We’re off to Pienza today to meet Peter Kilby to spend the day with him but we wake to rain, so decide to stop in at Bar Prato for a quick breakfast instead of our usual spot in the piazza, cornetto and cappuccino for me and bombolino and cappuccino for Chris. While at breakfast, Chris makes me promise not to steal Peter’s thunder today. “No matter what he tells us, pretend you’re learning it or seeing it for the first time,” he says. The last few times we saw Peter, I was one step ahead of him, totally forcing him into off the beaten path places when I’m around. Personally, I like it; it’s a game and I don’t think he minds it either.
As we head out of Montalcino, the rain is not too bad, not enough to make driving hazardous but enough to not want to spend an entire day walking around in it but it’s too late to change our plans. We’re meeting Peter about 9:30 and arrive early, so we head into one of the local bar/tabbacharia for a shot of espresso, some orange juice and to purchase another TIM card. I buy a 50€ card this time, figuring since there’s a 5€ service charge for every card, at least this way I’m reducing the percentage of the service fee by buying 45€ of time for 50€ rather than buying 20€ of time for 25€ or something like that.
I charge up the phone and we head to the piazza to meet Peter just as he arrives and the rain slows to a trickle. After usual greetings, we stroll through town and get a bit of history then I bite my tongue when Peter takes us to a deli to try some of the famous porchetta of Tuscany. We’d already visited this shop during our trip in November 2003. We decide to buy three sandwiches and enjoy a picnic later in the day as the rain has finally ceased and the sun seems to be peaking through.
We venture to our car, parked outside and across the street from the walls, drive Peter to his car, in a lot at the other end of town (where the S146 runs into Pienza from the direction of San Quirico), and follow Peter back to his house, on the way to Montepulciano. Peter gives us a tour of his home, which is just lovely and has one of the most beautiful views of Montepulciano I can imagine.
We leave his car there, hop into ours, and head via back winding roads to Cortona. By the time we arrive, it’s a warm and sunny day. We drive up and up and find parking in a pretty large lot to our left that overlooks the plains below. As we’re walking up, Peter points to Lake Trasimeno in the distance and asks if we know of the great battle that took place there thousands of years ago. Before I can stop myself, I blurt out, “Hannibal!” and Peter just shakes his head in disbelief as Chris knocks me on my back. I guess the question was meant to be rhetorical but I couldn’t help it, my TIVO tapes everything it finds on Roman History and I’d just watched a show on Hannibal before we left for our trip.
Our first stop within Cortona is the Museo di ??. A nice little museum filled with Etruscan and Egyptian artifacts, we spend some time there as Peter gives us some back info into Etruscan history, stuff I hadn’t heard before. We see the most beautiful intricately carved Etruscan chandelier that alone I feel worth the price of admission.
After our museum stroll, we’re ready for a mid-morning snack and decide to look up a friend of Peter’s who is opening a B&B in Cortona across from the Church of San Francesco. Carol, another Australian, purchased this three-story home and has spent some considerable time renovating it into a lovely B&B which would also serve well as a holiday rental for a group of three couples or a large family (in which case, she’d vacate the premises and let you use it as your own home).
The ground floor houses a nice lounge or seating area, where in the future Carol intends to provide free Internet access for her guests. Behind the seating area, you’ll find a modern newly redone kitchen and large dining area with high vaulted ceilings, and walls lined sometimes with brick and sometimes the stone from the mountain, from which the home has been dug.
On the first floor, you’ll find a huge bathroom with large tub and across the landing a large double bedroom. Both rooms have high ceilings, are nicely decorated and have plenty of space. Halfway up to the second floor, on a landing, sits a half-bathroom or powder room. A single bedroom sits on the second floor, which Carol has not decorated yet as she is still using it for her office but will be converted into a single room soon. Another double bedroom sits across the landing from the single, again large with plenty of space. Finally, on the third floor, you’ll find another full bathroom and another double bedroom with a small patio overlooking the Church of San Francesco on which Carol intends to put a bistro table and some chairs. All the bedrooms contain satellite television with some English channels.
Chris says, for him, the only issue would be the shared bathroom (a full bathroom does not accompany the double on the second floor. Though for the 95€ a night, Carol intends to charge, if I were to stay in Cortona, I’d stay here in a heartbeat. The B&B is called La Pietra Serena and you can find the website at www.lacucinatoscana.com.
We enjoy some coffee and biscuits with Carol for a bit, talking about all sorts of things before it’s time to hit the road again. As we’re winding our way back to the car, I remember Alessandra from the message board has a shop nearby but I do not remember where in Cortona and as I walk, I peak into shops looking for her (memory of pictures from the site) but do not see a shop with a name that sounds familiar or a person that looks like Alessandra, another regret.
