Montalcino, Brunello country

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Saturday June 9 Cont'd



Onwards and upwards



I was to go to Orvieto by train today, but Ian (another student from Oz) and I hired a car. As he wanted to take a look around the area and I had to get to Orvieto, we went halves in a car, which was a fabulous idea as we were able to see so much on the way. We had a fine lunch at Montalcino of fresh local pasta with porcino mushrooms (a delicacy, even here), and we just had to try some of the local Brunello. The same Montalcino Brunello… made famous by the book by Ferenz Mate called ‘A Vinyeard in Tuscany’. Reading his books is what brought me to the Tuscany region in the first place… and even though we didn’t have time to drive around the hills to look for his vineyard, I was not disappointed with my time in Montalcino.



It has a magnificent castle, built around 1360, so over 650 years old... it's hard to imagine that type of time frame and everything that this castle would have witnessed. Many, many battles have taken place here. The town has been overthrown, won back, taken again and again. And you know what, the castle is still intact and looks magnificent. You can even walk around the top of it and imagine the bloody battles seen and fought from there. It houses a bar and restaurant, museum and gift store and when I was inside I saw Cinderella coming down the stairs… yep, a wedding. Sorry, no photos of her, as the memory in my camera was full.

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Photos

At the castle
So hot today.

Montalcino
Flowers everywhere