Siena, Montepulciano and Arezzo

Our driving route in orange.



I'm writing from our huge room at the Villa La Grotta in the middle of the tuscan hills. Its a calm evening with a gently breeze that is lulling us to a blissfull sleep. Such a beautiful noise.

Leaving San Gimignano, from the top of the village. Idyllic.



We had ambitious plans to visit several hilltown villages today. By the time we left San Gimignano, we decided to bypass Volterra and head towards Siena. We saw several towns on the hills, puffy clouds, old barns and bridges. It really was fantastic and relaxing. When we arrived in Siena, I was surprised that the city was as big as it is. I was expecting something smaller I guess. We didnt spend alot of time there as we decided we would opt for, in my opinion, a more authentic experiance in Montepulciano. Im so glad we did too. I understand now why people say they could spend weeks in Tuscany and not even brush the surface of what it has to offer.









Because our 3rd power converter died last night..I cant believe it, but it did. I purchased a disposable camera in San Gimignano just in case my camera dieed. And it did. If it wasnt for my little kodak disposable, I would have no photos of Montepulciano, that would have been a tragedy! We hope they come out..who knows if they will but we are exersizing our power of positive thinking.

we drove through this roundabout 2 times trying to find our way to Montepulciano. With directions like these, it should be obvious dont you think?



Montepulciano is not only the town where my favorite movie series of all time was filmed (ahem) but is out of this world beautiful and old and full of charm!

this poster was taped to the side of a wall just inside the city.


the photo in the poster to the right is this one below. I know I am such a nerd, but I loved knowing I was standing right where they were filming :)


and this is the road that the yellow car drove up in that same little area as the poster shows.


I could imagine living in one of those little shuttered apartments. Its such a different way of life here, it feels so simple and peacefull. We accidently drove into the town. And boy, that was a mistake. The roads are SO incredible narrow and it was a bit hard to turn around, but we found our way to a parking spot just outside of the village wall with the help of some very nice italians.





Every little alley on the other side of the town looked over the valley below. It was like a photo in a frame at every turn.

the kodak disposable didnt do the best job at capturing the valley through this shot..but it did ok I think :)





Best of all, it was almost a ghost town in the sense that no body was there! We walked what seemed at least a mile up hill to the top of the town where the bell tower is. The tower looked just like the movie, but of course, there was no fountain in front. Anyway, It was really peacefull on top of the town like that.We could see the tiled tops of all the homes, and every view oerlooked the valley below. It was such a beautiful way to end our tuscan tour. We were there for about an hour and a half.











Once again, it was easy to find our way towards Arezzo. It wasnt until a bus tried to squeeze itself past another bus on a road big enough for our little fiat that I realized it will be nice to return our car in Rome and use the subway for transportation again. We thought out hotel was in Arezzo, but come to find out, its about 20 miles outside of the city in a hilltown called San Giustino Valdarno. Perfection! This charming Tuscan villa was once owned by nobility and is situated in the heart of the world-famous Chianti Region. It dates back to the 19th century and sits at the base of the Pratomagno mountains.






The apartments are named after famous Tuscan artists, Oh, its so pretty here.

The pool and hills in the background with wild lavender! The smell was divine. How I love lavender.








If we ever find ourselves back here, I would re do this day down to the detail. I loved it.

Im so tired, and ready for a good nights sleep. Buddy is So excited for Rome tommorow, its what he has been waiting for, which likely means we will be in the car and on our way before 7 :) I took a million pictures of flowers today for some reason. I was just drawn to them. Flower are beautiful, so is Tuscany, so I guess its fitting.

Goodnight from Beautiful Tuscany.




(Im sooo glad the kodak disposable came through, I think the pictures came out great considering!)

NExt up...ROME!