montepulciano (aka new moon's volterra)

as seen during:

Among my last few days in Florence, my language partner, Giacomo, and I took a day trip to some of the tiny little Tuscan hill towns. After seeing beauties like San Gimignano and Siena, Montepulciano and Pienza were also on my list. Of course, as you can tell, there were other motives for wanting to go to Montepulciano.

For some reason, the directors of New Moon decided to use Montepulciano as Volterra (instead of the real Volterra) and it was really strange to think that a multi-million dollar film was made in the tiny, deserted town we visited. And as excited as I was to be there because I like Twilight (I'm not obsessed), the town was gorgeous and charming on its own.

Snow-capped fields in the distance, steep hills reminiscent of San Francisco, and a cute little lunch in a tiny restaurant near the main piazza. Even more than that, I loved that I got to visit the town with Giacomo. It takes a lot of patience to travel with me (I like to stop and take photos too much) but it was the perfect trip together after fortuitously meeting through a language-partner exchange. Grazie mille, Giacomo! Mi manchi!

PS - This post is also dedicated to my sister, who shamelessly indulges in this series with me, and who just got her U.S. Citizenship yesterday! (Congrats Ate! Love you).

pienza (the tiniest tuscan town)

I've been thinking about Italy a lot lately, since my cousin is headed there tomorrow (jealous!) and I keep in touch with my host dad by emailing often (in Italian, of course). During my last few days in Italy, my language partner, Giacomo, and I drove through Tuscany to visit Montepulciano and Pienza. More on Montepulciano later, but for now, Pienza: is the quaintest little Tuscan hill town ever.

I think that Giacomo and I were able to walk from one end of the town to the other in less than 15 minutes. It's minuscule. But it's adorable. Everything has a lovely, rose tinge to it, and flower boxes hang on the walls along the houses. All of the streets are named something love-related, like "via dell'amore" (street of love) or "via del bacio" (street of kisses). I don't actually know if Pienza is the smallest town in Tuscany, but I think its smallness adds to its charm.

Clothes hang along the high walls to dry. The sun is warm and welcoming. Everything is picturesque, untouched by tourists. And along the city walls, are miles and miles of beautiful Tuscany. It's the small Italian town of my dreams.

san gimignano

when i first arrived in florence in january,
i asked my host dad where i should go
he said that san gimignano was "meravigliosa"
(marvelous)
and he was right (of course)

of all of the tuscan hill towns that i've been to
san gimignano is my favorite

the city walls right at the entrance

shops

the well in piazza della cisterna

buildings along the piazza

i think i have an obsession with towers
because i always try to climb one when i get to cities with one

at one point, san gimignano used to have 72 towers
today, they have been able to preserve 14

lucky for my knee/legs/feet
you can only climb the tallest one ;)

views from la grossa
tower views are always, always worth it.
especially when it's a sunny day in tuscany

little street

going to san gimignano was a very quick day trip,
but i hope that one day i can come back to show everyone that i love

siena

i should have seen this coming

after the volterra episode

but of course i assume the weather will be better

and it's snowing just as much

ha!

well i couldn't do much in siena

because the weather was so hard to function in

but i walked around a little and enjoyed

it's cute little streets

il campo

so

much

snow

il duomo

it was really hard to take pictures

while wet snow was flying everywhere

so most of my photos are from the inside of the beautiful duomo

carvings in almost all of the floors

medieval song book

in the piccolomini library

probably my favorite thing from siena from my visit

please note:

none of the art on the wall

has ever undergone restoration

and i bet it must have looked this beautiful,

if not more, 500 years ago when it was made

i always think libraries are the most beautiful

thanks, siena