April 15
Chiusi - Montepulciano

That's the one we visited last night and the one, it seems, in which pizza is unheard of. So we made our way uphill to Chiusi Citta, parked the station wagon and explored on foot the piazza and surrounding buildings, including the Museo della Caterdale, the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, and, of course, il Veliera, the local pizzeria, pub, and wine bar. The pizza was delicious! Mozzarella, funghi porcini (mushrooms), and pancetta (Italian ham). To drink, I had a pale ale and Kathy had the most delicious hard cider we'd ever tasted. They charged us 2 Euros each just to sit in the restaurant (service charge) but it was worth it. We set out on the next part of our adventure with full tummies and enough fermented courage to drive to the next village, Montepulciano.

Montepulciano is the red wine capital of Tuscany, the most famous variety being Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. As we left La Boncia this morning, Genarro asked, "Firenze?" When I said, "No, Montepulciano," he smiled big and said, "Ah, vino!"

We had a little trouble finding the city center, but once again it turned out to be at the highest point. An important lesson perhaps? We parked at the base of an ancient arch where the road narrowed to a one-way cobblestone path, and it was all uphill from there. Sure enough, every other shop sold the local wine, cheese, and olive oil, not to mention leather goods, copperware, and cured meats. Kathy was in heaven, and we managed to buy something with pretty much every Euro we had in our pockets. We ended the tour sitting in the piazza at the top of the hill, sampling two different varieties of the local vino, and listening to the bell towers chime six o'clock, just enough time to get back to La Boncia before dark and enjoy wine, cheese, salami, bread, and olive oil from Montepulciano. It was a great dinner, followed by a long, rejuvenating night's sleep.