Montalcino, Italy

While you’re in the Siena area, you’ll want to make a side trip to Montalcino. Montalcino is a walled hilltop town in Tuscany that has wonderful views of the surrounding valleys.

Located 27 miles south of Siena, Montalcino is where the famous Brunello di Montalcino and Rosso di Montalcino wines are made. It’s a small town and you can get there from Siena by bus. It takes 60 to 90 minutes on the bus and costs only about four Euros one way.

Montalcino is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d’Orcia. It is 42 km from Siena, 110 km from Florence and 150 km from Pisa. The Monte Amiata is located nearby.

I first learned about Montalcino from the delightful and informative book Vanilla Beans & Brodo: Real Life in the Hills of Tuscany. When I finally got to visit Montalcino in person, it was a real thrill to see the streets and restaurants that author Isabella Dusi described so evocatively in her memoir.

When you’re in Montalcino, make sure you see the 14th Century fortezza, and drop in to the Enoteca la Fortezza wine-tasting shop which is located under the fort. The Enoteca is a great place to sample the local Brunello and Rosso wines (phone 0577-849211). You can get a variety of Tuscan wines by the glass for about four Euros each. Since you’re there, you’ve got to sample the regional Brunello, which is about seven or eight Euros for a glass. They’ll serve it with plates of savory local cheeses so you can have lunch there.

Another great place in Montalcino for wine tasting is the Piazza del Popolo (phone 0577-849043). When you get to the Piazza del Popolo, find the Caffe Fiaschetteria Italiana No. 6. Check out the days. It can be closed on Monday and Tuesday, I’ve heard. You can get a wine tasting there with three or four varieties of Brunello to choose from, ranging from about four Euros on up to well over ten Euros a glass.

Ariel view of Montalcino

Also in Montalcino, check out the small civic museum, which has a really nice collection of Sienese paintings ranging from the 1400’s to the Renaissance. A few years ago the  Civic Museum moved its collection to a new home at the former St. Augustine Monastery on Via Ricasoli 31 (phone 0577-846014). It’ll cost you about five Euros and it’s open Tuesday through Sunday.

Another thing to see in Montalcino is the 12th Century Cistercian Abbey of Sant’Antimo, which is about ten kilometers south of Montalcino. It’s one of Tuscany’s most beautiful, intact Romanesque churches. An extra special experience is if you time your visit to coincide with the Gregorian chants that are performed daily by the monks that still live there.

There’s a tourist office in Montalcino that you can check with for the hours the chants are going to be performed.

Approaching the inn where we had lunch

My husband and I are normally independent travelers who do not like group tours. But the Best of Tuscany tour was so well managed that we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our tour guide for the day was Becky, a young English woman who married an Italian. She was perfectly fluent in both English and Italian (at least to our ears) and gave us many interesting insights about life in Italy. Becky was also very hard-working and professional: being a tour guide for 40+ people is a demanding task, but she never wavered in her warmth and courtesy for the entire day.

Other highlights of the day included a tour by an excellent local guide in Siena, a bountiful lunch and wine tasting at an organic farm inn, and seeing the leaning tower of Pisa in the moonlight (we were there in November, hence the shorter daylight).

Charming dining room where we had lunch

This tour is excellent and very good value. My only caution would be that it is a long day (about 12 hours starting at 8:30 a.m.), so depending on your age and stamina you might be quite tired towards the end. Although there is opportunity to snooze on the bus between stops, it is a long day with a fair amount of walking. There was one family with small children on our tour and although the kids were real little troopers, they found it too much.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun, informative and high quality tour. It is a great choice particularly if you have limited days in Tuscany and wish to see Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa in one day.

Guest post by Judy Toth

Room at Cassafrassi Hotel in Tuscany (photo: tripadvisor-tinatot76)

Tuscany…oh, where to start?  We absolutely adored Tuscany.  We stayed at a rural agriturisomo called CasaFrassi Hotel near the town of Castellina in Chianti. Our accommodation was gorgeous, with a view of vineyards and olive trees and lots of relaxing amenities such as tennis, swimming, and gardens to sit in.

