Toscana - Day 3
Day 3 started with a visit to the Grancia di Cuna, a fortified medieval farm near the via Cassia, the ancient Roman road (and now a strada statale) which was in part also on the Via Francigena, the medieval route followed by pilgrims travelling to Rome from northern Europe.
The Grancia belonged to the Siena's Spedale of Santa Maria della Scala (a scala can be either a staircase or a ladder in Italian) which looked after the pilgrims and well... made money out of them too.
The Grancia is undergoing restoration; we had a look around but were shooed away by one of the workers, even though we were not in the way and there was no sign saying 'no entry' (they were plenty of other signs). I'll guess we'll have to go back when completed!
The second stop was the town of Buonconvento again on the via Cassia.
It's a medieval town all built of brick and - apparently - also a centre for the Art Nouveau in Italy (but we didn't see much to justify that claim).
It had 2 gates (Porta Senese and Porta Romana) but the second one was destroyed by the retreating Germans at the end of WWII.
In one of its churches, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII died of malaria in 1313.
(One of the plaques on the clock tower commemorates this, and also Dante's dashed hopes - he had high expectations that the German emperor would have restored imperial power in Tuscany bringing peace to Italy).
On one side of the main street there's Via del Sole and on other side the Via Oscura (dark street)
where, of course, the less well-to-do families lived.
Next stop was the town of Pienza.
It is a World Heritage Site because "It was in this Tuscan town that Renaissance town-planning concepts were first put into practice after Pope Pius II decided, in 1459, to transform the look of his birthplace. He chose the architect Bernardo Rossellino, who applied the principles of his mentor, Leon Battista Alberti. This new vision of urban space was realized in the superb square known as Piazza Pio II and the buildings around it: the Piccolomini Palace, the Borgia Palace and the cathedral with its pure Renaissance exterior and an interior in the late Gothic style of south German churches."
Here we visited the church of San Francesco
and the cathedral (which sports some worrying cracks on floors and walls - some of them covered by thin strips of glass so that they can be monitored if they move)
and then the beautiful Palazzo Piccolomini built for Pope Pius II (a Piccolomini) and inhabited by the family until the 1960s.
The palace has a small garden
with lovely views over another World Heritage Site, the Orcia Valley: "The landscape of Val d’Orcia is part of the agricultural hinterland of Siena, redrawn and developed when it was integrated in the territory of the city-state in the 14th and 15th centuries to reflect an idealized model of good governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing picture. The landscape’s distinctive aesthetics, flat chalk plains out of which rise almost conical hills with fortified settlements on top, inspired many artists. Their images have come to exemplify the beauty of well-managed Renaissance agricultural landscapes. The inscription covers: an agrarian and pastoral landscape reflecting innovative land-management systems; towns and villages; farmhouses; and the Roman Via Francigena and its associated abbeys, inns, shrines, bridges, etc."
After a walk around town
and along the ramparts
and a lunchtime drink and snack, we travelled towards San Quirico d'Orcia.
We were looking for a rural chapel, the Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta of which I had seen a picture on a cover of a book we have at home. We couldn't find the track leading to it and so admired it from a distance.
From the same vantage point, we could also see the town of Radicofani and its castle in the distance. (We had planned to visit it on day 4 but as it was pouring with rain and the visibility was poor, we had to leave it out)
Just after San Quirico, we were stopped by a carabinieri patrol. I am not quite sure why, as they only checked Adrian's driving licence and car rental papers (I was worried that they'd ask for the snow chains which you are supposed to carry in your boot until mid-April no matter how warm it is; indeed later that week under a baking sun, the matrix signs on the superstrada Pisa - Firenze reminded drivers of the needs for chains! Of course we didn't have them - they cost 10 euros a day to hire from the car rental company!)
We then called at Bagno Vignoni, a tiny village built around a thermal spring and dominated in the distance by the castle of Rocca d'Orcia.
We stopped for a coffee there and the barista thought that my strange accent was Swiss (there's a first time for everything!). He also told us not to wait another 12 years before visiting again.
After Bagno, we drove to La Foce, near Chianciano Terme.
This is a place that we both wanted to visit after reading Iris Origo's book "War in Val d'Orcia", a diary in which the Contessa (the daughter of an American diplomat and grand-daughter of an Irish peer, raised in Florence and married to an Italian count) talks about her personal experiences of WWII when she looked after refugees children from Turin and Genoa while the valley and the country were fought over by the Germans, the Fascists and the Allies.
The gardens are open on Wednesdays and we enjoyed a lovely guided tour in English (we were the only 2) led by a quirky and passionate lady. The rain stopped just before the guided tour started.
The tour starts from the farm's courtyard
The villa dates from the 15th century
but the gardens are from the 20th century, designed by architect Cecil Pinsent.
(this apparently was designed to look like an Art Deco necklace)
They are really beautiful and the views are amazing. It was very interesting to hear about how the designer overcame the terrain's limitations, tricking the eye into thinking that is all on one level.
From here you can also enjoy one of the iconic landscapes of Tuscany:
Not happy with ending the day with La Foce, we decided to push on to Montepulciano (which we had visited before)
where we had a quick look at the church of San Biagio (we were hoping - in vain - for a sunset: the stones take such a warm colour)
and then a walk around the town perched on top of a steep hill
Dinner back in Murlo at the same restaurant.
The previous night we were served some plain pizza bread/focaccia and it was yummy. So we both had focaccia farcita: a plain pizza cooked and sliced in half and then filled with fresh tomato and mozzarella and vegetables and baked again. Absolutely yummy!
