Delightful Week in Tuscany (Minus Clothes!)

[VictoriaJZ]

May 27-June 2, 2013, a visit to Tuscany, Italy, lodging in Montepulciano and visiting the surrounding hill towns.

Originally published on SlowTrav.

Our Trip to Tuscany, Arrival Sans Luggage

I really do owe a trip report, since folks here gave me some great advice, but I’ve been busy with other travels and duties ... but finally, time to sit and remember. This is not a ‘blow by blow’ description of the trip, but rather a few of the highlights. I hope that suffices.

We arrived in Rome, picked up our rental car (which was a long process with a young man who clearly was early in his career) and headed up the highway to Montepulciano. We had arranged for lodging at Terre di Nano near Pienza for a trip last year and when a family member had a serious health condition, they kindly let us cancel and if we did make new arrangements, we could then use the deposit. Thus, we made plans to travel in May-June and arrived on May 27th at Terre di Nano. Unfortunately, our luggage decided to go on its own journey so we were without clothing the first day and night and without our baggage for four days.

Our lodging was perfect, and the location was ideal for day trips in the general area. The weather was very nice, with a few sprinkles now and then which did not generally last more than an hour or so. The rain clouds made excellent backgrounds for photographs. We did enjoy a good breakfast at our lodging each day and then set out to do some driving around the back roads of the area. That’s the sort of trip we like, getting lost on teeny-tiny roads, and we certainly enjoyed this trip. At the end of the day we would just go into whatever town we were near and find a little restaurant or taverna and enjoy a quiet meal before returning to our lodging.

Terre di Nano, our lodging for the week

 

[VictoriaJZ]

Finding the Lost

As of the second day we had hoped to have our luggage found and delivered (it was found but on its way still) but had no luck, despite the best efforts of the manager of Terre di Nano to find someone at the Rome airport to talk to about it and find out where it was. So, we kept doing our hand-laundry and the second day did go out to the local grocery store to buy shirts for each of us.

We did keep driving around and exploring the area, finding cypress trees on hills, olive trees in groves, museums, antiquities, churches and all the usual sites of Italy. Terre di Nano was very close to the historic site at La Foce and its magnificent vista. I took loads of pictures and some of them are uploaded at my Flickr site (link to the right). We wandered all over visiting various towns and some of the sights in them: Pienza, Perugia, Montalcino, Cortona, Chiusi, Monticchiello, Sarteano, Montisi, Chianciano Terme, and others.

One day toward the end of the week, to intercept our luggage at the Florence airport, we drove up to Florence and stopped at the airport. The persons in the lost baggage area were helpful, but the luggage had already been sent out with the delivery person and was supposed to be delivered that day. While in the area, we visited Siena for the second time, and found the luggage had arrived at our lodging when we got back that evening. We treated the lost luggage experience as just another adventure in travel and were happy that it was returned intact.

Famous View from La Foce, end of the day

 

[VictoriaJZ]

Highlights and a Great Ending

In the meantime, as we meandered around Tuscany (and parts of Umbria), we had a great time enjoying especially some places:

• the Etruscan Museum in Chinciano Terme
• the Abbey at Sant’Antimo where the caretaker took out his flute and played a lovely piece in the chapel
• the Casa Museo di Palazzo Sorbello in Perugia, which I found fascinating and unexpected
• the Duomo and a medieval fortified farmstead in the countryside, museum and a great nearby ice cream shop in Siena
• a couple of colorful and busy town markets, churches and cheese shops and such in a variety of towns.

As we toured around we also stopped at the site of The English Patient (the convent of Sant'Anna in Camparena), but not at the one hour during the day when it would have been possible to get inside to see the frescoes.

Another highlight was the trip to Civita di Bagnoregio where we arrived in the city just as its tiny populace (and others from the region) were marching and playing music in celebration of a saint's day (Festival in honor of Maria the Liberator, also known as the Palio della Tonna). We left just as the donkey races were starting.
We ended our stay in Tuscany by staying local and visiting Montepulciano and walking around the town. That day Ferrari came to town - an exhibit of about thirty Ferrari sports cars in all sorts of colors was held in the square in front of the city hall. I was able to get into the city hall and climb up the stairs to the bell tower where there was a wonderful view of the entire area. Luckily the bell was not tolling!

After that day, we left and returned to Lazio where we went to our lodging in Lido di Ostia, which was the base for our exploration of that area over the next four days. That’s another story.

Civita di Bagnoregio

 

[Mom83]

May 27-June 2, 2013, a visit to Tuscany, Italy, lodging in Montepulciano and visiting the surrounding hill towns.

Originally published on SlowTrav.

Our Trip to Tuscany, Arrival Sans Luggage

I really do owe a trip report, since folks here gave me some great advice, but I’ve been busy with other travels and duties ... but finally, time to sit and remember. This is not a ‘blow by blow’ description of the trip, but rather a few of the highlights. I hope that suffices.

We arrived in Rome, picked up our rental car (which was a long process with a young man who clearly was early in his career) and headed up the highway to Montepulciano. We had arranged for lodging at Terre di Nano near Pienza for a trip last year and when a family member had a serious health condition, they kindly let us cancel and if we did make new arrangements, we could then use the deposit. Thus, we made plans to travel in May-June and arrived on May 27th at Terre di Nano. Unfortunately, our luggage decided to go on its own journey so we were without clothing the first day and night and without our baggage for four days.

Our lodging was perfect, and the location was ideal for day trips in the general area. The weather was very nice, with a few sprinkles now and then which did not generally last more than an hour or so. The rain clouds made excellent backgrounds for photographs. We did enjoy a good breakfast at our lodging each day and then set out to do some driving around the back roads of the area. That’s the sort of trip we like, getting lost on teeny-tiny roads, and we certainly enjoyed this trip. At the end of the day we would just go into whatever town we were near and find a little restaurant or taverna and enjoy a quiet meal before returning to our lodging.

View attachment 8929
Terre di Nano, our lodging for the week

We love Terre di Nano...Bella Vista is our favorite apartment...the views are wonderful!