HANNAH SHARES

In 2018 I came to Italy to visit Josie and Zach and Josie and I spent a couple of days in Tuscany in the most perfect small town, Montalcino. We stayed at one of the cutest B&Bs and I always had it in my mind that I would love to go back someday. Little did I know we would be living close enough to take a drive there over the weekend a couple of years later!

We went to Tuscany when my parents visited in July, but we stayed in Florence, and I wanted to go back with Michael and stay in the countryside, which is a much different experience (both wonderful though!). Michael usually has a 4-day weekend each month for either a Federal or training holiday, so we’ve been trying to plan something each of those weekends. We booked two nights at the B&B I loved and my Dad scheduled a wine tour for us (thank you, Dad!), but otherwise we left the weekend open to just relax and explore.

We drove down on Friday morning, checked in and headed for the pool. Michael grabbed us each a glass of white wine from the little bar in the hotel lobby to enjoy outside. The hotel was just as perfect as I remembered, and honestly the views from the pool area alone are worth the stay. The hotel staff are friendly and kind and it’s a short drive to the town of Montalcino. Normally I prefer staying within walking distance to everything as Italy is generally not the most fun to drive around, but this area is fairly quiet and driving-friendly. Parking is easy too!

We got cleaned up for the evening and walked around Montalcino in search of a good dinner spot. I can’t describe the idyllic feel of this place, but it seriously is my favorite. I had several of those “pinch me” moments that we are able to drive somewhere so incredible for the weekend and just “hang out” with no pressure of checking off all the boxes, because we can come back! Montalcino sits on top of a hill, so as you wander the streets you get incredible views of the surrounding area around every corner, and even looking through some of the shops and restaurants to their back windows. It isn’t touristy in the slightest. We ate dinner at Ristorante Il Giardino. We had a fantastic meal, but I will say, we got there around 7pm and didn’t leave until almost 10pm. Italians really believe meals are an “experience”, which is great unless you have a super tired baby with you! Lucy did really well, but we had to wrap it up and the restaurant was very kind to pack up our dessert with us to take back to the hotel.

On Saturday we ate breakfast at the hotel and walked through the town again in the morning. I stumbled upon this ceramic shop where a local older man was hand-painting ceramic pieces inside. It’s called Bottega Artigiana Ceramiche if you ever find yourself in Montalcino. I found out that everything for sale he made himself! The pieces were all so beautiful, mostly landscapes of the town and surrounding area painted on everything you can imagine. We are collecting Christmas ornaments from everywhere we visit and so I picked out a beautiful ornament he painted.

We drove about an hour to go to lunch at Passo dopo Passo Osteria in Relais Riserva di Fizzano, an ancient medieval village owned by the Rocca delle Macie Winery. We had a very good lunch outside that overlooked the vineyards of the area. The restaurant was definitely more of a “foodie” vibe, which I really liked, but Michael prefers larger portions, ha! It was perfect for lunch though, and we had a great bottle of Chardonnay (Campo Maccione Moonlite – we loved it). After lunch we headed to the actual winery, Rocca delle Macìe, for a tour and tasting. The winery was established in the 1970s by the Zingarelli family, who still owns it today. Italo Zingarelli was an Italian movie producer known in the “Spaghetti Western” genre, something I had never heard of, but Michael seemed familiar with some of the films. Our tour guide was a woman named Georgeta who has worked for the family since the ’90s. She shared her wealth of knowledge about the family, history of the property, and of course their wines and wine production in the area. Rocca delle Macìe is in the Chianti region, and therefore known for their Chianti Classico. I’ll save the lesson on Italy’s wine regions for another post (maybe Michael can guest post that one, he has really taken an interest into the different wines made here), but Chianti Classico is a distinct wine that can only be made in the Chianti region of central Tuscany. Georgeta was so fun to hang out with while we were there, and she was great with Lucy, too! The wines we tasted at Rocca were some of our favorites we’ve tried since being in Italy. We came home with several of our favorites! We headed back late that afternoon to get ready for dinner back in Montalcino at Alle Logge di Piazza, right in the city center. It’s so funny, Lucy used to be just fine laying in the bassinet stroller when we would go out to eat, but she already has serious FOMO (fear of missing out) and wants to be a part of the table when we go out now. She was happy sitting in our laps at dinner. She just wants to see what’s going on!

Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and headed back to Vicenza. Two nights in Montalcino was the perfect amount of time. You can walk the whole town in about 15 minutes, so unless you have multiple wineries or day trips to see in the area, you really don’t need more than two nights here. We will definitely be back, and hope to take visitors with us to share this special place with!

xx Hannah

MONTALCINO GUIDE

DINING

Ristorante Il Giardino and Alle Logge di Piazza for dinner

THINGS TO DO

Explore! Walk around the town, pop into the shops; Wine tasting There are tons of little wine shops in the town itself to stop in and taste/purchase wines from the area; Wine tours/tastings We went to Rocca della Macìe on this trip (about an hour drive), Castello Banfi is closer and also wonderful.

HOTEL

Si Montalcino Hotel & Restaurant – the best!