Today, we did a thing: we invited our friend to what we term a ‘sticky day of fun’ (referring to the state we land home in, given the usually hot weather in which we explore). This day would be fun, but would be considerably less sticky – the weather wasn’t the best. However, Tuscany can be grand in all weathers and a little rain (or a lot of rain) wouldn’t spoil the day….. completely.

We took the road Siena road, going through Castel San Gimignano, Campiglia, Le Grazie and Colle di Vald’Elsa, and from there joined the motorway system all the way to our first destination: San Quirico d’Orcia. I’d been wanting to visit this little town ever since we blazed past it during our first trip to the valley, over two years previously. The journey took a little under two hours. We parked in a free carpark and took a couple of flights of steps up to the outskirts of the old town. As soon as we’d passed by a couple of buildings and a sculpture, and we passed through behind the wall into the town itself, the rain started to come down.

One of the first things Irish visitors say about Italian hilltowns, once they’ve gotten over the different aesthetics, is how clean the streets are. And we, even though we were used to hilltowns, all commented on how clean San Quirico’s streets were. They were immaculate. There were also large sculptures within the piazzette dotted around the town.

We found another gate into town at which stood a white-stoned church. Not the one above, but another smaller one. Inside was the most extraordinary sculpted relief on a lectern, which looked very Celtic in origin – it took Niamh and I by surprise.

Hunger was beginning to be a factor, but we completed our route around the town – in as much as the rain allowed. We came across gardens, squares and lovely little courtyards. The one thing I thought was lacking in the old town, were views of the actual Val d’Orcia itself. It seems to rest on a hill, which gently declines all around, and on which are build modern areas. Even when I managed to climb to a walkway atop an old wall, the view into the modern town and beyond was blocked by larger olive trees. There are some views, but they seem to be across a more level plain near the Val d’Orcia. Just an observation… not much the townsfolk can do about it.

Hunger took us, and we had a look at a couple of menus until we found one that would suit all of us, and settled on La Bottega di Ines.

We were pleased with both the food and service, and it was just a nice place to sit and relax out of the rain. Would I recommend San Quirico. Yes – it’s lovely, and it’s perfectly well-positioned to be a base of operations for exploring many Val d’Orcia sights, like the Vitaleta Chapel, the Cypress hill and our next destination – the spa hamlet of Bagno Vignoni.

It’s not often Google sends us all over the place, but we were about to experience the havoc it can occasionally wreak getting into Bagno Vignoni. This village lies just 5.5 kilometers south of San Quirico. Google took us to a dirt track to park. The so-called carpark must be for the nearby thermal river. We rechecked before we found a ridiculously obvious carpark just outside of the village.

Bagno Vignoni is pretty much there for tourists… the whole village. Buildings surround a thermal pool, which is emptied and refilled periodically. Small offshoots of roads with hotels, shops and holiday rentals spread away from this central square. All is perfect and seemingly ready-made. Normally, this might annoy me, but honestly the effect is profoundly lovely, and we swore that we’d come again in better weather to spend a couple of nights in the spa hotel. We actually have not gotten around to do this yet.

The town was surrounded by distant thick fog and mist, but rain threatened, and we only made it about two-thirds of the way around the pool before the heavens opened.

I had to laugh, as I was pointing my phone everywhere, when I got closer to the row of sculpted monkeys and saw that they too were not fully present, and were too on their phones, not paying sufficient attention to their surroundings. To my credit, I started filming and taking photos less. We stopped at a shop recommended to us by our friend – one of those general Tuscan crafts stores, but sadly it was closed. Protecting our heads, we stopped under an awning and pondered our next move. The bar!

The ladies had a prosecco each, and I had a refreshing cedrata.

We had one final stop – one of the most famous hilltowns in Tuscany: Montalcino; a town famous for its incredible wines, most notable Brunello di Montalcino.

When we approached the town, we gritted our teeth when Mrs. Google seemed to take us through part of the centre of town. I was keeping an eye out for ZTL signs, but it didn’t look like to me we went through any. We wound up near the top layer of the town in a carpark right next to its magnificent fortress (more on that later).

We got out of the car and walked back down the hill more towards the centre of town. The first thing I noticed was there there seemed to an incredible number of enoteche, where you can go in and have a wine tasting, along with some nibbles to help with the flavour profile. I would have said there might be a couple of dozen in the town, maybe? I imagine most large producers have a tasting shop in Montalcino, as well a space near the vineyards.

It was a little wet, with rain spitting down every so often, and so our explore was somewhat cursory. Having said that, the town had a really positive effect on me, and I found myself falling in love with it. But we also had to do what people do when they usually come to Montalcino: wine! In our explore, we hit the main piazzetta, with its magnificently narrow council building and secular belltower, but wandered down some side streets, trying to settle on a place to stop for a half hour to try out the vino, and maybe have an afternoon pastry.

We walked into a place and were greeted by the owner, and showed into the back, where one would ordinarily be able to see a magnificent view of the valley over some of the town’s rooves. The ladies stalled, not otherwise liking the look/smell of the place and because the view was non-existent today, we walked out again. I hate doing that – especially in places that are already quite empty. I get an attack of the guilts. Instead, we walked back to the main square, into a fairly hifalutin place, where I’d say they already get their fair share of custom, despite the reviews on Google: Caffè Fiaschetteria Italiana 1888.

The enoteca was trying to be more than actually was, but the service was friendly enough – one new girl was being trained in very diligently by the other on duty, who was dressed like an old-school waiter. We asked for three Brunelli of different levels of maturity, with me getting the middle one. I came out the victor, more through sheer dumb luck than any true oenophilia. They were expensive, but I have to say I enjoyed mine.

Once done, we headed back to the car, but visited the fortress before heading home. It’s a magnificent place, and I is a wonderful venue for outdoor cinema and concerts. I didn’t take too many photos, but you can see more footage in the YouTube video below.

When it was time to go, I pulled my usual trick of setting a route home to avoid tolls and motorways, so we’d have something new to see. Unfortunately, for the first 10 or so kilometers we were taken on a white road. Not fun to drive on, but in fairness it gave us some potentially wonderful views, especially the thumbnail of the video below – which would have been nicer in better weather.

So, would I visit Montalcino again? You betchya… I’d even stay over once the weather gets finer!

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