Southern Tuscany:
IF EVER BACCHUS BLESSED A LANDSCAPE, it was the hilly terrain south of Siena. The dry day soil is ideaI for those Mediterranean plants: grape vines and olive trees. Two of Italy’s mightiest red wines hail from these parts – Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. And where even the vines con’t take hold, grasslands thrive to provide rich grozing for sheep on the hills around Pienza, their milk producing the finest pecorino cheeses. Medieval hill towns, isolated monasteries, cypress-lined roads, Renaissance palazzi, Sienese School altarpieces and Etruscon tombs complete the picture.