We did our grocery shopping in the town of Castellina in Chianti, which was about 10 minutes north of where we were staying. The beautiful medieval town of Siena was only 20 minutes away. Siena is much like Lucca (walled town) but bigger.  It was a place you could wander around forever looking at churches, stores, restaurants etc.  We also went to Monterrigioni (very small version of the walled town) and San Gimignano (very old, very beautiful walled town).

Lucca

Lucca was very nice.  Like many of the old towns it is encircled by a huge stone wall.  It is best to park at one of the many parking areas outside the wall and walk in.  Great shops, plazas, and churches (of course).  Lucca was one of our favorite Tuscan towns.

Florence

While we loved Florence, we didn’t get to see much.  The primary aim here was to go to the Accademia to see the statue of David and to go to the Uffizi Gallery.  Unfortunately, we got there on a Saturday that happened to be a holiday (May 1 is May Day) and the galleries were closed.  The next day was Sunday.  On Sunday we learned two new words in Italian:  chiuso (closed) and sciopero (strike).  The gallery workers went on a one day strike.  Our last day in Florence was Monday and galleries are always closed on Monday.  (We hoped that since there was strike the day before that they would consider opening on Monday.  Funny, funny Americans!)

We did see the Duomo in Florence (church, baptistery, and campanile) which was gorgeous (do pace yourself, however.  I looked at only a few of the churches and by the end of the trip I wasn’t sure which was which!).  We also saw the Medici Chapel (small but interesting), Piazza della Signoria (great plaza with fantastic fountains and statues, just a cool place to hang out), and, of course, Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge).  Ponte Vecchio crosses the Arno river at its narrowest point.  The bridge is lined with leather shops, jewelers, and goldsmiths. We also enjoyed walking around the Boboli
Gardens—very pretty and relaxing.

Pisa

Pisa is a pretty small, cramped (as opposed to cozy) city.  We were told that once you have seen the leaning tower and the church etc, there is not much else to see or do.  That’s accurate. In our opinion, you could easily see and experience enough of Pisa in one day.  We stayed there for 3 nights because we used Pisa as a jumping off point for other visits.  We spent one day seeing all we wanted to see and explore in Pisa, one day to go west and visit some coastal towns, and one day to go north to see Lucca.

Coastal towns in Tuscany

The coastal towns that we saw (on the Tyrrenian Sea) were Livorno (the northern part of Livorno was pretty ugly—just a shipping port, we didn’t venture deeper into Livorno), Tirrenia (just a small beach town for locals, the most interesting part to us was exploring a golf course),  Marina di Pisa (would probably be a nice place to visit and walk along the ocean in better weather: it was gray, cold, and stormy the day we were there) and Viareggio (looked like it had even nicer beaches and cottages to stay in).

Hidden gem in Tuscany

Our serendipitous find was a town called Colle di Valle d’Este. It is a tiny town, not yet on the tourist maps (although it looks like they are doing work to get prepared to attract tourists).  We were there on a Saturday.  We wandered around the town (not much to see at this point) and enjoyed seeing a typical Italian town enjoy their Saturday.  The best part was sitting and watching the men playing bocce.  They really took the game seriously (and are not used to having a ‘gallery’ so they were really hamming it up).  Their wives were sitting off to the side in a circle talking.  It was wonderful.

Other itineraries

We talked to many people before we left as well as  people that we met on the trip.  It seems unanimous that Venice and Lake Como are “must sees”.  The only variation I heard on that is that some people said that Venice is the most unique place they’ve ever been and could have spent forever there.  Other people said that it was the most unique place they’ve ever seen but once they saw it, a couple of days was more than enough.

We hope to hit northern Italy on a trip that we combine with either Switzerland or the south of France. Hope this helped give you some ideas of what might work for you!

