Montepulciano

What better place to watch summer turn into fall than the hills of Tuscany? We were lucky enough to spend a week based in Montepulciano, tasting the wine, visiting hillside Tuscan towns, strolling through the cobblestone streets, and studying some Italian.

We drove from Milan, arriving Sunday evening in time for the aperitivo sponsored by our school. After settling into our apartment, we took Cooper and went for a bit of a walk. Dinner that night was at the Trattoria di Cagnano, enjoying some freshly made pasta.

In between classes throughout the next couple of days, we explored the walking town on foot. It's a small town but with lots of steep hills. Montepulciano is also where the Twilight film 'New Moon' filmed its "Volterra" scenes. I recently saw the trailer and noticed the Piazza Grande featured with a conveniently inserted fountain that definitely doesn't exist in real life. What did exist was LOTS of Twilight paraphernelia - including photos of Robert Pattinson on nearly every corner! The REAL Piazza Grande is home to the Palazzo Comunale and the Chiesa Santa Maria Assunta, pictured in the two photos above.

Cantinas (wine shops) were seemingly on every street and I was constantly tempted by the beautiful copper pots and pans. We enjoyed a tasting at one cantina with some classmates one evening and ended up taking home two bottles each of Nobile di Montepulciano and the Rosso di Montepulciano, enjoyable and far from the last few bottles we'd be tasting and buying!


Trattoria di Cagnano: Via dell Opio nel Corso 30, 53045 Montepulciano, Italy