Small Towns, Big Traffic

The house we rented is in the hamlet of Camporsevoli. The nearest town is Piazze, then Cetona, and the "big city" nearby is Chiusi. The house has five bedrooms, a huge kitchen, dining room, living room, swimming pool (too cold right now), and DSL internet service (hooray). This is especially critical for the political "junkies" in our group who need their fix of U.S. political news every waking minute.

We put our toe in the water (so to speak) and explored some of southern Tuscany. We visited the hill towns of Montepulciano and Pienza. I can't figure out why the Italians always built their towns on top of hills. It must have been to protect themselves from invaders or because their sewer systems would work well flowing downhill all the time.

Montepulciano is the heart of a wine area known for its Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a red wine that is a blend of several varietals, with the Sangiovese grape dominant. We tried two bottles at lunch and a couple more at dinner. The verdict - "good juice".

Driving our Ford Transit is an experience. I am becoming very adept at shifting its manual transmission. It actually has good pickup for a lightweight, squarish vehicle.

Winding roads are no problem for me, the driver, but I can sense that some of the passengers are getting a bit car sick at times on all the winding roads.

Traffic in and around the towns is busy. I suppose that it is still the high season for tourism. Even though a lot of Americans may be staying home, there seem to be a lot of European tourists.

We encountered a bicycle tour group when we arrived in Pienza. They were with Trek Tours on a six day trip throughout Tuscany. Some of the bicyclists looked like they could handle any of the hills, but a few people looked like they would be riding a lot in the support vehicle.