Good morning, everyone,
I have a few minutes before class begins, so I will tell you more about hill towns. First, have I told you these towns are beautiful? Oh, yes, I do believe I have said that ad nauseum, but I can never get enough of the views from every angle.
Montepulciano is not as high elevation as I first thought. This hill town sits at about 2000 feet above sea level. We do get the nice mountain breezes and the spectacular lightning, thunder and 10 minute rains storms. During the day there are many tourists, but at night it is so very quiet. Only the church bells and our own bell ringer, Il Pulcinello, who is still one hour ahead of time.
Friday we took a field trip to another hill town nearby, Montalcino. This town is known for its Brunello di Montalcino wine, which is very good wine, but also very expensive, as it is, by necessity, only made in small batches and only in Montalcino.
Montalcino is smaller than Montepulciano, not so many tourists, as it is less accessible than our town. It is very beautiful, though.
On Sunday, early in the morning, I took a long (2-hour) walk through our town. Although it is a small town, there are so many little alleys (vicoli) that lead to even more interesting piazze, gardens, more steps, and lovely views. By the time I got back to our apartment (did I mention that the apartment is on the second floor, no elevator), I felt like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz: I needed an oil can for my knees!
Today, in class, imagine my surprise, we had a lesson on. “i paesi sulle colline”. Now my “Italiano compagni” will know that I really am going to school. For the rest of you, that means, “the little villages of the hills”.
The instructor put this diagram on the board:
I hope you can see this. At the top is a diagram of the top streets of Montepulciano. Then, at the bottom are some hill towns nearby. These hill towns are very ancient Etruscan towns. The Etruscans were here long before the Romans, and studying that culture is very interesting. The Etruscans lived all over the areas that are now Toscano, Umbria and part of Lazio. They were quite an advanced society, and the caves under these hill towns now make excellent wine storage caves. We have gone into a few of these, connected with wine shops. Molto interessante!
Today we are getting another rain storm. This one seems to be going on longer than usual, but we are in class, so I don’t care, and it is not cold.
Now class is about to begin again, so I will say,
Ciao for now,
Dolly
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