Day 10: Florentine Rooftops from a Florentine Rooftop

Thanks to the magic of scheduled postings, you are seeing this as we are moving out of our Milanese apartment. Wish us luck. We just wish we were still in Florence.

Day 29, Pasta in Montepulciano

Rolling pici with my cooking classmates at an agritourismo near Montepulciano. The people on the right were doing it right: flat hands, stretching it out for a foot or more.

Fodor's Photography Contest

Fodor's is having a photography contest called "Show Us Your Italy". With the help of family and friends, I found five photographs that I'm proud enough of to submit to this contest. Now, I know I'm an amateur but there's no harm in trying, right? So, here are the five submissions that I made - thanks to all who helped me pick them out!

Piazza della Scala, Milan


Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa


Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan


View of Vernazza during the hike to Corniglia, Cinque Terre


Beach at Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre

Montalcino

We set off in September in search of Brunello. The famous Brunello di Montalcino is one of Italy's best-known and most expensive wines, grown in the...wait for it...Montalcino region of Tuscany.

We were not disappointed, either by the Brunellos or the beautiful small town of Montalcino itself. We easily canvassed the town on foot, walking past several cantinas in search of the perfect tasting location. En route, we stopped to admire the gorgeous Tuscan landscapes and visit the 12th century fortress and clock tower in town. We eventually were drawn into a modern wine shop with a unique tasting system. The bottles (hundreds available) fed into a machine. We used the card that the proprietor gave us, inserted it into the machine, and for a small amount we received generous pours of the wine of our choice. We never made it to aperitivo but walked away with a delicious Brunello that we realized we HAD to buy after going back for a third tasting!

Our big splurge of a meal ended up being in this small town. Osteria al Giardino was featured in our Italian guide to osterias as a slow food recommendation. We ordered the tasting menu and enjoyed a host of Tuscan specialities, often with an elegant spin, like these Tuscan white beans with shrimp. With the permission of the chef, Cooper sat in the restaurant throughout dinner and enjoyed the attention (yes, favorable, we had a corner table a bit set aside from others) of the staff. I think that, out of all of us, Coop might miss Tuscany the most!

Perugia and Pienza

During our week in Tuscany, we made a slight detour to the capital city of Umbria for a day. Perugia is a major arts and university town named after painter Pietro Vannucci whose nickname was Perugino. Vannucci was teacher to the infamous Raphael who produced several painting in the noted city.


We drove into town and got VERY lost in the tiny streets of the historic old town. Stuck in a corner, literally, we paused to ask a local for directions. What happened next was basically a scene from a movie. This short old Italian man opened the driver's side door and escorted me out. I climbed into the back with Cooper and we let the Italian take complete control. Swerving wildly through the narrow streets, the man quickly maneuvered us back to the main roads. Stopping in the middle of the road (with traffic behind), I jumped back into the driver's seat the man waved us towards a public parking lot. Random story but a good example of the generousity and kind spirit found in many Italians.


Perugia is the home of the Perugina chocolate factory and their flagship store is on the main drag of the city center. Baci chocolates lined the shelves and for those unfamiliar with the candy, the hazelnut/chocolate combination is wrapped in a love note for the opener. We stopped for a yummy granita instead, feeling a pull towards a cool drink instead of thick chocolate in the hot weather.


On our way to the main piazza and Cathedral of San Lorenzo, a large ceramic dog caught Cooper's attention but after a quick sniff, he decided it wasn't worth it. The Fontana Maggiore sits between the Cathedral and the town hall and has 25 sides filled with sculptures of prophets, saints, the Zodiac, and scenes from Genesis and Roman history. The public center, il Palazzo dei Priori, contains the Collegio del Cambia (a one-time financial center), Collegio della Mercanzia, and the Galleria Nazionale - all famous and beautiful buildings in their own right.

On the way back to Montepulciano, we droved down some lovely Tuscan roads and stopped in the outskirts of Pienza when we noticed a gigantic outdoors ceramics shop. After over a year of searching, we finally found the umbrella stand that we've been looking for - and for a good amount less than we've seen similar stands advertised for elsewhere!

When we reached Pienza, the sun was already started to set and we were able to watch from the Via del Bacio (Street of Kiss). The light changed over the hillside and instead of heading to dinner, we grabbed some small plates and local wines at an enoteca. Pairing local honey with pecorino cheese of various aging was basically heaven and a perfect ending to the day.

The Chianti Festival

While the cantinas in Montepulciano were plentiful, the various wine regions in Tuscany were begging to be tasted by Mark and I. Luckily for us, the 19th Rassegna del Chianti Classico (Chianti wine festival) in Greve-in-Chianti was taking place and offered us the opportunity to taste various Tuscan and Chianti wines from all over the region - all in one place! For 10 euro, we purchased a "commemorative" wine glass and a punch card that entitled us to 10 different tastings - not a bad deal!Some of us (ahem ahem, me, unfortunately) had to drive back to Montepulciano that night but an early start enabled me to taste a few as well. Mark's strategy was to pick the most expensive wines around (which ended up being the Super Tuscans, for the most part) and get "the most for his money". Some of them were particularly tasty and we walked away with a few bottles so that I could do a little more tasting at home.

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