Italia Domenica 30/3/25 (Pictures)
So, this is the second day trip I booked. It involved wine tasting, eating in an old monastery, and visiting two small villages. I want to make something pretty clear, I’m not a fan of wine. Most wine just tastes sour to me. So the wine-tasting portion of this trip wasn’t my favorite. I did end up buying a bottle of wine as a souvenir, and will likely never open it. The big selling point of this trip for me was the sightseeing.
It’s amazing… the Spanish steps are much nicer when no one is there. This was before 0700, so most sane people were sleeping still. I had a bus to catch, however.
The Piazza del Popolo, the People’s square. I spent a lot of time here waiting for the tour group to form… so there will be a bunch of pictures here. GPT says that the two churches flanking the gate up ahead are Santa Maria dei Miracoli on the left, and Santa Maria in Montesanto on the right.
Okay, I’m just gonna say that based on a later picture and GPT’s information, GPT might be trolling me.
Would you look at that? ANOTHER obelisk! And it was turned into a fountain. Italians loved some obelisk action. Almost as much as they loved fountains.
A close up of the inscription over the Porta del Popolo. GPT translates the Latin as “To a happy and auspicious entrance, In the year of our lord 1655”
And looking at the top of this image you can see an eight-pointed star, which clearly indicates that the ancient Italians used the Chaos army when they played Warhammer.
…there are like two people who might appreciate my joke there.
More Latin. I believe this was to the left of the Porta del Popolo. GPT coming through with a translation.
“Pius VII, Supreme Pontiff,
extended the area of the forum with hemicycles
and adorned it with twin fountains,
so that with two buildings on each side
constructed together,
the principal entrance to the city
might be ennobled with a new refinement.
In the 24th year of his pontificate.”
You ask me, that all sounds kinda clunky. Not a fan.
Even more Latin… one would almost think that Latin was the formal language of the area at one point… GPT give me a translation!
“Pius VII, Supreme Pontiff,
designated this temple,
which was raised with a view onto the forum,
for the public display of the works of artists,
and ordered it to be adorned with every refinement.
In the 24th year of his pontificate.”
That Pius VII was a busy little guy in the 24th year of his pontificate, wasn’t he?
More statues! Give me more statues! GPT calls this the Fountain of Neptune. That means the middle figure is Neptune.
Lemme be frank… at this point I was a little bored. I’d been here for 45 minutes, so I was just taking pictures for the hell of it. Does GPT have anything to say about this? Apparently this was an old military barracks.
Still bored. This building looked interesting. GPT says this is ALSO the church known as Santa Maria dei Miracoli. completely disregarding the fact that GPT said that that specific church was a building behind me at this point. So yeah, anything GPT says, take with a grain of salt.
This is the view from pretty much the base of Montepulciano in Tuscany. It was beautiful, and a great place if you like wine. There was sooooo much wine. But, that’s what they do.
Inside Montepulciano, I saw these two dudes flanking a door. GPT is confused. I don’t know the significance of this building. I just found it amusing that there were two dudes watching the entrance, judging everyone who enters… always judging.
Down what I think was the main street in Montepulciano. Not gonna ask GPT.
Breathing mildly heavily, I made it to about the top of Montepulciano. Those roads were steep. And to think they have an annual race up the hill while pushing wine barrels… This is the town hall, and the town square. The tour guide said this building is in one of the Twilight movies, I don’t plan on watching those movies to find out, though.
Turning to the right, there is another building around town square. I believe this was a palace used by the most prominent family in town. If I recall correctly, they don’t spend a lot of time there, they have residences elsewhere that don’t require a trek up that hill.
This, I believe, was a church that never got finished. This is to the left of the building I called town hall. Fun thing that the tour guide mentioned (I know my recollection of what they said is bad, but history was never my strong suit) They apparently have a music school in the town/village and that there are often concerts in the open square here. Not in this building, but out in the square. That would be something worth seeing, I think.
This is just sitting around. A vaguely humanoid statue meant to haunt the dreams of anyone who lays eyes upon it. Or more likely a piece of modern art to show that the people of Montepulciano aren’t stuck in the past.
