April 11-25, 2023
Pienza, we had a wonderful visit! For us, it's a perfect hill town, I could live there. Next stop on the very last minute itinerary will be San Vincenzo! It's roughly 100 miles to the coastal town and should take around 2 hours. Why San Vincenzo? we struggled with this location, we could have continued up the coast a couple more hours and stayed somewhere for 4 nights, but decided to break the coast into 2 two night stays. Before leaving Pienza we enjoyed coffee and croissants on the Palazzo Piccolomini. Grabbed panini sandwiches from the butcher shop and stopped in the Duomo di Pienza to light a candle.
On the way out of town we topped off the tank and stopped at the Pienza post office, nothing to mail...but my wife discovered we could pay our parking ticket from Bagno Vignoni there, easy peasy! I have always wanted to see Monticchiello, so off we went. If you drive the rolling roads of Val d'Orcia you'll find it difficult not to stop and take photos around every bend!
Monticchiello is a short distance away, however in the opposite direction of San Vincenzo, no problem! We considered staying in Monticchiello when researching lodging, it's even smaller than Pienza! It has incredible charm and was surprisingly absent of people. .
We meandered in and out of lovely cobblestone lanes until we found ourselves in the compressed center of town, complete with the always present and classic cathedral and perhaps 3 restaurants. I had read about Ristorante Daria, we stopped there to have lunch before heading to the coast. It's a wonderful restaurant, very welcoming and comfortable. The waiter was great, we decided on a couple light dishes and a glass of house red, these pics will show the care and class that is given to their creations, outstanding!
After coffee and a little more walking we hit the road. The drive to the coast was pleasant and uneventful. The only side trip was to a rural gas station for coffee, fyi I avoid gas station coffee in my hometown, it's almost guaranteed to be awful. I enjoyed watching a couple truckers order double espresso and with one swig they were back on the road! We only had a half hour to get to our destination, but the coffee was so good.
We could finally see the blue Ligurian Sea in the distance. As we approached the marina town of San Vincenzo we searched for parking, quickly found a free spot a block from the apartment. The apartment is next to the convenient train station. It was self check in and it went smoothly. The one bedroom apartment was bright, clean and had everything we needed, small balcony was a plus ! Time to explore and find that beer!!
It was mid April, so a little early in the season for all of the businesses to be open, but several were. We strolled the lovely promenade Passeggiata del Marinalo and out onto the long sea wall to get a wonderful view of the port. For Italy, the town feels younger and a little more modern, nice sailor vibe. It was nearing sunset, so we found a marina bar and sat outside enjoying the sights, amazing colors and of course a couple "sundowners"! Our waiter told us who had his favorite brick oven pizza in town, so we kept it simple and found the restaurant conveniently 1 block from our apartment, very good pizza! We didn't and still don't know a lot about this area, so after dinner we worked on tomorrows plans...do we train? drive? north? south? ....stay tuned!
Pienza, we had a wonderful visit! For us, it's a perfect hill town, I could live there. Next stop on the very last minute itinerary will be San Vincenzo! It's roughly 100 miles to the coastal town and should take around 2 hours. Why San Vincenzo? we struggled with this location, we could have continued up the coast a couple more hours and stayed somewhere for 4 nights, but decided to break the coast into 2 two night stays. Before leaving Pienza we enjoyed coffee and croissants on the Palazzo Piccolomini. Grabbed panini sandwiches from the butcher shop and stopped in the Duomo di Pienza to light a candle.
On the way out of town we topped off the tank and stopped at the Pienza post office, nothing to mail...but my wife discovered we could pay our parking ticket from Bagno Vignoni there, easy peasy! I have always wanted to see Monticchiello, so off we went. If you drive the rolling roads of Val d'Orcia you'll find it difficult not to stop and take photos around every bend!
Monticchiello is a short distance away, however in the opposite direction of San Vincenzo, no problem! We considered staying in Monticchiello when researching lodging, it's even smaller than Pienza! It has incredible charm and was surprisingly absent of people. .
We meandered in and out of lovely cobblestone lanes until we found ourselves in the compressed center of town, complete with the always present and classic cathedral and perhaps 3 restaurants. I had read about Ristorante Daria, we stopped there to have lunch before heading to the coast. It's a wonderful restaurant, very welcoming and comfortable. The waiter was great, we decided on a couple light dishes and a glass of house red, these pics will show the care and class that is given to their creations, outstanding!
After coffee and a little more walking we hit the road. The drive to the coast was pleasant and uneventful. The only side trip was to a rural gas station for coffee, fyi I avoid gas station coffee in my hometown, it's almost guaranteed to be awful. I enjoyed watching a couple truckers order double espresso and with one swig they were back on the road! We only had a half hour to get to our destination, but the coffee was so good.
We could finally see the blue Ligurian Sea in the distance. As we approached the marina town of San Vincenzo we searched for parking, quickly found a free spot a block from the apartment. The apartment is next to the convenient train station. It was self check in and it went smoothly. The one bedroom apartment was bright, clean and had everything we needed, small balcony was a plus ! Time to explore and find that beer!!
It was mid April, so a little early in the season for all of the businesses to be open, but several were. We strolled the lovely promenade Passeggiata del Marinalo and out onto the long sea wall to get a wonderful view of the port. For Italy, the town feels younger and a little more modern, nice sailor vibe. It was nearing sunset, so we found a marina bar and sat outside enjoying the sights, amazing colors and of course a couple "sundowners"! Our waiter told us who had his favorite brick oven pizza in town, so we kept it simple and found the restaurant conveniently 1 block from our apartment, very good pizza! We didn't and still don't know a lot about this area, so after dinner we worked on tomorrows plans...do we train? drive? north? south? ....stay tuned!
