Italy Road Trip Continued - Montalcino

When you drive through Tuscany, there are so many small, quaint looking little towns along the way. Some are just a few houses on the side of the road, others are bigger towns set-up the edge of a hill. I wish I could claim to have stumbled upon this little gem of a town, Montalcino, all on my own, but luckily, a friend of a friend had given us the idea to stop in on our way to Rome.

We almost skipped. it. After a morning of walking around Siena a bit more, we were ready to get to Rome. But, our stomachs didn't want to wait until Rome to eat and as we know, wine goes great with lunch, so we figured, why not eat lunch in a wine town? So, with that in mind, we stopped in Montalcino on our way into Rome.

The city was a cute medieval town (do those two words even go together?) It had a fortress and lots of little winding streets lined with shops with fabulous culinary finds.We sampled amaro, grappa and my personal favorite - chocolate liqueur.

After a delicious lunch, we decided to check out one of the local wineries on our way in to Rome. Paul and I had been to Napa before, but I have to say that this doesn't even compare. In Napa, you have these giant vineyards and wineries that you stop in for a tour and tastings. They're great. I mean anywhere you can drink wine all day is great, right?

Vineyards and olive trees are everywhere

But there was just something special about these little vineyards in Montalcino.

The vineyard we stopped at was called La Fornace - it was run by a family. They have 11 acres for both grapes and olives and produce 18,000 bottles a year. While that is still a lot of wine, it seems like a whole different affair than what you see in Napa. We did our tasting in a special room in their home. We got to walk along the vineyard and try the grapes themselves. And we enjoyed hearing their story of how the farm all started. I loved it - and even better, I loved the wine. We made it home with a couple bottles to enjoy for later on!

Paul testing out the grapes. They will be harvested early
this year to the unseasonably hot summer

Grapes! They are used for the wine, then the leftover skins
from the wine making are used to make grappa

If you are interested in trying a wine from this region, the two main varieties produced are Montalcino Rosso and Montalcino Brunello. Our favorite was the Brnnello, but I think a wine tasting is in order for everyone to pick out their favorite.

2012 Trip #11 - Siena, Italy

When we planned our Italy getaway with our friends coming in town, we were ambitious. We decided on a road trip, stopping in Florence and Pisa, staying overnight and then hitting up Rome. In 3 days.

It seems that I not only forgot that there are only 24 hours in a day, but I also forgot that I hate car trips.

Once we arrive in Rome, pick up our rental car and make it out of the perilously cramped and teeny parking lot, this fact finally hits me. I realise that I do not, in fact, want to spend at extra 4 hours in the car that day to pose for a picture with the Leaning Tower. Florence? Eh, we will hit it up next time. All I could think about was getting out of the car and getting some Italian food into my stomach. At this point, the trip goes from action packed to relaxing and possibly lazy.

Best. Idea. EVER.

We arrived in Siena around lunchtime and checked in to the hotel. After an indulgent feast, we were ready to hit up the town. I really hadn't done much research before, and all I knew from a brief googling the night before was that we needed to check out the Duomo.

Luckily, the town is small and everything is in walking distance. After a 5 minute stroll to the Duomo, we promptly spent the next 3 hours (with a gelato break) investigating all the different parts of the cathedral.

First is the cathedral itself. The marble work inside is amazing, with multi-colored columns and intricate floor patterns. It is breathtaking, and leaves you wanting to tip toe around, not just to achieve respectful silence, but to avoid stepping and leaving a mark on the beautiful floors you are walking on.

What did I learn in Italian this week? Duomo is not actually
the name of this particular church. Duomo means
cathedral. So, we saw lots of Duomos on our trip.

Vaulted ceilings inside the cathedral

Intricate marbling on the floor

Next, is the Museum which includes access to the walls of the "new" church which they never quite finished. This offers panoramic views of the city and was worth the climb in the unusual and not exactly pleasant Italian summer heat.

Typical Italian countryside. I plan for my next (or first)
summer home to be here in Tuscany. 

After this, I was tired. Enter the first of many many gelato breaks on the trip.

Now we are re-energised and ready to go. On to the crypts! No, there are no dead bodies here, but it is interesting to see the old frescoes in here.

And last, but not least, is the baptistery. It reminds me of Istanbul's Chora Church with the ceilings depicting out stories from the Bible. The Duomo was smart enough to leave some mirrors around so that you don't have to crane your neck either to get a good look at the ceiling.

Beautiful tiled ceilings - each triangle tells
a different story

Baptismal Font - this is dedicated to
John the Baptist

After having conquered the only sight-seeing item we knew we had to see, we set out to roam the streets. We stopped in little art stores to find some local art, checked out pottery and finally ended up at dinner with more Italian food.

Siena was a perfect little Italian town to start our vacation in - just enough things to see, plenty of things to eat and lots of time to mosey around and relax.

Next stop - Montalcino.

Italian Food Junkie

As soon as the plane landed in Italy, I had food on the brain. Yes, even at 9 am I was planning out our lunch full of pasta, fresh tomatoes, parmesan pizza, bruschetta, vino, and all the rest of that wonderful Italian deliciousness.

I love Italian food, although what we get here in Turkey (and most of the time in the US) isn't REAL Italian food. Still delicious, but it can't compare to the real deal.

So, for 3 days during our vacay to Rome and Siena, I overloaded myself with carbs in the form of delicious Italian. I had tons of my favorites and still didn't have enough time for all of it.


I had meals where I was "brave" and randomly picked off the menu using my (almost inexistent) knowledge of Italian. This ended up with delicious spiral pasta, meat sauce and fresh basil.

Fresh basil is extremely underestimated. As is a glass of
wine at lunch.

I had gnocchi and gnocchetti with various, but equally delicious toppings, including pesto.

Pesto=basil=awesome

We sampled pizza, where you paid by the kilo. Best part? You could sample several different kinds of pizza. Our tray includes proscuitto, mushroom and tomato and potato. The eggplant and zucchini version of pizza bits were equally wonderful.

You pay by the kilo! I still love that idea.

And after we crammed our stomachs full of pasta, we always saved a little room for dessert. The only problem? I was too busy eating to remember to take a picture!

So while my pants may be a little snug for the next few days, despite our crazy amount of walking, I can never say I regret it because there is no such thing as too much Italian food.