Guest post by Judy Toth

My husband and I love to walk, both for the exercise and because we see so much more).  So in each city or town we visited in Italy, we walked everywhere.  In Rome we did check out the subway just in case we had inclement weather or got very tired but we never used it.

To get from Rome to Florence and back to Rome, we took the train.  Great trip!  We went first class so that we had a reserved train as well as a reserved seat.  The direct train is fast (1 ½ hours) and pretty economical (even in first class).

After we finished our visit in Florence, we rented a car to drive to Pisa, around Tuscany, and back to Florence to pick up the train back to Rome.  In general, it was not difficult to find our way around driving. The most difficult part was making sure that we were on the right road to get in and out of Florence.  Street signs are not always readily visible, directional signs are somewhat unclear, and intersections are complex. However, once you are on the highway or in the small towns it is much easier.

If you do decide to rent a car:  check the hours of the car rental location (they probably close from 1 to 3 in the afternoon), the hours they tell you are only guidelines not gospel (they may decide to close at 12:30 or not reopen until 4), and you may have to wait a while for a car.

We were very lucky when we picked up our car, but not so lucky when we dropped it off. At that time there was a long line of people waiting for cars because they had “run out” of cars and were waiting for returns.  In fact, one man, who had apparently been waiting quite some time, saw that we were returning a car and came up to us and tried to cut a deal to just take our car.  We were not going to let THAT happen!

Italy - so much to see!

Guest post by Judy Toth

Recently my husband and I spent two weeks in Italy.  We had never been to Italy before and I had quite a dilemma when I was planning the trip. So much to see, so little time!

I knew a little bit about a lot of places and so I started out trying to ensure we saw all the “high points” (museums in Florence, canals in Venice, historical monuments in Rome, the hilltowns of Tuscany, Pompeii, southern Italy where my mother was born).

As I began to try to fit this all in, I realized that I needed to pare the list down.  I know that our preferences for travel are to see and truly learn a small area rather than hit the highlights of a vast area and to have approximately 50% of our time planned and about 50% open for ‘serendipity’.

I also didn’t feel the pressure to make sure we “see it all now because we may never be back”.  Typically, when we find an area we like, we will go back to explore more on future visits.

Given those preferences I thought about what was really drawing us to Italy.  The first big draw was to see the area where my mother was born.  However, as I read about southern Italy, I learned that there is not much in the way of famous/historical sites and that area is less ‘user friendly’ for tourists.  Since this was our first trip to Italy, it didn’t seem like that was place to start.

Tuscan countryside - it really does look like this!

Our second big draw was to see Tuscany.  That became the beginning of my plan—how much could we see in and around Tuscany in two weeks?  The plan we came up with was fly into Rome, train to Florence, drive to Pisa, drive through Tuscany, and train back to Rome.

We reasoned that we would start in the biggest city and, as we became more familiar with language, lifestyle etc, would work our way to smaller and smaller towns.

Our plan worked well and we feel that we learned a lot about a small portion of Italy.  In my next several posts I’ll share with you what we learned.

See Judy’s 2 Week Tuscany Itinerary here.

Street in Pienza, Italy

Pienza is a beautiful little Renaissance town in Tuscany with a fascinating history.  It’s located between Montepulciano and Montalcino, and is less than an hour’s drive or bus ride from Siena.

As a perfectly preserved Renaissance town and a UNESCO world heritage protected site, Pienza is a favorite for period film locations. Director Franco Zeffirelli filmed the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet in Pienza, and the town was  also used in the movie The English Patient.

What to see in Pienza

When you get to Pienza you’ll definitely want to see the Piazza Pio.  Also, check out the Piazza Piccolomini, which was the Pope’s residence and was lived in by descendants of the Piccolomini family until 1968.  Of course, there’s the Duomo (cathedral).  When you walk behind the Duomo, you get fantastic views of the whole Val d’Orcia (Orcia Valley).  A tourist office in Pienza is right in the main piazza.  During summer months, you can get free guided tours of the town.

