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DESTINATION
w“Wine should never be influenced by trends because
wine is a long process . . . like life,” a Montepulciano, Italy vintner
told me, explaining why he refuses to irrigate his vines even
during a drought. Traditions are important in this Tuscan hill
town that’s built on a limestone ridge. Located a couple of hours
southeast of Siena, there is evidence Montepulciano was known
for its wine dating back to the 700s, when it was dubbed Vino
Nobile or wine for nobles.
Wine is such an intrinsic part of life here that the Renaissance-era
buildings in the Piazza Grande (the town square) represent
what could be deemed the city’s holy trinity:
government, the Catholic Church, and wine! Known as the Pearl
of the Sixteenth Century, Montepulciano earned this nickname
largely because its piazza looks the same as it did during the
Medici dynasty. And it has a remarkable number of other architectural
riches. The piazza is banked by several major treasures:
the Nobili-Tarugi Palace, designed by the renowned Italian architect
Sangallo the Elder; The Cathedral of Santa Maria
Assunta, or the Duomo of Montepulciano; and the Palazzo
Comunale (the town hall), where you can climb to the
top for a panoramic view of red-tile roofs leading to rolling
hills of vineyards.
If the photos look familiar to you, they probably are. The area
has been immortalized in films such as The English Patient, Under
the Tuscan Sun, and most recently, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Directors like the fact that this walled city remains virtually unchanged
since medieval times.
Most people enter the piazza by walking up the winding main
corso (street), because cars are not allowed in the historic city
center. Fortunately, there are plenty of places to stop and rest
along the way, including the Maledetti Toscani leather shop,
which is touted as the oldest shop in Montepulciano. Wandering
along the cobblestone street is like visiting a living museum.
You can see a mother and son hand weaving scarves, a jeweler
welding a fleur-de-lis (the Florentine symbol), and venture
through centuries-old underground wine cellars that once
connected to the main palace.
To protect and promote the city’s wine culture, local
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