Our rental car navigation system is working well except for when it went “wonky” near Siena so it must be a Florentine navigation system as there has been a conflict between Siena & Florence for ages. In fact, during the Middle Ages (5th – 15th century) Siena & Florence vied to be the leading economic & territorial power in this part of Italy. Once we regained our bearings the navigation system led us right to Montepulciano which is another beautiful Medieval & Renaissance hill town & about a 2-hour drive from our temporary home here in Tuscany.
As we approached Montepulciano we could see the stunning Chiesa* di San Biagio just outside the town. It was built by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, celebrated its 500th anniversary last year and is considered a masterpiece of the sixteenth century. Her building blocks are rich, cream colored travertine inside & out. This beautiful domed church has a bell tower tucked into a cutout corner on the front right side of the church. We paid 3.50 euro each to get in & it’s definitely worth it especially since the entry fee helps to maintain such historic beauty. The fee includes an audio guide which was chock full of helpful information. It’s a relatively small church but you can easily spend a fair amount of time there listening to the audio guide & following the prompts for the appealing & historic artwork & architecture.
The church design is that of a Greek Cross plan (central mass with four arms of equal length radiating from the center) & was built to honor an apparition seen hundreds of years ago by two women & a shepherd who reported seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary’s eyes move in a fresco.
Now for Punch without Judy … commedia dell’arte* is a form of theatre that was popular in Europe in the 16th – 18th centuries, especially in Italy, & thought to be the start of professional acting. This form of theatre had masked characters & involved a lazzo* & often pantomime. Pulcinello, the character from which the English “Punch” of “Punch & Judy” fame descended strikes the hour on a bell atop the Pulcinello Torre* which is across from the Chiesa di Sant’Agostino in Montepulciano.
Pulcinello is a funny looking character in white clothing with black trim & a black mask. He strikes the bell on the hour & for us it was a reminder to buy some gelato* from the gelateria at the base of Pulcinello Torre – or at least, that is the story I’m sticking to as an explanation for our gelato consumption!
I’m hoping that my Cardiologist & Primary Care Physician agree with me on my reasoning for almost daily consumption of the rich & flavorful Italian gelato here in Tuscany. John & I are walking at least 2 miles a day (yes, I realize that falls short of the recommended 10,000 steps a day) & often climb the equivalent of 15 – 21 flights of stairs daily as the towns we visit are all hill towns. We live in flat, very FLAT, Florida so climbing up from the parking lot at the base of a hill town is quite a workout for us. That & the jumping of my heart from my chest to my throat as drive along the pretty, somewhat narrow & winding roads to round a bend & encounter another driver who took the turn too wide is another cardio workout – do you agree, Doctors J.S. & R.C.? So, that’s my story for our gelato consumption but I think that our scale back home will tell us the official truth as in, you did not walk/climb off all that gelato! And oh, by the way, heart jumping from chest to throat most likely does not constitute a cardio workout!
Strolling the streets here is a delight as the streets are narrow & the buildings often have beautifully carved wooden doors and/or a scene or bust of a person carved in stone above a doorway.
Montepulciano is noted for its Vino* Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG & there are strict regulations to be met before calling a wine a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG. Two of the regulations require that a minimum of 70% Sangiovese grapes be used & that the wine can only be sold after having aged for two years. I’m not a big wine drinker but I’ve found that the wines here are delicious, full of flavor & smoother than the wines I sometimes drink at home.
Grazie for joining me on this tour of San Biagio & Montepulciano! Can you find John in the photo of the Pulcinello Torre? Stay tuned for a post about Volterra, my favorite town in Tuscany. Ciao*!
*Italian vocabulary for the day: chiesa = church, ciao = hello & goodbye, commedia dell’arte = comedy of the profession/early form of professional theatre, gelato = soft, rich, flavored, frozen Italian dessert made with milk & not cream (yum!), lazzo = joke, torre = tower, vino = wine
Beautiful, thank you for sharing!