The church of San Biagio was built on the outskirts of Montepulciano between
1518 and 1540, an example of the late-Renaissance Greek cross central plan,
designed by Sangallo the Elder.
Jesus & Gladys, Mary, Paula & I headed out Sunday morning for 11 am Pentecost Mass at the beautiful church of San Biagio, nestled in the hills below the town walls of Montepulciano. It was a wonderful Italian liturgy, with a lovely choir, a sweet young couple's baby daughter's baptism and a very charismatic and animated Franciscan presider. 
After Mass, everyone from the church spilled out into the bright, sunny, beautiful afternoon. We all enjoyed trying to capture the amazing valley below the church - expansive fields of vineyards and olive trees - with our cameras and cell phones. Then headed across the street to the wonderful little restaurant La Grotta where its kindly owner David took very good care of us. We sat out under umbrellas on the flowery terrace and enjoyed a delicious lunch, including zucchini/artichoke tart w/bacon, "irregular" pasta w/tomatoes, spinach, ricotta ... and one creamy tiramisu to share three ways. After lunch, we drove up, up, up and parked close to the city walls. Then walked up, up, up some more to the main town piazza to visit the Duomo (which contained a lovely Della Robbia altar and several people with their dogs?!), have a little cup of gelato, visit the Bancomat and enjoy spectacular panoramic views.
Shortly before 6 pm, we arrived at the La Foce courtyard for our Week 1 Garden Tour with Sibylla Holtz, Chilean guide extraordinaire who conducted four excellent tours for us back in 2015. Soon, the rest of our Week 1 guests arrived (we are 13 in total) and Sibylla explained how all the trees and shrubs in sight had been planted for Iris & Antonio Origo by the famous English landscape architect, Cecil Pincent. She led us through the lemon tree garden, the trees filled with huge, bright yellow lemons, to the marble overlook of the boxwood and the serpentine road beyond, along the pergola lined with colorful rose bushes, irises, and countless other blooming flowers. I am finding Spring in the Val d'Orcia even MORE beautiful than it was in the Autumn .... everything is SO green and poppies and the very bright yellow-flowered plant called broom are everywhere you look! |
| Week 1 Guests in the La Foce Gardens |
Back to Sassaia to enjoy wonderful appetizers and dinner prepared by Anna, Maria and Carolina: Pork chops with a tasty honey sauce, baked potatoes, green beans ... all served on a beautifully set table at Sassaia ... with delicious local vino bianco and vino rosso, of course! We are fortunate to have these wonderful cooks in our midst this week ... along with their super-helpful hubbies!
1 comment:
Bob asked "is there a bus??"
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