Day 3 - Cortona and Montepulciano

Our third day in Italy, and we're really getting the hang of things. We headed into Montalcino to a little coffee bar for coffee and sandwiches and then hit the road. The goal of today was to go to Cortona, the town featured in the book and movie "Under the Tuscan Sun."

Cortona is another medieval walled city high in the hills. Having learned our lesson in Siena the day before, we looked for a place to park before we drove somewhere we weren't allowed.

Like Siena, the streets are very narrow and very steep. It sounds very tacky, but it's tough to remember that this is a real town and the people who lived there were not Disney employees. The buildings and cobblestones are just too quaint and perfect to be real. Today was colder than the previous days, and the rain was still coming down steadily as we walked.

We passed by a chocolate shop and were drawn inside by the smell and the sign outside that said "cioccolata calda" (Hot Chocolate) This tiny little shop had all kinds of hand-made sweets from floor to ceiling, and a nice lady working behind the counter. A couple of us got our drinks and we were again on our way.

Travel Tip: Unlike American hot chocolate, which in most cases is warmed milk with cocoa in it, Italian Hot Chocolate is melted cocolate with a little milk to keep it in a semi-fluid state. Absolutely delicious, but really, really rich and best in small doses.

We took tons of photos and video in Cortona, so I'll have them up on flickr as soon as I can get them there. It's a beautiful city with warm wonderful people. Even with the rain and the cold, it was just gorgeous.

At one point we went looking for Bramasole, the home bought by Frances Mayes, the woman who wrote "Under the Tuscan Sun." We stopped in a shop to ask for directions, and the women working there attempted to give us directions in broken English/Italian....and then offered to ride with us to take us to the actual house. We declined that offer (not knowing if there would be a fee for this courtesy) and decided to find it on our own.

While PJ and I were asking directions, Christy and Michelle stood out in the square. At one point they were passed by a family on their way to mass. What was unique about them was that they looked like they were in costume from the 1950's. Four or five little girls in long blue coats and hats, mom in a dress and hat, and dad in a red suit and fedora. It looked odd, but at the same time there was something appealing taking the time to dress up for church...I guess that time has passed...in California anyway.

Sketchy directions in hand, we get back to the car and attempt to locate Bramasole...and failed miserably. We navigated narrow mountain roads and while we made some twists and turns that made me more than a little antsy, none of these roads ever pointed us to our direction.

What I didn't know until later was that the Bramasole from the book (a true story) was dramatically different from what was shown in the movie, both in terms of plot and location. So even if we had been directed to the house, I wouldn't have known it anway....but it would have been nice to find.

On our way back down the hill we spotted the dome of a giant church on the hillside below us. We decided to brave one more muddy hill to try and see it. Santa Margarita (I think was the name...we didn't go in) is an enormous church just ouside the walls of Cortona. It took a lot to make it down a single-lane muddy mountain road to get to it, and by the time we got there it was raining again and looked like services were about to commence. Not wanting to interrupt, we opted to head back the way we came.

But leaving was trickier than we thought. There was a sign at the exit of the parking lot that none of us could decipher. It was a picture of two cars going opposite directions, one was red, and one was black. Given that this was a very narrow one-lane road, and after our experience in Siena, we were all a little gun-shy about the rules of the road...and presumed that it was telling us that we weren't allowed to exit that way. None of our travel books/maps gave us any clues, we we went in search of another exit.

It took our going up a very very steep muddy hill that ultimately led nowhere for us to finally brave the main exit and do what we hoped was not violating any more traffic laws. It turned out that the sign meant that those exiting had to yield to those entering, but we didn't figure that out until we were on our way to Montepulciano.

Before I continue in this entry, let me just offer a travel tip and note of apology.

Rick Steves is a travel writer that has a show on PBS. I have always found him to be a little odd, and irritating to try and watch on TV. That being said, the man knows what he's talking about, and his books have been invaluable to us. I apologize and take back any/all disparaging remarks I may have made in the past about Mr. Steves.

So my travel tip is to pick up his guide-books before you leave, read them ahead of time, and follow his recommendations. He will not steer you wrong.

The draw to Montepulciano was the castle, and the Contucci Winery that is contained in it. Our Rick Steves (not getting paid for these plugs, by the way) book indicated that we had to stop there for a tasting and look for Adamo, the wine-master who would tell us all about the wines.

Again we parked outside the walls of the city, and made the long steep climb up to the castle. The layout of the towns was not done by accident. In the days where mauraders came through on a regular basis, towns needed all of the protection they could get. Positioning themselves high in the hills made it easier to spot trouble approaching, easier to take ain on those wishing to do harm, and harder on the invading hoardes who had to first climb the hills before fighting.

The climb to the castle was not easy...and made me wish I had worked out a lot more than I had prior to the trip. But once at the castle, all was right with the world. The castle was amazing, just as one might expect after reading a lifetime of fairytales. This particular castle was mentionted in records dating back to 715 AD.

As Rick Steves' book promised, Adamo the wine master was there ready and waiting with many glasses of wine to taste. What a character! He was in his late 60's, and extremely friendly and demonstrative. Adamo told us all about the wines, and the history of the Contucci winery, and why the wines of this area were unique. Unfortunately he told us all of this in Italian, and didn't speak a word of English. Most of our communication was through smiling and hand-gestures. At one point an English-speaking tour guide came through and helped us out, but the rest of our communication was his filling and re-filling and re-filling our empty glasses. Tasting became drinking, and a warm fuzzy feeling. It actually became a challenge to not have our glasses re-filled automatically. If a glass was empty, it was a matter of seconds before Adamo was there re-filling it and not taking "no" for an answer.

We were encouraged to tour the castle, which was primarily used to house enormous barrels of wine. If there were other residential areas, we didn't see them. We wandered around with our glasses and listened to the bells of the church ring at 6pm calling everyone to mass....as they had for centuries.

We bought more wine (Adamo was a master salesman) and Adamo gave us hugs and wished us safe travels. We did find a great deal of amusement out of the fact that he seemed to really like Christy, and the hugs and handshakes for her lasted a lot longer than any of ours. :)

From there it was back to Montalcino, where we went back to our hotel restaurant for our last dinner in town.

Tomorrow we head north (I think) to another little town in Tuscany...about 4 hours or so. Can't wait.

Will write more later,

K