We arrived in Montalcino about an hour before sunset, after a day spent visiting Asciano, the Val d'Orcia and Pienza. Montalcino is a hilltop town set within fortified walls and guarded by an imposing castle. We chose to park our car just outside the walls of this impressive fortress known as la Rocca di Montalcino. I'll talk more about the Rocca later but, of you're looking for stunning views, then make sure to visit the fortress and look out over the expanse of the Val d'Orcia and the surrounding countryside. 

From the fortress it is an easy, if steep, downhill walk to the picturesque historic centre where the most famous landmarks of this small town are located.

Montalcino's Landmarks

The Fortress of Montalcino

This mighty fortress with its huge walls and turrets dates back to 1361. It was built at the highest point of the town and remains relatively intact. It is shaped like a pentagon and used to be the seat of the Abbot of the nearby Abbey of Sant'Antonio. Some additions were made to the structure around 1500 by Cosimo de Medici and restoration works were carried out in the 1930s. It has a large internal garden that is open to the public (free of charge).

Palazzo dei Priori

Palazzo dei Priori and its clock tower are located in Piazza del Popolo,  the main square of the town. Also in this square is a Gothic loggia with 6 arches and a host of pretty shops and boutiques.

Church of Sant'Agostino

This small church was founded by the Augustinians in 1227 and rebuilt in 1380 in the Romanesque style.

Church of La Madonna del Soccorso

The church of La Madonna del Soccorso, which was built across the centuries, is made up of a number of different architectural styles. The bell tower is from 1625 and the facade was completed in the 19th century. The church is situated at the edge of the town and we spent a lovely half hour taking photos of the views (again), the leaves with their pretty autumnal colours and the gorgeous sunset, from a vantage point located in the grounds behind it. I have shared photos of the leaves which so captured by heart in a post I wrote late last year in the run-up to Thanksgiving and which was aptly titled Giving Thanks. 

The Duomo of San Salvatore

Although this church looks much older, it was built between 1818 and 1832 in a neo-classical style. It replaces a much older church from the 14th century. The current church of San Salvatore was constructed from materials that were taken from a medieval Romanesque church and reused.

Montalcino's Claim To Fame

Montalcino is famous for its wine. Perhaps you have already heard of, and tasted, the Brunello di Montalcino. This wine is aged for 5 years, 2 of them in oak barrels. The Rosso di Montalcino is ready after one year of ageing. We are generally not red wine drinkers as we find them a bit too full-bodied for our taste so we did not partake in any of the wine-tasting opportunities that are available at most of the enoteche (wine bars) scattered around the town.

What I Loved About Montalcino

A brief stroll around town revealed that Montalcino is a pretty place with many of its narrow streets decorated with flags of the different contrade. It has a distinctly medieval feel that is enhanced by the lack of cars in the city centre. Its history dates back to Etruscan and Roman times, which seems to be common with  many other places in Tuscany. The name of the town is derived from 'mons ilcinus' (holm-oak mountain). 

Montalcino was independent until the 12th century when it came under the rule of Siena. In the mid-1500s it fell under the jurisdiction of Florence and the ruling Medici family. Those infamous Medicis were associated with many towns and cities in Tuscany and it is not difficult to notice that they were both very powerful and influential. And very rich.

But I don't want to feel like a tour guide, rattling off dates, dropping names and trying to make sense of all the architectural styles without really showing you why Montalcino is worth visiting, apart from its churches and history. So, instead of trying, and failing, to find adequate words, because no words can quite do justice to the heart-wrenching beauty that is Tuscany, I will let my photos do the talking.

And if I have one enduring memory of Montalcino, it is of the sun setting behind the Tuscan hills, painting the sky in soft pastels, while the air turned slowly colder, the first lights went on in the farmhouses below and smoke curled gently out of a chimney. The silence was only broken by the twittering of birds and by a mother calling her family to supper. It was a simple, mundane moment that is frozen in time and could have easily been forgotten. But it is a moment, together with the feeling of peace that pervaded the air and which cannot be captured in a photo that, somehow, I know I will never forget.

More about Tuscany (in case you missed them):

• A Week in Tuscany
• Pretty  Pienza: A Pope's Legacy
• Monteriggioni: Small but Mighty
• Volterra in Black and White

Perhaps you've wondered where I've been since I last posted here. To be honest, nowhere, except inside my head. It's a place I escape to often these days. I would be lying if I didn't admit that the war in Ukraine has been, and still is, upsetting me. It invades my waking thoughts several times a day and I have not found much that I wanted to write about in these past weeks. After 2 years of COVID it seemed like the last straw. Now, after more than 8 weeks of silence on my part, I am tentatively picking up where I left off. 

