Pauline, we are just back from a week in Montepulciano, although we did not stay at Nico's. We had an apartment in the town. I have a lot of photos of what we did in
these Flickr albums.
By far the best meal we had was at
La Grotta, which is just outside town near San Biagio (the church is unfortunately closed now for restoration). It seems like the kind of place that would be able to provide a creative vegetarian selection, which I think could be kind of hard to get in a lot of restaurants in Tuscany, where there is a heavy emphasis on meats.
Do you eat fish? There is a very nice little fish restaurant on the main street of Montepulciano called La Pentolaccia. It is tiny though, so if you want to go there, get there very early, or make a reservation. The fish we had there was absolutely fresh and delicious.
If you like the Sodoma frescoes, there are also some wonderful ones at Sant'Anna in Camprena. We have been trying to get in to see them for years, and even though we check the supposed hours, it has always been closed when we were there. This time we finally made it. You can see some photos in one of those albums. The views from Sant'Anna are also spectacular.
I also recommend an excursion around Monte Amiata. You and Steve would probably like to hike there. We didn't hike, but we really enjoyed our day driving around the area. The Daniel Spoerri sculpture garden outside Seggiano was magical.
The best gelato in Montepulciano is just outside the walls at Caffe Stella. Marcia and David will confirm that, I think! Also, Kopakabana gelateria in Siena was terrific (despite the kind of silly name). As you can see in my photo album, we had spectacular weather in Siena and the views from the top of the OPA museum were wonderful.
