the winding roads to the town center, this is the view out onto the hills and down onto the church:

For lunch Chelsea, Joanne and I ate down in a wine cellar and enjoyed some wine. Then we wound our way down the hill and boarded the bus for our next stop in Pienza, a much smaller town than the previous – there were some shops and cafes on the main street and you could literally walk around the perimeter wall in 15 minutes. Again, being set on a hill there were some more amazing views:

There was a cathedral perched on the edge of the hill and in the front, the buildings on the side are skewed and mirrored like Michelangelo’s Campidoglio but it’s much shallower so you can’t really tell. The interior was beautiful with light streaming in from the southern windows in the apse and the space was very open except for the piers which supported this amazing vaulted ceiling:

The afternoon was just so relaxing and perfect; Joanne, Chelsea and I stayed in the cathedral for an hour and sketched (my sketchbook is getting great usage), walked around the town and ran into everyone else at least two or three times (found a few of them sleeping), and Jenna and I ventured to the co-op store for some fruit before rolling out to the next hilltown, Siena.

Wow, looking back and re-reading this entry I think I overused the words ‘amazing,’ ‘beautiful,’ etc. but I think that is just going to be the theme of this trip and I don’t think I’ll get tired or bored of it all because it’s so different from what we’ve experienced in Rome, it really feels like a nice vacation. Ciao!