Thanksgiving Abroad 2019 – Val D’Orcia

After spending an afternoon checking out Siena, we hopped into the rental car and headed south on SR2. The road cuts through the increasingly rugged terrain. Whereas northern Tuscany is gently rolling hills, southern Tuscany gets more wild. After about 45 minutes on SR2, we took a few roundabout exits underneath the hilltop town of Montalcino, eventually ending up on SP55. I will say this right now, if you’re prone to carsickness and you’re not driving, you may want to take a dramamine. Even though we were in our underpowered Fiat 500, the road twisted so much that my husband had to drive like he was in one of those luxury sports car commercials. (I am not prone to carsickness at all but trying to follow the map on my phone made me appreciate how my mom must have felt on the ship when we were sailing to Alaska.) I mournfully watched the turnoff for the Abbazia di Sant’Antimo go by, but daylight was rapidly dwindling away.

After a series of sharp switchbacks, we turned onto SS323. We nearly missed the turn off we needed to get to our next lodging because the road was relatively straight and my husband stomped onto the accelerator to try to make it to where we were going before it got dark. As we crept along the side road into the forest, we saw a sign for the winery but where was the hotel? The sign pointed down a gravel road and despite my misgivings trying to do that in a car with zero clearance, we crept for a solid five minutes down the gravel track. Finally, we came to a clearing accented by a large stone structure, which turned out to be the tasting room. We were immediately greeted by two large barking dogs who sounded ferocious but were the friendliest large dogs I’ve ever met. A well-fed cat soon joined us as we exited the car and the entire motley crew looked around for a bit. Finally I asked my hubby, isn’t someone supposed to, you know, meet us and give us keys or something? While he looked up the arrival information, I wandered around with the dogs and cat escorting me. The grounds of Podere Mondale are gorgeous, particularly when the vineyard and surrounding trees are decked out in vivid autumnal colors.

After 20 minutes, my hubby finally figured out he needed to call someone and shortly after, Giovanna got us into a small apartment located above the winery’s tasting room. We were the only guests on property while we were there and I have to say it was unnerving to be so isolated. I thought it would be soothing but every time the dogs barked, I would jolt awake worried that an Italian serial killer was stalking the rural countryside. I have way too vivid an imagination (plus, pretty sure that the dogs barking would scare off even a murderous deviant because they sounded pretty damn threatening).

Anyway, the dogs and cat were unhappy that they weren’t allowed into the apartment. They set up shop right outside the glass French doors so we would be sure not to overlook them whenever we in the living room. Despite my concerns about driving in the area at night (what, with the single lane gravel track and the roads clinging to the mountainsides), the hubby announced we needed to go into town to get dinner. We, along with the dogs and cat, trooped down to the car and after making sure no animals were harmed while he reversed out of the carport, we set off for the nearest town of any consequence – Castel del Piano.

Actually, Seggiano is closer but apparently, the town rolls up the sidewalks as soon as it’s dark so Castel del Piano was our best bet for an offseason dinner. We parked along the minuscule main street and walked to the far end to check out our options. Even though we were further south, the temperature felt far more frigid than any of our previous nights. My teeth were chattering and I was shivering compulsively. My hubby looked at me sidelong. Normally, it takes me forever to decide where to go eat but that night I basically opted for the first place that had any activity, the local pizzeria. Fortunately, the reason why it was so busy is that it was delicious. Stuffed on pizza and wine, I was sleepy and content while my hubby drove the hairpin turns back to the winery.

The next morning was cold and rainy. But we hopped into the car and headed 30 minutes north to Montalcino because no matter the weather, we still needed to explore! We pretty much had the town to ourselves. We ended up in a wine tasting room where we spent a fortune sampling a variety of Brunellos. We clambered around in the 13th-century fort. We wandered the cute little streets. We spent a few hours there before jumping back into the car.

It was a scenic 45-minute drive to our next hill town, Montepulciano. We parked and hiked up a never-ending series of staircases to enter the town. We stopped in yet another wine tasting room to try the local vintages. We were extraordinarily lucky to end up where we did because the proprietor was amazing. We sat in the cozy cellar-like space, drinking wine and eating snacks while she plied us with knowledge about the wines were drinking. Since it was pouring outside, I felt like it was an hour well spent. The rain subsided and we ventured out to explore the rest of the town, which was decked out with holiday decorations. We got a cup of hot chocolate from a candy shop. It was heavenly. I never knew hot chocolate could taste so good. I expected the wine, pasta and gelato to be amazing but hot chocolate?

