Never heard of it...until the previous night. It was the road that ran right through Sam Gimignano - in one gate and out the other. It was a middle ages pilgrim route from Canterbury England to Rome.
Today, we're going to walk a bit of it from Strove to Isola Abbey to the fort at Monteriggioni.
Olive grove
Olives
Wild flower
Nobody died. It's the trail marker.
Isola Abbey
Isola Abbey
Some archology happening here
Trail view
Grinding up the hill to the fort. Yes, Anita warned us of this one!
That's not Oz over there. It's San Gimignano!
Tasty lunchtime beverages!
The fort and walls at Monteriggioni
After lunch, we had a nice walk to a sheep cheese farm. It that a thing? Sheep cheese farm?
Always vineyards...
The sheep!
The sheep dog
The tour
Sheep milking machines
Cheese processing and aging
Cheese tasting
It was all very interesting, but a bit sketchy. The milk wasn't pasteurized, the utensils at the tasting didn't appear too clean. The "wine" served tasted pretty vinegary. Maybe it was vinegar? The cheese was tasty and nobody got sick, so...
Back to our hotel for the last night there.
Antonio drives the bus
Not a lot of straight roads in this part of Tuscany. Here's some views on the way back to the hotel.
This night we all ate together again at the hotel. Another excellent meal.
So, that black rooster? Here's the legend. Florence and Siena (the city, not the US college!) were having a territorial argument over boundaries. So, they decided that each would send out a knight by horseback at the break of dawn. Where they met was the boundary. Dawn was when the rooster crowed.
Sounds fair, but Florence took a black rooster, put it in a box and starved it for three days. They released it at night. It immediately crowed and off rode their knight, meeting the other knight almost all the way across the Chianti region. The black rooster is now the symbol for the region...and a monument to animal cruelty?
Another day, another walk, another winery. Can't beat that!
"Anita, how much is uphill today?" "Oh, my little children..."
Walking through the mostly abandoned town of Olena.
The view west
Olena is not dead, yet, and neither are this bug and Beemer
Most likely San Genovese grapes, ready to go.
Leaving Olena
Tuscany views to the east
Up through a vineyard to a shaded platform
Olives and grapes.
...and those tall, spiky spruce trees
The walk ended at a medieval castle, Castello della Paneretta. Another winery tour, then lunch.
grapes drying out to get sugar level up.
The castle started with a tower. Tuscany and towers. A theme.
I have no idea.
Fresco ceiling. Ancient and in good condition!
castle courtyard
the cellar
lunch!
Winery lunch hound.
No caption needed.
The evening was spent at San Gimignano. A town of towers. Middle ages towns generally sprung up on hills - mostly for protection from other towns. Inside each town, those of means built towers - somewhat for protection, but mostly just to show off. San Gimignano was right smack dab on the trade route and pilgrimage route between places far to the west and the Holy Land and points east, so it prospered. Lots of towers. Then they got into such internal fighting, they called on Florence to help keep the peace. Florence did. They moved the road and commerce in San Gimignano collapsed. The town was more or less preserved due to the lack of any economic progress. Now, it's a tourist mecca because of it's relatively unaltered state.
The town has a gate on each end.
The piazza
The view from the town wall
City hall and a church
Dueling towers
The view from the other side of town
Dinner was in town at a restaurant where they served one gourmet thing after the other. I have completely forgotten what, but it was quite a dinner.
We bussed it back to Panzano in the dark. Tomorrow, the VF.