We hop into Claudio and Peter takes us on a trek through some incredibly windy, hilly, remote roads, from which I choose not to look down, as we head to the Cell of St. Francis, now a huge monastery. We park the car as far off to the side of the narrow road as possible, and upon first glance of the monastery, all I can think is, “Rivendale.” I’m convinced now, between La Citta Bianca, the trulli homes and now this monastery carved from the side of the mountain made of nothing but the natural materials found here with rivers sparkling past, that Tolkien visited Italy and found inspiration for much of this trilogy’s locations here.
We visit the Cell of St. Francis around which the monks built the monastery and as much of the property as we can before they close for the afternoon. Really beautiful and someday I’d like to return to just sit and spend some more time in its incredibly peaceful surroundings.
We’re back into the car and make another stop, this time at Il Falconiere, another beautiful but extravagant property at which I can only hope to one day be able to afford to stay. Peter knows the owners and we chat with the wife and her twenty-two year old son, who I can’t believe she’s old enough to have, for a bit, enjoying some time in their salon over a glass of white wine. Again, a beautiful property, which I just recommended to some friends of my parents and if I win the lottery, will head to for a stay.
After our visit, we’re back in the car but make a quick stop at a local COOP where we buy some chips, napkins, cups, water and a bottle of Corvo for our picnic. We drive to a town along the lake where we park, find some benches and enjoy a wonderful picnic lunch. Afterwards, we walk along the lake a bit and watch some boys catch some pretty big fish before we head back to the car, stopping for some gelato along the way.
The gelato, while nothing great, fills me up completely, so when we stop at an cantina to try some wines outside Montepulciano, I’m in no condition to do any tasting but Chris does and purchases some white wine to keep in our apartment. Next, we’re back to Peter’s for a bit where the men enjoy watching a bit of Independence Day on Peter’s home movie system while I use Peter’s computer to e-mail the girls. Finally, it’s time to say good-bye and head back to Montalcino.
Upon arriving in Montalcino, we try to find a parking spot near the Lavenderia but fail, so we end up in a pay spot next to the Fortezza, which is expensive and requires a 30-minute duration. We head over to the lavenderia, pick up our newly cleaned clothes, drop them in the car and since we still have time left on the meter, opt to go inside the Fortezza and have a look around.
They’ve got an amazing assortment of wines and foodstuffs but we find prices to be no better or worse than some of the other stores we’ve visited. Chris tries a 99 Brunello reserve, whose name I forget to note, but nothing he’s willing to purchase at this time. We decide we’ll come back another night and hit the road, but not before stopping in Sciame to make a reservation for later that evening.
We return Claudio to the free lot and carry our clothes back to the apartment. When we unpack, we realize those tidy whities I had are still missing and so is one of Chris’s workout outfits, probably never returned at Il Frantoio. So now we’re on a quest to buy me underwear, yikes.
We find a store on Via Mazzini and I have a harder time explaining what I need here than I did in either TIM store we visited earlier in our trip. Finally I realize, the Italian word for undies is “slip” pronounced “sleep” and the clerk knew what I needed all along. I just didn’t understand. They’re eight euro each and I hope they fit since they only have large, not extra large.
Next stop, the sunglass store. Unbelievably they have the glasses I’d bought in Rome during our 2002 trip and subsequently lost and they’re on sale for 30% off, cool! I pay 60€ for them (yeah, still pricey but I love them).
Done with shopping, we head back to the apartment for a bit of rest and to watch friends in Italian (where Chandler’s name becomes Kandler). I’m amazed that I can still follow the story though it’s been years since I’d originally seen it and it’s in Italian.
About eight we head to Sciame for dinner. As we approach, we still smell the wonderful aroma that attracted us to this restaurant back in 2003. As we enter the restaurant, I realize what about the aroma attracts me; it reminds me of the smells of my grandmother’s apartment building in Brooklyn, always someone cooking a pot roast or a stew or something. Remember, with Sciame, we’re not talking fine dining here. If I had to equate Sciame to anything in America, I’d equate it to a truck stop, basic if any décor, sometimes-gruff service, and solid basic food at some basic prices.
We find the restaurant to be warm (as in hot) and crowded, identifying German, French and English spoken in this small establishment, a far cry from the Italian road workers we first found here in 2003. We find the menu is in all three languages too. We’re seated at a back corner table and both of us order the pinci con ragu to start. We both agree that we like the pinci better at Grappolo Blu. For our secondi, I once again order the roast chicken (leg and thigh) while Chris enjoys the cinghiale stew, which he still believes to be the best cinghiale ever. As last time, we share a plate of fries (though, now we think Da Renzina may have better fries), this with a ½ litre of house red and a bottle of water comes to 45€. It’s not a long leisurely meal here either; we’re out of there in less than 90 minutes.
On the way home, we stop in at Fiascheteria. I enjoy a thick and rich hot chocolate while Chris gets a glass of sambuca and we share some torte de mele. The piazza is much quieter tonight than compared to Saturday or Sunday but I like that. Eventually, we head home to read and sleep.