View of Val D'Orcia seen from Pienza

On the main street, there are lots of food stores that specialize in gourmet products from Tuscany such as wine, honey, and the local pecorino (sheep’s milk) cheese.  You can do cheese tastings and wine tastings at a number of shops.

A good place to have lunch in Pienza is the popular Trattoria Latte di Luna or the reasonably priced Del Falco (Piazza Dante Alighieri 7, phone 0578-748551 closed on Fridays).

It only takes a couple of hours to see most of Pienza.  It’s a pretty small place. But if you’ve got more time to spare, you can stay overnight in a charming B&B in Pienza and take your time soaking up the Renaissance  atmosphere.

Garden room at Locanda S. Agostino in Lucca

With 26/28 five star reviews on TripAdvisor.com, Locanda S. Agostino appears to be a sure bet for a wonderful place to stay in Lucca.

One reviewer admits that she would “prefer to keep this little gem of a place all to myself – but I just can’t, as I think that everyone should have the chance to have as perfect a time as we had at the Locanda”.

Another guest writes:

We stayed one night in the garden room earlier this month. Locanda is almost like a “stealth” hotel – the outside of the building is quite anonymous, but the interior is fabulous, with interesting art and beautiful decor. The garden room was absolutely gorgeous, with lovely touches like a vase of fresh pink peonies on the dresser. The furniture is antique, and the atmosphere reminiscent of the napoleonic era. The bathroom was lovely, hidden in the wall, with really great olive oil toiletries. You can borrow movies and music from the main hallway. Breakfast out on the little terrace was really good, and beautifully presented. Sarah did her utmost to make us feel welcome and recommended different bars and restaurants as well as places to see in the vicinity… I would definitely go back to stay at Locanda S. Agostino. And as soon as possible!

Rates for a double room are between 130 – 180 Euros a night, depending on season. Check out the photos on the Locanda S. Agostino website.

Piazza S. Agostino, 3
55100 Lucca (LU), Italy
+39 0583 467884

Latte di Luna restaurant in Pienza, Italy

Looking for restaurant recommendations for the hilltowns of Tuscany? I’ve gleaned some insider tips from Ferenc Mate’s delightful memoir A Vineyard in Tuscany.

Mate loves food and wine with a passion. While renovating his dream house in Tuscany and starting his own small winery, Mate enjoyed meals at these favorite restaurants:

Trattoria Latte di Luna in Pienza

Most of the reviews I’ve read stress that Latte di Luna serves simple, home cooked meals.  You won’t find anything fancy, but you will find tasty local specialties at  reasonable prices.  Very popular so make reservations. See photo at right and read  slowtravel.com reviews.

Trattoria La Torre in Monte Oliveto Maggiore

Although Mate recommends this restaurant, I found mixed reviews online. On the positive side, travellers Jane and Ken say “If you visit the abbey (which you should), then plan on having a very nice lunch in the ristorante. We so enjoyed it there.”

But TuscanHouse warns “Ristorante La Torre at the Abbey is a big operation to accommodate the frequent busloads of tour groups and sometimes fails to give good food or good service”.

Closed on Tuesdays
53020 MONTE OLIVETO MAGGIORE
Tel. +39 577 – 707022

Trattoria da Mario in Buonconvento

Buonconvento is a lovely small town and not very touristy. Mate mentions eating at Trattoria da Mario in Buonconvento, and apparently he is not alone in his enjoyment of this restaurant. A report on slowtravel.com has this to say about the eatery:

We came back and had dinner at Da Mario in Buonconvento. I will say no more than Da Mario is a gem of a local ristorante with great ambiance (mangiare a fuori) and dynamite food and is considered a secret find by the local inhabitants of this working village.