But don’t blame me if it comes for you in the night!
I managed to get past the creepy statue to look at the view. It’s just as beautiful as the other side of town. And somewhere down there is a UNESCO heritage site, or so I was told.
This time I decided to focus on the roofs below. Still have a view of that area I was told was a world heritage site.
The back of the creepy statue. I can almost hear Sir Mix-a-lot signing. That statue has an ass!
So, I wanna tell a story. We took a tour bus to get out here. The tour bus was packed! There was exactly one free seat. So I was crammed in the back of the bus trying to fit my legs into the tiny space. Seeing this, the woman sitting next to me decided at the first stop that she would move to the free seat, so that the free seat was next to me, and I could fit better in that small space. So, I ended up with the free seat for my legs, and her husband’s camera bag. Why mention this here? Because the nice lady and her husband are on the right side of this picture.
…Also pictured is some more buildings that I don’t recall why I took a picture of. I think it was just a look up at the street.
Another street. The streets here weren’t very straight, considering the whole town was built on the top of a giant hill/ small mountain.
I took this picture because honestly it looked out of place in the quaint little village. If you look next to the door, it is yet another no photo place. From the website, it appears that they make bags and various leather goods. Also according to the website, the cursor needs to turn to a dick. Go and look them up, and your cursor can turn into a dick, too!
What we have here is arches. There were arches everywhere.
You know what else seemed to be everywhere in Italy? Dicks. What you have here is a bag of dicks. Well, dick-shaped pasta. But hey, if you tell someone to eat a bag of dicks, this is one way to accomplish that task.
A clock tower with a mechanical contraption on top. On the hour, it rotates and looks like it is ringing the bell. If you are familiar with a “Punch and Judy” show, this is a version of the famous Punch, AKA Pulcinella AKA Punchinello. If you aren’t familiar with Punch and Judy… ask your grandparents. Or Google it.
This church was the meeting point for our tour, as they gave us 30 minutes to roam around.
I spent my 30 minutes of free time buying a bottle of wine. Not these particular bottles. I only took the picture because these bottles were massive! Considering how much Italians love wine, I assume that bottom bottle would last roughly a day. For size, if you know me, this bottle stretched above my knee. I’d place it at 2.5 to 3 feet tall.
Behold! The wine dungeon! There is a large stone face that I believe was said to be of Bacchus. Fitting for a winery. Also, the face looks vaguely like the Mouth of Truth back in Rome.
Some of the actual wine barrels in the wine dungeon.
some classic antipasto here. Little cheese wedges most likely Pecerino, meat, and bread. The weird bread with stuff on top at the top of the picture wasn’t bad, but it was visually unappealing.
This was the main course of the meal. It was made with pici, a type of noodle that is just flour and water. It wasn’t bad. I think as far as this trip is concerned, the carbonara was the best pasta. But this pici is locally made. The tomato sauce? Locally made. If that is pecerino on top then it is likely to be locally made, too. This was a very handmade sourt of meal.
I’m roaming around Pienza at this point. And amidst all the old stuff, this stood out… literally. I’m just going to assume modern art.
This is what I called the Pius II Well. Notice the metal bars supporting it against the building. I should also mention Pienza is also a UNESCO world heritage site.
More columns! More arches! Italian architecture at its finest!
Views outside Pienza. I was told there was a wheat field out there that was used in the movie Gladiator. There is no wheat at this time.
I’m waiting at the meeting spot at this point. This picture was meant to show that little plaque on the building ahead. Can’t make it out…
Can you make it out now? Pienza was the home town of Pope Pius II. When he became pope, he decided to spruce up the town some. For that, they named this square after him. Did I mention that the the various pope Pius …what is the plural for Pius? Piuses? The various Piuses had their hands in a lot of Italy it would seem.
Finishing out the primary vacation pics is this guy. I alternated between calling him Steven and Julius in my head. Steven Sea Gull, and Julius Sea Gull. Both amused me.
There is one more day to post which is actually two days.
