Pienza's Hidden Treasures

Pienza and its environs are known for several things:  Pecorino di Pienza (sheep’s-milk cheese), wine, and olive oil.  They’re noted in every tourist guidebook.  But there are many other things…just as interesting...the guidebooks overlook.

Sunrise over the Val d'Orcia

Autumn mornings, the Val d’Orcia is often blanketed with fog.  

…pretty to look at but very dangerous to cycle in.

Many of these treasures are tucked away down strade bianche (the gravel roads) that dot the countryside.

Or the strade verde...a whole network of well-marked hiking trails .  They are heavily used and connect small towns with 8-12km of walking between each stop.  We have walked on one, from Pienza to its rival town, San Quirico.   The trails skirt fields of crete ( huge clumps of the famous local clay soil), vineyards and olive orchards.  There are flowers, birds and other sights, depending upon the time of year.  We have met a number of people on self-guided walking tours and they are enthusiastic about their mode of transport as we are about cycling in the area.  Add to the mix, drivers who love the curvy roads and just about everyone is happy.

What are some of these treasures?

The beekeeper who makes miele castagna… chestnut honey.

Or the chianina (white cows) used to make Flortenine steaks...which put the best Angus beef back home to shame.

 And their calves, who are butchered to make Vitello Bianco (white veal).

Sometimes, it’s just what you see along the side of the road…

Spider web wet with morning dew

Last butterfly of the season

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The town the tour books forgot:  Montecchiello.  It’s on the next big hill south of Pienza.

You enter the quiet cobbled streets through the Porte Leone (Lion’s Gate).  

There are no distinctive products, like Pienza’s cheese.  

No special history.

Just a medieval walled town with quiet garden paths...

...perched high on a hill...

...free of tourists hordes and motorized traffic.  

It’s a great place to take a 600 year step back in time.

In another town nearby, we discovered a restaurant, 13 Gobbi (13 Hunchbacks), where the specialty of the house is worth every bit of the cholesterol overdose it provides.

It’s home-made tagliatelli, cooked in a cream sauce, and then poured, piping-hot, into a partially hollowed-out wheel of pecorino di Pienza.

The hot pasta melts the cheese in the wheel.

The cook scrapes more of the cheese into the mix…

…adds a bit of black pepper…

…and voila!…clogged arteries…

…but ooh so good.

This part of Toscana is noted for its ceramica (pottery)…traditionally with Etruscan ornamentation.

But in the same town as the restaurant, there are a pair of ceramic artists tucked away in a small laboratorio (workshop) who have put a different twist on tradition.

Massimo Lippi hand-paints a wide variety of traditional and modern designs.

…some of them very intricate.

While his work-mate Mariella Spinelli created place-settings of dishes Carol just couldn’t resist. 



 

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The conventional wisdom is foreign tourists who have fallen in love with the area have driven the price of real estate sky-high.  Despite this, if you look hard enough, you can still find a good deal on real estate.

OK, so it needs a little work.