After a few hours of exploring, it was growing dark and we had to make a decision. None of the Montepulciano restaurants that were open offseason would open for dinner until 8pm at the earliest. But it was an hour-long drive back to the winery so with the pace of dinner, we likely wouldn’t make it home until at least midnight. We decided to stop for dinner somewhere half-way home so we wouldn’t have such a long drive after a big hearty meal (and wine). We drove through the dwindling daylight, passing the quintessential Italian landscape studded with olive trees, stone pines, and crumbling farmhouses. It was dark by the time we neared Rocca D’Orcia but the ancient fortress tower Rocca di Tentennano that looms over the town was lit up and visible for miles. We initially tried walking the perimeter path around the steep cliff on top of which sat the tower (which they began building in 800 A.D.) but halfway around the path disappeared into a tangle of woods. With no lights and no moon, it was pitch black and we turned back in order not to risk spraining an ankle. We found ourselves in the old town where a single establishment had a huge crowd of older men standing outside smoking and talking. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be a bar. We ordered drinks and found an open table to while away the time until restaurants started opening up.

After a delicious dinner (and we were yet again the only tourists in the place), we drove back to the winery. I was looking forward to a nice hot shower but while we were out exploring, something happened to the hot water boiler. My hubby fell asleep but I stayed awake researching the maintenance manual, eventually discovering that whatever error there was required an actual technician. I didn’t realize it but the hot water boiler also controlled the heating in the apartment; when I woke in the morning, it was freezing in there. The staff did send a few people to try to fix the issue but it turned out to affect the entire building. They were very apologetic about the situation but there was no chance of getting a shower before we packed up the car to depart – with the assistance of the dogs, of course.

We said goodbye to the dogs, giving them dog treats we had picked up the day before. (We left a can of cat food out for the kitty and gave carrots to the horses too, we didn’t play favorites.) Before driving to Rome, we wanted to stop at one more hill town – Orvieto.

I plugged the name of the town into Google Maps and off we went. The app sent us through a tiny settlement before depositing us on a track that we weren’t exactly sure was a real road. The hubby pulled over to make sure I knew how Google Maps worked (or something like that) and while we bickered, I showed him the dot was on the blue line. We were on the route the app wanted us to take. Fine, he huffed and we continued down the lane. Well, let me tell you that I apparently had the scenic route option selected because the rest of the drive was literally jaw-dropping. The steep mountainsides of the Val D’Orcia comprise one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever done (and that’s saying a lot).

In Orvieto, I rode the escalators to the top (thank god the city officials installed those because my heart probably would have burst trying to climb all those stairs) and we found ourselves on the edge of the old town. As usual, we wandered aimlessly, stopping for lunch before checking out the incredibly ornate facade of the cathedral. Near the cathedral was a tiny park that overlooked the Umbrian countryside. As we approached, a group of friendly cats greeted us and posed for photos on the stone railing. Seeing the sweet kitties made me smile.

All too soon, we made our way back to the car for the final push to the Rome airport to return the rental car. The Autostradale is not the most scenic route, but it was the quickest. Near the outskirts of Rome, the traffic picked up and soon we found ourselves in the thick of rush hour. Finally, we spotted the signs for Fiumicino and the airport rental car return. I will say right now, the signage is terrible and if you are dropping a car off there, know in advance what parking garage (and floor) you need beforehand. I’m still in disbelief that I spotted our car hire company name on a tiny sign on the back wall of one of the garages. We said goodbye to the little Fiat and dragged our suitcases to the airport’s train station to make our way into Rome.

I knew that the road trip portion of our trip was going to be amazing but the scenery exceeded my expectations, even with some rain and cooler temperatures. Couple that with the lack of crowds… let’s just say that when I return to this part of Italy, it has a lot to live up to.

But now, we were about to spend four nights in the Eternal City and I couldn’t wait to see what adventures we had in store!