Via soccini, 60
53022 – Buonconvento
Tel. 0577.806157

Trattoria La Tagliola in Arcidosso

Trattoria La Tagliola in Arcidosso

On TripAdvisor.com the one review for this restaurant proclaims “Migliore ristorante ad Arcidosso”. I don’t speak Italian but it’s safe to assume  this means something along the lines of “best restaurant in Arcidossa”. The reviewer gave it the highest rating – 5 stars.

On Trattoria La Tagliola’s website you can see more photos of the restaurant interior, along with a sample menu.

Bagnoli, Arcidosso
Tel. +39 0564 967351

Trattoria Sciame in Montalcino

Located just a block from the fortress, Trattoria Sciame in Montalcino is a small restaurant with a big reputation. Many independent travellers recommend Trattoria Sciame, as do the big guide books.  Frommer’s writes:

You’ll be lucky to wrest one of the seven tables (crammed into Sciame’s small, modern dining room) away from the devoted locals who fill it with clamorous chatter almost every night. The food here is firmly cucina casalinga. You needn’t decide on an appetizer because everything is gathered together in the antipastone misto. Top honors go to both the pinci al cinghiale (fat spaghetti in a sauce of tomatoes and wild boar) and the zuppa di fagioli (a bean-and-cabbage soup poured over bread, with a red onion slice over it). Afterward try a pollo arrosto (roast chicken or guinea hen) or the scaloppina agli asparagi (veal scallop with wild asparagus). For dessert, order the cantucci e ossi di morti con moscadello (almond cookies and brittle, hollow “bones of the dead” cookies with sweet white dessert wine).

Prices are reasonable – about $7 – $14 for each course.  Closed Tuesdays, the last week of July and the month of February. Reservations strongly recommended.

Via Ricasoli 9
53024 Montalcino
0577 848-017

Entrance to La Taverna Nello in Siena, Italy

Looking for a Tuscan cafe that serves vegetarian food in Siena, Italy?  I’ve got a great suggestion for you.

Nello La Taverna

Nello La Taverna is sometimes referred to as La Taverna di Nello.  This is a Tuscan restaurant that serves a good number of vegetarian dishes.  It’s on the Via del Porrione 28 and the phone number is 0577-289043 (reservations recommended).  If you’re trying to find this lovely Siena restaurant, it’s on a narrow, stone-covered street very close to the Piazza del Campo (the big piazza).  We discovered that the easiest way to find La Taverna di Nello is to approach it from the Piazza del Campo. To orient yourself,  stand facing the tall clock tower and then look for the little street just to your left that leads off the Piazza del Campo. The restaurant is just a few doors down the street.

We visited La Taverna di Nello on a warm evening in October. It’s got an  inviting atmosphere with brick walls, racks of wine bottles and interesting orginal artwork.  The decor and menu has a bit more of an “upscale” feeling than your typical Tuscan family-run restaurant.

Specialties include great salads made with the common Tuscan ingredient, radicchio, and other vegetarian delights. How does ravioli in a velvet creamy artichoke sauce sound (14 Euros)? Or crepes stuffed with ricotta cheese and fresh truffles (20 Euros).

The food was lovely and the service from our English-speaking waiter was kind and attentive.

There are rave reviews from other customers on the Nello La Taverna website (note: the restaurant’s website seems to be down), such as this one:

La Taverna Nello in Siena, Italy

When I visit Siena, I always make sure I include a meal at Nello La Taverna in the Via Del Porrione, a small side street off the campo. They make the most wonderful Porcini Tagliolini which arrives as fresh egg noodles folded with the fresh porcini mushrooms. The pungent, gutsy flavours of these mushrooms require only a dash of the best olive oil and perhaps a clove or two of crushed garlic to bring out the best they have to offer and at this time of year, you will find them folded through risotto, a multitude of pasta and even char-grilled whole and dressed with a little balsamic. We also enjoyed the local pasta called ‘pici’ which is a kind of roughly extruded, thick spaghetti, served simply with diced, briefly stewed tomatoes and basil.

