The Carmichaels Abroad: April 12th: Margaret learns why they're called "Tuscan Hill Towns"

Tuscany is beautiful, but not for the faint of heart. Our second day of wandering the Tuscan countryside had no particular goal, and in fact the drive itself was certainly a highlight of our trip. Every time we got out of the car today we faced a walk straight up hill at at least a 45 degree angle, usually over rough terrain. One can soon see why so many Italian vicoli, or tiny streets, in hill towns are actually flights of stairs. We walked ramparts in Monticino and learned about Brunello at an Enotica in a castle, then went to the tiny walled town of Murlo and saw an excellent museum on the Etruscan finds from the archeological dig at Poggio Civitate. After a scenic drive through "La Pineola" we arrived at the ruined Abbey of San Galgano. It is described in our guide as, "the most evocative ruin in Tuscany," and maybe it is, when it is not a sunny spring afternoon with lovers lying on the daisy-filled lawns, perhaps as they have done for centuries, and snapping selfies. We enjoyed the time there very much, but it certainly didn't seem like an abandoned ruin, victim of the Fourteenth Century plague, which it actually is. We hoped to make it back to Asciano in time to see the Museo here, so took the "quickest" route back, but outsmarted ourselves and got stuck in a preplanned traffic jam. Arriving at 5:45 for a 6:00 closing helped us choose to get our laundry underway so we will bring only clean clothes into Florence tomorrow, so here we sit in Asciano, not daring to drink a second cup of coffee this close to bedtime, and watching our laundry spin in the dryer. Good thing that dinner hours doesn’t really start until 8 here.

This lovely old oak is next to the ruined abbey of San Galgano

At Montalcino, Margaret walking from the car park to the duomo.

View of Montalcino from the ramparts.

One way to get up the ramparts.

From the ramparts of the Castello, one looks down on the pigeons!

Ian on the ramparts.


The Enotica at the Castello, where Ian is buying wine.

A beautiful villa we passed while driving.

Mulano: A small walled city with an amazing museum.

Etruscan figure of a man.

An Etruscan "Gorgon" head.

Etruscan helmet. I wonder what an Etruscn head looked like. The museum was interesting because the site at Poggio Civitate was a workshop that made all sorts of items for other areas. Sometimes only rejects or broken bits were left, but many beautiful items were found as well.