After an unusually cold start, Spring is finally here and the flowers in our garden have started to bloom. So I will try to enjoy this beautiful season and will definitely make an effort to write more frequently if more briefly.

Our son will soon be taking some very important exams which he needs to pass before he can continue his education at junior college level (equivalent to senior high school in the US). We support and encourage him and try not to offer advice unless it's asked for - which is not as easy as it sounds. His exams will be over by the end of May and then we will all be looking forward to some downtime during the summer months.

After 2 years we were able to celebrate Easter properly and I made some lemon almond cupcakes for dessert. They are really very easy so I am going to share the recipe with you that I found on Centerstage Wellness.

 Lemon Almond Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour

2/3 cup (150g) granulated sugar

1½ teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest of 1/2 lemon

3 tablespoons (40g) of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (4 ounces) (120 ml) milk (I used almond)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 large egg

For the frosting:

1 cup (250g) powdered sugar

6 tablespoons (80g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/8 teaspoon salt

zest and juice of half a lemon, divided (or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract)

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon milk

Directions:

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners, or grease and flour them if you’re out of liners.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Use a stand or hand mixer to mix in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse sand.
3. Add the lemon zest and whisk until it is incorporated into the mixture.
4. Whisk together milk, almond extract, and egg. Pour into the sandy mixture and stir slowly until incorporated.
5. Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tins.
6. Bake at 325F for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
7. Wait until cupcakes are completely cooled to frost them

1. Sift powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Cream together with the butter, salt, lemon juice and lemon zest.
2. When well-combined, add extracts and drizzle in half the milk. Beat on high speed until fluffy, adding more liquid until desired consistency is reached. The frosting should lighten in color and increase in volume. (I only added half the milk as the consistency seemed just right).

These cupcakes are really delicious and the lemon-almond combination is a favourite flavour of mine and perfect for a Spring dessert. I added some edible lavender on top to enhance the feeling of the season. They only take a few minutes to make and I am very pleased with this frosting recipe as the consistency of the mixture was perfect unlike some others I've made which were a complete flop.

Book Review: A Thousand Days In Tuscany by Marlena de Blasi

Book summary

After three years living in Venice, Marlena and her husband Fernando, move to the small village of San Casciano dei Bagni in a remote corner of southern Tuscany that borders Umbria and Lazio. San Casciano is the antithesis of Venice: a community of just 200 people living in an area surrounded by hills, hot springs and ancient olive groves; a tranquil, out-of-the-way place in the rural heart of Italy. Marlena and Fernando befriend Barlozzo, a sort of self-appointed village elder, who teaches them how to live in harmony with the land, introduces then to the culinary traditions of the region and lets them in on a secret or two. 

My thoughts about A Thousand Days In Tuscany

While in de Blasi's first book Venice takes centre stage, in  A Thousand Days In Tuscany it is the Tuscan people she befriends and the produce of the land who are the protagonists. She writes at length, and with much warmth, about both. It made my heart ache to read how the tenacious inhabitants of this region made a life out of whatever the land provided, especially in the midst of hard times like during and right after WW2. They managed to survive through sheer force of will and by finding joy in the simplest ingredients: wild garlic, chestnuts, berries. Nothing went to waste and whatever the humans could not eat was fed to the animals. A Thousand Days In Tuscany was written around twenty years ago and things may have changed a lot since then, but de Blasi was able to capture Tuscany right at the cusp of this change. It truly made me look differently at this region of Italy and made me realise what a romanticised view we have of it. Tuscany isn't just Florence, Siena and Pisa. It is also these remote towns and villages crowning hilltops or hanging precariously to the edge of mountains - places where traditions are strong and the ties of family and friends even stronger.

I really enjoyed this slow-paced memoir that meanders through the seasons that make up a Tuscan year. It was the first book that I read this year and it was just what I needed, a book that filled me with joy but which also made me shed a tear or two. Marlena de Blasi is a food writer and this comes across very strongly in the prose. She loves to cook and to feed people, even if it's only a few pieces of humble bruschetta and, as an added bonus for the culinary-inclined, each chapter includes a recipe from the author's  private collection.

And, yes, sometimes her language is a bit flowery and romantic and it may not be to everyone's taste but I happened to like it and I am now looking forward to reading her third memoir: The Lady In The Palazzo.

A Thousand Days In Tuscany by Marlena de Blasi

Genre: memoir

First published: 2004

Setting of narrative: San Casciano dei Bagni, Tuscany

⚠️ death of a friend

My rating: 4⭐