As most of our friends know, shortly before we left for this trip to Italy, Carol broke a bone in her foot. She was confined to a boot (she called "la Barcheta"...the boat) while she recovered.
This severely restricted her mobility and put a serious dent into her plans for cycling while we are here.
Ah, but technology came to the rescue.
Carol's friend Stefi has a shop here in Pienza that rents e-bikes.
You still must pedal to get anywhere...
...but the motor on the back wheel provides a little boost that helps you get up the ubiquitous hills.
It comes with a rechargeable battery....but with motor and battery added the bike weighs 50 pounds...three times what her normal bike weighs.
Carol started slowly, riding her e-bike without "la barcheta" and increasing mileage and stress on her foot a bit each day.
Finally, the day came for the big test.
From Pienza through San Quirico d'Orcia, up the big hill to Montalcino, and then down the prettiest road in Tuscany to the Ciacci Piccolomini Winery.
The history of the winery is closely tied to the monastery.
Where the winery now sits was land once owned by the Abbot of San Antimo.
After the unification of Italy in 1860, the Church was required to sell its non-ecclesiastic holdings at auction. The land was purchased by Alberto Piccolomini, a direct descendant of the Pope who founded Pienza (see our October 2015 blog post, "The Family Piccolomini"). More than a century later, his last descendant died without an heir...and her will left the land to her estate manager, Giuseppe Bianchini...
...the father of the man in this picture. (His wife, who owns and runs the winery with him, is on the right.)
His name is Paolo Bianchini. In his youth, Paolo was Italian Amateur Cycling Champion and later a professional racer.
This, of course, is the reason we road to the winery...to taste his wine and see the cycling museum he's put on his property.
Wine and bicycles together! Our two favorite vices in one place! How could we not have found this place sooner?
The museum is filled with momentos from Bianchini's days as a professional racer, his bikes and his racing jerseys.
But also memorabilia from his friends, like this 1997 World Champion's jersey signed by Alessandra Cappolotto...
...or five-time Tour De France winner Miguel Induran...
The setting for the winery is magnificent...
...overlooking their vineyards and olive grove.
In 2012, Wine Spectator magazine named their brunello one of the ten best wines in the world.
The wine we tasted gave us no reason to doubt either judgement.
(For more on brunello, see our October 2013 blog post "Really Good Wine.)
Their olive oil wasn't too shabby either (Bottle at the right in this picture). It has a very spicy taste and a peppery after-taste that lingers.
We've never been able to find anything like it at home.
So, along with wine, we're bringing some oil home too.
However good their wine is, the Bianchini's are even better marketers.
They make it a pleasure to drop several hundred euros for lunch, a little wine, and some olive oil.
We joined the winery's bike club our way home. Note Carol paid good money for the privilege of getting a jersey promoting their brand. (Roger too!)
The ride home was a beast.
The photo at the right shows Carol mid-way up a 12 km long climb from Monte Amiata to Castiglione d'Orcia.
For the bike geeks among you: 70 km with 1450 meters of climbing (including two Category 2 climbs, the same number the professional racers faced on the next day's stage of the Giro d'Italia).
Quite a comeback for an old lady with a broken foot. Si?
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