11 August-Pienza/Montepulciano

Montepulciano

Montepulciano

Countryside-Montepulciano

Montepulciano


Pienza

Pienza-well known for its cheeses

Montepulciano

Pulcinella 9Punch and Judy)

Montepulciano-very good wine reputation

11 August (Pienza and Multipulciano)

This morning we set off for Pienza and Montepulciano, the first village renowned for its cheeses, the second for its Nobile Rossi wines. This was a pleasant drive through very typical Tuscan countryside, grape vines, olive trees, brown harvested fields and grey tilled soils.

Pienza is a moderately sized village situated on the top of a hillside with a number of shops displaying a range of their cheeses. The smell of the cheeses is really strong when you enter their shops, and the cheeses look like they have been matured over many years –greenish-grey and moldy looking, but very delicious.

After Pienza we moved on the Montepulciano, a village famous for its wine and Punch and Judy fame. Around the city are statues of Pulcinello (Punch), the most famous one where he sits atop a tower, ringing the bells on the hour.

We visited the wine cellar of the famous Contucci family, who have been making wines in Montepulciano for centuries.

Dallas and I climbed to the top of the bell tower for an impressive view over the piazza below and out to the surrounding countryside.

We returned in the early evening, and cooked some pasta with tomato sauce, the sauce given a bit more grunt by the addition of a few tasty sausages we’d bought at the local shop.