Tues 10/11
We woke to a drizzly, cool morning but we had high hopes that the weather would clear (or the ridiculously optimistic of us had those hopes.) We had planned to go to three towns about an hour away that are carved into the volcanic rock of the area (called "tufo" in Italian.) The stone is soft enough to be easily carved and has been used both for habitation and also necropoli for centuries dating back to the Etruscans. The first city we visited was Pitigliano which we reached by driving through both mountainous and hilly area with lots of vineyards and beautiful views of the hills and valleys despite the persistent drizzle. There is a major DOC that we passed through called Morellino di Scansano (centered about the city of Scansano.) We've had a couple of bottles of wine from there which were yummy and we're considering going back for some tasting.
Pitigliano is a spectacular sight as you approach it perched on the top of the hill of volcanic rock.
The city itself is very picturesque with views everywhere you turn.
We walked up and down the narrow little streets and decided we would stay for lunch. As usual, a fine lunch: Dick had polenta with a meat sauce typical of Pitigliano and I had big ravioli with fresh porcini sauce and of course some wine. A gelateria was open so I had some dessert there. After lunch we headed off to Sorano, another city carved into the tufo. Again, a strikingly charming town despite worsening rain.
A quick walk through the city requiring umbrellas and we were on our way to Sovana, one of the "most beautiful villages of Italy." And, yes, it was charming and picturesque and very wet.
Even the optimistic one had had enough so we headed back and realized that once again there were a couple grocery items we needed so we stopped at the gigantic shopping center grocery and found it much more tolerable than on the weekend.
So dinner was our usual post massive lunch meal of a bit of cheese, salami, olives, bread, etc. with a nice glass or two of local wine.
We woke to a drizzly, cool morning but we had high hopes that the weather would clear (or the ridiculously optimistic of us had those hopes.) We had planned to go to three towns about an hour away that are carved into the volcanic rock of the area (called "tufo" in Italian.) The stone is soft enough to be easily carved and has been used both for habitation and also necropoli for centuries dating back to the Etruscans. The first city we visited was Pitigliano which we reached by driving through both mountainous and hilly area with lots of vineyards and beautiful views of the hills and valleys despite the persistent drizzle. There is a major DOC that we passed through called Morellino di Scansano (centered about the city of Scansano.) We've had a couple of bottles of wine from there which were yummy and we're considering going back for some tasting.
Pitigliano is a spectacular sight as you approach it perched on the top of the hill of volcanic rock.
Even the optimistic one had had enough so we headed back and realized that once again there were a couple grocery items we needed so we stopped at the gigantic shopping center grocery and found it much more tolerable than on the weekend.
So dinner was our usual post massive lunch meal of a bit of cheese, salami, olives, bread, etc. with a nice glass or two of local wine.
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