April 25 in Italy is also a national holiday, Liberation Day and that combined with sunshine made for a busy day in our part of Tuscany!
Taking full advantage of the blue skies we followed the route suggested by one of my favourite travel forum writers which encapsulated some wonderful photo ops and “roads less travelled.”
We had a quick wander around Monticchiello, stopping for a coffee (Russell) and ‘cappuccino smoothie’ for me whilst admiring the view above. We think Monticchiello must be on the walkers route as we saw several groups slogging it up the hill and collapsing at the refreshment stand while we were there.
Next stop was Montepulciano – and I think it was on EVERYONE’S itinerary today! Traffic was crazy, parking non existent and we wound our way aimlessly around back streets for a little while before deciding to give the main car park another crack and timing it just right! Taking a deep breath and giving thanks that there was also a WC adjacent, we began the march up to the village.
Some nice storefronts beckoned but we decided to to the hard yards uphill before lunch and reward ourselves at the top.
You may recognise this piazza… it’s where scenes from ‘New Moon’ were filmed. Bella races across the square crowded by people dressed in red just in time to save Edward… alas no vampires today but a nice spot for lunch as rain began to fall.
We were so tired when we got home that dinner consisted of two pieces of pizza from next door for the princely sum of 4 euro. Luckily the fridge was well stocked with wine to accompany 😊