Another customer wrote:

Ristorante Nello La Taverna, just off Il Campo, is one of the best Tuscany cafes. We had gnocchi with bolognese sauce and the gnocchi was to die for! They melt in your mouth! Also had great wine and deserts (puff pastry stuffed with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce). He is very friendly and the atmosphere is charming.

Summary

Highly recommended restaurant in Siena, Italy. Ristorante Nello La Taverna, Via dei Porrioni 28, tel. 0577 289043  Closed on Sundays.  Map

Room at Antica Torre

If you just read reviews of Antica Torre hotel in the Italy travel guidebooks, you’d be forgiven for thinking it would make a great place to stay in Siena, Italy.

For example, both the Frommer’s guidebook and the EyeWitness Guide to Florence and Tuscany provide glowing reviews of Antica Torre hotel in Siena:

From the Frommer’s guidebook:

Antica Torre is a restored 17^th Century tower within the city walls of Siena. It’s a ten-minute walk from Piazza del Campo. Tall and graceful, the tower sits on top of the century’s old potter’s workshop that is now the breakfast room. Take a stone staircase to the small but comfortable guestrooms, each with some Tuscan antiques, iron filigree headboard and marble floors. Try to get one of the accommodations on the top floor for a panoramic view of the medieval city and the rolling Tuscan hills. It costs 90 Euros a night and there is parking on the street nearby.

Antica Torre hotel Siena, Italy

Sounds delightful, but not so quick

Sounds delightful and good value for Siena, right? But wait, check out the “real-life advice” on TripAdvisor:

We stayed there for a single night. It was OK, but I am glad we did not spend too much time there.

- location is good, about 5 min walk from main square in Siena
- room is quite small but it’s actually the bathroom that feels very very small – and while it has recent fixtures, it does not feel terribly clean
- if you stay at the top (as we did), going up and down is quite challenging

The one employee we interacted with was the most clueless and least helpful person we met in Italy. In general, it was an ok experience but if I return to Siena I’ll first look for something else.

Some people liked it…

The most complimentary review on TripAdvisor put Antica Torre at a 4/5 with these comments:

My partner and I stayed for one night at the Antica Torre so that we could spend a day in Siena. We found both our room and the hotel itself to be very well-kept and charming. It’s in a pleasant neighborhood of Siena that is close to all of the sights but also quiet and residential (I stepped out early in the morning and was pleasantly surprised to see real people going to work, as opposed to other tourists, which seems to be the norm in Tuscany).

The hotel appears to be family run, and the main proprietor was very friendly and called us a cab the next morning so that we could go pick up our rental car in the Siena suburbs. At 113 euros per night the hotel in not exactly a bargain for budget travellers (we stayed at places in Florence for less), but what you are paying for is a clean space and a bit of charm and it is definitely worth it!

On a final note, the hotel is definitely not a good option for the elderly or disabled- I had to carry our very large suitcase up three flights of narrow stairs to reach our room.

Antica Torre hotel, Siena

But just as many didn’t like it…

What follows is not the most scathing TripAdvisor review about Antica Torre (I usually ignore the most scathing as possibly written by an unreasonable person), but it is representative of those who were disappointed by Antica Torre.

Two nights in this hotel was plenty. It’s recommended in some guidebooks, but I’m sure they haven’t been there in a while. We knew we’d have to haul our own bags up the stairs. Okay. The bathroom had blackish mold on the wall. The sheets and towels seemed clean. The a/c worked. The view out the window was nice. Location was okay. I think the bathroom was once a closet or small hallway — access was through a folding door. Maybe other rooms are better.  I’d pass next time.

I don’t know about you, but I’m too picky about accommodation to risk staying in a place described by several reviewers as just “OK” and as having “blackish mold on the wall”.

The moral of this story

Don’t just buy an Italy travel guide and trustingly follow the recommendations. Use travel guidebooks as a starting point but double-check at places like TripAdvisor.