East meets West: Montepulciano, Tuscany

Montepulciano, Tuscany

A few years ago we spent 3 weeks in Firenze and toured Tuscany, including a few quick trips to Siena and San Gimignano. But we didn't go to Montepulciano, considering the town a bit too far out. It was therefore ironic that we should drive there last weekend - all the way from Modena. It took us 3 hours each way, past traffic jams and in bad weather - but it was well worth the effort for we had good company, nice food (e.g. pici, pecorino, wild boar, honey...), fabulous wine (e.g. Nobile di Montepulciano) and beautiful landscapes. Not to forget a Ferrari.

Interesting roofs

We were 2 French and 2 German families, with a few major car makers represented e.g. Mercedes, Fiat/Ferrari, Audi/Lamborghini. So if the men were not talking wine, they could talk shop and very often the dining table would be divided into 3 sections : men, women and children's. Very macho, as Hub would say.

Osteria del Conte and the park opposite

In Montepulciano we lunched in a nice little family-run Osteria del Conte which served very good food from the region. It was tartufo season so they offered a tartufo menu that Hub didn't hesitate to take up. This was probably the last weekend that we'd be doing together (at least in Italy) with CB and MB, so I was a little sad. It's not easy finding friends with children of around the same age, with similar tastes in food, wine, accommodation etc, friends who are also fun, interesting, easy-going and kind. But we should count ourselves lucky to have found them in the first place.

Old

The views from Montepulciano were beautiful. It stopped raining a little when we were there and we even had a bit of sunshine. CB and her hub were there not too long ago and they had enjoyed the town so much they brought us back with them.

They seem to like kakis

There were also pretty little boutiques all over, many of them selling leather shoes and accessories. If we weren't moving, I would have been tempted to take a closer look - especially at those gorgeous red leather boots being displayed in a number of windows. But well, we could only bring 67 cubic metres with us, so I must eliminate, not acquire.