We were so busy enjoying it that we only took pictures of the desserts which were finger-licking good too!
The Grancia belonged to the Siena's Spedale of Santa Maria della Scala (a scala can be either a staircase or a ladder in Italian) which looked after the pilgrims and well... made money out of them too.
The Grancia is undergoing restoration; we had a look around but were shooed away by one of the workers, even though we were not in the way and there was no sign saying 'no entry' (they were plenty of other signs). I'll guess we'll have to go back when completed!
The second stop was the town of Buonconvento again on the via Cassia.
It's a medieval town all built of brick and - apparently - also a centre for the Art Nouveau in Italy (but we didn't see much to justify that claim).
It had 2 gates (Porta Senese and Porta Romana) but the second one was destroyed by the retreating Germans at the end of WWII.
In one of its churches, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII died of malaria in 1313.
(One of the plaques on the clock tower commemorates this, and also Dante's dashed hopes - he had high expectations that the German emperor would have restored imperial power in Tuscany bringing peace to Italy).
On one side of the main street there's Via del Sole and on other side the Via Oscura (dark street)
where, of course, the less well-to-do families lived.
Next stop was the town of Pienza.
It is a World Heritage Site because "It was in this Tuscan town that Renaissance town-planning concepts were first put into practice after Pope Pius II decided, in 1459, to transform the look of his birthplace. He chose the architect Bernardo Rossellino, who applied the principles of his mentor, Leon Battista Alberti. This new vision of urban space was realized in the superb square known as Piazza Pio II and the buildings around it: the Piccolomini Palace, the Borgia Palace and the cathedral with its pure Renaissance exterior and an interior in the late Gothic style of south German churches."
Here we visited the church of San Francesco
and the cathedral (which sports some worrying cracks on floors and walls - some of them covered by thin strips of glass so that they can be monitored if they move)
and then the beautiful Palazzo Piccolomini built for Pope Pius II (a Piccolomini) and inhabited by the family until the 1960s.
The palace has a small garden
with lovely views over another World Heritage Site, the Orcia Valley: "The landscape of Val d’Orcia is part of the agricultural hinterland of Siena, redrawn and developed when it was integrated in the territory of the city-state in the 14th and 15th centuries to reflect an idealized model of good governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing picture. The landscape’s distinctive aesthetics, flat chalk plains out of which rise almost conical hills with fortified settlements on top, inspired many artists. Their images have come to exemplify the beauty of well-managed Renaissance agricultural landscapes. The inscription covers: an agrarian and pastoral landscape reflecting innovative land-management systems; towns and villages; farmhouses; and the Roman Via Francigena and its associated abbeys, inns, shrines, bridges, etc."
After a walk around town
and along the ramparts
and a lunchtime drink and snack, we travelled towards San Quirico d'Orcia.
We were looking for a rural chapel, the Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta of which I had seen a picture on a cover of a book we have at home. We couldn't find the track leading to it and so admired it from a distance.
From the same vantage point, we could also see the town of Radicofani and its castle in the distance. (We had planned to visit it on day 4 but as it was pouring with rain and the visibility was poor, we had to leave it out)
Just after San Quirico, we were stopped by a carabinieri patrol. I am not quite sure why, as they only checked Adrian's driving licence and car rental papers (I was worried that they'd ask for the snow chains which you are supposed to carry in your boot until mid-April no matter how warm it is; indeed later that week under a baking sun, the matrix signs on the superstrada Pisa - Firenze reminded drivers of the needs for chains! Of course we didn't have them - they cost 10 euros a day to hire from the car rental company!)
We then called at Bagno Vignoni, a tiny village built around a thermal spring and dominated in the distance by the castle of Rocca d'Orcia.
We stopped for a coffee there and the barista thought that my strange accent was Swiss (there's a first time for everything!). He also told us not to wait another 12 years before visiting again.
After Bagno, we drove to La Foce, near Chianciano Terme.
This is a place that we both wanted to visit after reading Iris Origo's book "War in Val d'Orcia", a diary in which the Contessa (the daughter of an American diplomat and grand-daughter of an Irish peer, raised in Florence and married to an Italian count) talks about her personal experiences of WWII when she looked after refugees children from Turin and Genoa while the valley and the country were fought over by the Germans, the Fascists and the Allies.
The gardens are open on Wednesdays and we enjoyed a lovely guided tour in English (we were the only 2) led by a quirky and passionate lady. The rain stopped just before the guided tour started.
The tour starts from the farm's courtyard
The villa dates from the 15th century
but the gardens are from the 20th century, designed by architect Cecil Pinsent.
(this apparently was designed to look like an Art Deco necklace)
They are really beautiful and the views are amazing. It was very interesting to hear about how the designer overcame the terrain's limitations, tricking the eye into thinking that is all on one level.
From here you can also enjoy one of the iconic landscapes of Tuscany:
Not happy with ending the day with La Foce, we decided to push on to Montepulciano (which we had visited before)
where we had a quick look at the church of San Biagio (we were hoping - in vain - for a sunset: the stones take such a warm colour)
and then a walk around the town perched on top of a steep hill
Dinner back in Murlo at the same restaurant.
The previous night we were served some plain pizza bread/focaccia and it was yummy. So we both had focaccia farcita: a plain pizza cooked and sliced in half and then filled with fresh tomato and mozzarella and vegetables and baked again. Absolutely yummy!
We were so busy enjoying it that we only took pictures of the desserts which were finger-licking good too!