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We travelled quite a bit in these last two days. |
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We drove out of Siena through the Tuscan countryside. |
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Montalcino sitting on its hill top. |
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Montalcino church. |
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View from Montalcino. |
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We visited the Abbey of Sant'Antimo. |
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Then on through typical countryside, with vines ... |
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and abandoned stone huts. |
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The town of Bagno Vignoni is unusual: where the main square should be, there is a large therapeutic bath. |
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Although St Catherine of Siena is said to have bathed here, the water does not meet current health standards. |
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We went on along back roads ... |
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and eventually reached Capella di Vitaleta, on a farm in the countryside near Pienza. |
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We went on to Pienza, birthplace of Pope Pius II. When he became Pope, we wanted to turn Pienza into a model renaissance town. He built a cathedral, convent and palazzo, but when he died nobody wanted to pursue the project. Pienza has changed little in the past 500 years. This is a view looking towards the cathedral. |
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Ceramics inside the cathedral. |
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The convent attached to the cathedral has been converted into a very comfortable hotel, where we stayed in 2009. People who are not hotel guests can look at the cloister. |
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The Palazzo Piccolomini. |
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View from the ramparts of Pienza. |
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View out of one of Pienza's gates. |
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We briefly visited Montepulciano, to look at the Church of San Biagio just outside the town walls. |
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Inside San Biagio |
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Steps up the town of Montepulciano. |
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The main piazza in Arezzo. |
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Pattern of the ceiling and lights in a loggia on the main piazza in Arezzo. |
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Annunciation angel in a fresco in the Duomo, Arezzo. |
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Lion fountain in Radda in Chianti. |
| hen it was one last journey to drop the car in Rome. |
