A Week In Tuscany, South Of Siena

Shops close for the afternoon rest time. Coming from the land of everything open all the time, this is hard for me to remember each trip, but most shops close for the afternoon starting between noon and 1pm and reopening in late afternoon, around 5pm (food shops, delis, bakeries, clothing shops, etc). Many times we have arrived in a village at 2pm to find it locked up tight, not a person in sight. You can’t even tell which buildings are shops because the blinds are covering the store windows. It seems like an abandoned village. But, come back in a few hours and the blinds are up, the shops are open, kids are playing in the piazza, the cafes are packed. It is a village full of life.

Shops close one day a week for early closing and all day on Sunday. Early closing is still a regular occurrence in many parts of Italy. One day a week all the shops close after the morning opening hours and do not reopen in the late afternoon. On Sunday most shops are closed all day.

Lunch starts between 1pm and 2pm. In most countryside restaurants, lunch is a long, leisurely affair taking up to two hours, but the window for being seated is brief. Most restaurants start serving around 12:30pm, but will not seat you after 2:00pm.

Make reservations for Sunday lunch. Sunday lunch is popular in Italy and is a wonderful thing to experience. Large groups gather for a leisurely lunch sitting outside looking out to the glorious countryside. Call the restaurant a day or two ahead to reserve.

Pizza is for dinner. Most countryside restaurants only serve pizza in the evenings, so don’t count on a quick pizza lunch. For a quick meal, get pizza by the slice from a bakery or food items from a deli for a picnic or a sandwich at a cafe.

It always takes longer to get somewhere than you planned. They say “all roads lead to Rome” and they mean that literally. Going north and south in Italy is easy. Going east and west, across mountains, is slow going on winding roads with no passing lane. Of course you get stuck behind a truck chugging out diesel fumes all the way up that long hill.

Park the car and take the train. Viamichelin.com says it takes 1hr 31min to drive from Montepulciano to Florence, but that does not count the extra 30 minutes stuck in traffic on the A1 as it nears Florence, or the time looking for the parking lot, or walking from the parking lot into the center of Florence. If you cannot schedule a few nights for Florence and must do a day trip, take the train from Chiusi. The train is not expensive and you arrive in the center of Florence.

Bring a guidebook or two. My favorite Tuscany guidebook is the Cadogan Guide to Tuscany by Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls. It covers all of Tuscany in good detail and also suggests restaurants. I have been known to tear out the pages for the area we are visiting and stuff them in my purse so I don’t have to carry the whole book.

Spend the morning in Montalcino, then drive to nearby Sant’Antimo Abbey in time for the 12:45pm chanting. You have various lunch options: have a picnic on the grounds with deli things you picked up earlier, go back to Montalcino for lunch at one of their excellent restaurants, have lunch in Bagno Vignoni. After lunch, drive south to Bagno Vignoni and soak your feet in the hot springs.

• Montalcino is perched on a hilltop surrounded by fields growing grapes for the local wine production. There are several good restaurants here, plus cafes and shops.


• Sant’Antimo Abbey (Abbazia di Sant'Antimo) is Romanesque church from the 12th century. The monks who live here do Gregorian chanting at scheduled times throughout the day. The abbey is open all day but some parts are only accessible from 10:30am – 12:30pm and 3:00pm – 6:30pm. The Gregorian chanting happens at 7:00am, 9:00am, 12:45pm, 2:45pm, 7:00pm, 8:30pm (9pm summer).


• Bagno Vignoni is a village with natural hot springs. The hot water goes in a shallow channel along the edge of the town where you can sit and soak your feet or you can bath in the natural hot springs water at the spa in the town. There are several good restaurants for lunch here. There is a good hiking trail along the river and up to Ripa d’Orcia, returning along the white road through the hamlet Vignoni and back to town.

In the morning do a driving tour of the area south of Pienza, stop somewhere for lunch, then get to La Foce for an afternoon garden tour. The driving tour I outlined below starts from Montepulciano. Some places you may want to stop, some you will just drive by.

• Chianciano Terme is an old-fashioned spa town, more for Italian tourists than foreign ones. There are some good food stores and good linen stores.


• Cetona is a sleepy town with a couple of nice cafes and restaurants in a beautiful part of the countryside. This is a weekend destination for many Romans who have country homes here.


• San Casiano dei Bagni is another spa town with a very nice new spa just outside of town. The town is small and very pretty. We love the café at the edge of the town and Daniela, the restaurant beside it.


• Celle sul Rigo is a small town perched at the top of the hill. From here you drive back north towards La Foce and Pienza.


• Monticchiello, just south of Pienza, is a lovely village with a good café/restaurant. Just past the town is one of those much photographed winding cypress-lined roads.


• La Foce, the historic home of Iris Origo, offers garden tours on Wednesday afternoons, every hour from 3pm to 7pm (5pm winter). The most famous of cypress-lined roads, the one you see on postcards all over Italy, is on the road to La Foce and is visible from the La Foce gardens (the road was created to be seen from these gardens).

Sorano, Sovana, Pitigliano and Saturnia in south-western Tuscany are hill towns with ancient Etruscan origins. This is an interesting corner of Tuscany to explore, much different than the area around Montepulciano. The direct route is south on the SS2, but you might want to take a slower route starting at Castiglione d’Orcia, going to Castel del Piano, then to Pitigliano along the slopes of Monte Amiata.

• Etruscan remains are found outside of Sovana and Pitigliano. My favorites are the Etruscan Pathways, paths cut deep into the rocks which the Etruscans used to move about the area. You will find these just north of Pitigliano.


• Pitigliano is best viewed on the road from Manciano. The road rounds a corner and starts down a steep valley. Across from you is Pitigliano, seeming to rise out of the stone at the top of the hillside. It is a magnificent sight. The first time we saw this view of the town we nearly rear-ended the car ahead of us who stopped right in the middle of the road, he was so stunned by the view. Park outside the town and walk the streets of Pitigliano. Much of the historic center has been restored. There is a nice trail that takes you under the town, along the hillside, so you look up to see the stone houses built on the stone hilltop. Good restaurants and cafes here.


• Saturnia is famous for it hotsprings. You can see them just off the road south of town (a waterfall of hot water where you can bathe for free) or in the beautiful modern spa on the other side of the road. The town is beautiful and has many good restaurants. On the edge of town is a Roman arch and the remains of a stone Roman road.