Sun 28 Sep 25: Montecatini Terme to Spoleta
We haven't been following the news much lately, and we were surprised to hear the day we drove through Como when it was raining early last week, ended in torrential rain causing massive flooding and mudslides in Como and surrounding region. As I say, timing is everything, we could have easily been caught up in a nasty situation. Google Como floods or check out the link: Flooding Como
Back to today, we left Montecatini-Terme at 08:30, and had a lovely 90 minute drive through the Tuscan countryside to San Gimignano a medieval Italian hill town encircled by a 13th century wall with 14 of the original 72 fortress towers remaining. On arrival we had a short walk from the bus into the old town centre - the Piazza della Cisterna, so named for the cistern that is served by the old well standing in the centre of the square (actually more a triangle), surrounded by medieval houses. It was a short visit, but nice to walk through this wonderful old town with so much history. We all met back at the bus at 1130 and left for another much larger, medieval city of` Sienna. While travelling on the bus, our guide Monica does a wonderful job filling us in on some relevant local background information and history, which has been nice for added context to our visits. This vist we had a much longer walk from outside the city walls into the centre, also a lot hillier and a lot more tourists.
Siena is another medieval city developed on three hills connecting three major streets intersecting in a valley that became the Piazza del Campo. The 7 km long fortified wall still surrounds the 170-hectare site. Siena is an outstanding medieval city that has preserved its character with some magnificent buildings and the Duomo. Unfortunately time didn't allow to line up and buy tickets to enter the Duomo, but a google search of some photos fixed that. It was nice enough to see the magnificent building from the outside. After about 90 minutes of trying not to get lost in the hilly, winding and narrow streets, we met back at the Piazza del Campo and walked back to the bus - about a 20 minutes walk. At 2:30 we left for our overnight destination at Spoleto. It was a beautiful sunny day and the drive through Tuscany into Umbria was stunning - one of the most scenic this trip. There were so many small medieval villages on the hillsides with a castle and churches standing out in the middle - so much character. We eventually arrived in Spoleto at 4:50pm at another lovely hotel overlooking an ancient Roman Ampitheatre. After checking in (well there hasn't been any checking in needed this tour - we just roll up to the desk and they give us our keys - everything pre-arranged), i set off for an hour walking around Spoleto, another wonderful ancient Roman / medieval city with so much history. It was much more pleasant walking around this place with less people and a good feel. Back at the hotel, after a shower, and getting changed we all met in the garden overlooking the Roman ampitheatre for welcome drinks and nibbles, then ventured into the dining room for another tasty and substantial three-course meal. Another late night.
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