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Published: June 26th 2017
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Geo: 42.0912, 11.7968
Thursday we left Castiglione behind after a pleasant sojourn. We first headed to Montepulciano,a lovely hilltop walled city I had visited in 2004 and wanted to show Fletcher. It was only about 15kms to drive and we arrived there about 9-30. The narrow streets wind around and up to the Piazza Grande at the top of the hill. This was a test for both of us but we enjoyed the initial stages looking at the small shops filled with Tuscan souvenirs and the wonderful produce from this area including the very good wine. The final climb, though, puffed us both but Fletcher's knees held out .The Piazza is large and flanked by impressive buildings, The Town Hall, a Museum and, of course, a beautiful church. There is also a decorative well in one section. The morning was again warm and sunny and though we were rather early there were several other tourists there including groups of schoolchildren. We walked back down to the car having enjoyed the stone buildings and the little streets and alleyways.
We then drove to Pienza only 9 kms further on(although we did double that distance, those darn misleading signs!!). Our hostess had told us
that she preferred this to Montepulciano. Pienza was at least flatter inside the town. Its claim is that it is the home of Pius 2nd and it is very pretty though smaller than the others we had seen. A stroll through the main streets revealed a church dedicated to St Francis which was stark but impressive,some wonderful little squares and residences and a hotel that was centered in an old monastery with a great courtyard. Again the school groups were present.Afte rwe had looked around we decided to eat here even though it was early. We chose a ristorante in the Piazza de Spagna and had a beer while waiting for 12 noon when lunch would be served. We were amused by watching the local butcher receiving his delivery of carcasses. They breed big cows here!
Our lunch was the best so far, typical Tuscan food.I had a tagliatelle with a wild boar and almond sauce while Fletcher had a ragout of wild boar in a juniper berry sauce. This was washed down with some great Montepulciano red.Delicious.We finished with coffee and our host brought some limoncello for us too. Wonderful!
The rest of the day was spent driving back to Civitavecchia.
As we drove in we spotted an Avis Hire Car depot. We had been told it was impossible to drop off the car here and Fletcher faced the prospect of having to drive back to the airport, then get a shuttle from there back to our hotel. When I asked the lovely man at the office we were told for a modest fee (less than the cost of the shuttle) that we could leave it there. What a relief!!
That done we checked into our hotel and spent the evening looking round the Corso and having dinner at the Gran Cafe next to our hotel with free WiFi. Looking forward to boarding the boat tomorrow.
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