Hill Town Trekking, Part 1

We’ve now put nearly 2,000 km on the VW wagon we rented in Bolzano, most of that driving through the beautiful Tuscan and Umbrian countrysides. Marked by rolling hills, farmland, and in Tuscany at least, forest; its beautiful country. Driving the back roads is an adventure, never sure of when the paved road will turn to gravel; or when you’ll come upon a slow-moving tractor you’ll be challenged to pass before the cars behind you grow wary of waiting for you make up your mind. Beyond every bend in the road, and at the crest of every hill, Italy sprawls out before you. Time and again, you look out the window agape at the countryside, and the hilltowns that lord over the fields below, cloaked in the splendor of late-day sun. It’s a breathtaking step back in time. Up close, each one promises a labrynthine maze of cobblestone streets to wander and explore, of smells to breathe in, of squares abuzz with activity. Its an experience that just can’t be replicated in a country where the oldest towns are just a few hundred years old. It’s magical.

Well, its magical to me at least. The lollygagger in me would be content to wander from town to town without much agenda, savoring every serendipitous discovery. The kids, though, not so much; so we’ve had to temper how much exploring we actually do with down time at the farmhouse, and in the pool. Even still, we’ve had the opportunity to visit a fair number of hilltowns, some famous as tourist destinations, some where it was clear we were outsiders attracting stares from the locals.

Monteleone d’Orvieto

It’s only right to start with the hill town I’m glancing at right now as I write this. When I first found the website for Podere Vigliano, I was struck by the views of Monteleone d’Orvieto from the farmnouse grounds. A stunning example of a foritfied hilltown, unspoiled by tourism. The first day after arriving, Potter and I walked the steeply uphill 1.5km to the town, and wandered its streets. It was early on a Sunday afternoon, and we had the streets largely to ourselves. No shops were open, and we couldn’t even find shop signs. The only sounds to be heard, aside from the cicadas in the olive groves outside the city wall, were the whispers of family gatherings on the other side of the wall. The only people we saw were four old guys sitting on a bench outside an otherwise deserted cafe. They just stared at us as we walked by, not exactly welcoming. They were out there again the next day, when all five of us went back for a walk around. I’ve since come to learn that many of the people living in these hilltowns have been there for decades. Younger demographics tend to live outside the walls, especially for smaller hilltowns like Monteleone d’Orvieto. There are two bell towers in town, and they sing out to us one after the other; and last week, we heard drums sounds each night an hour before dusk, but never did find the source of the music. The town is set along a ridge, with cliffs on three sides. At the end opposite the entrance to the town is a terrace with sweeping views of the Umbrian countryside. Some of the best views we’ve seen in this part of Italy.

Chiusi

Susan, the owner of the farmhouse we rented, put together a binder of day trips in the Umbrian countryside. Chiusi is nearby, and where we need to pick up the train when we leave here for Naples and Sorrento. So it was a logical choice for our first drive venturing to nearby towns and villages. All of the hill towns in this part of Italy are carved out of volcanic rock called tufo, and many date back to Etruscan times. Chiusi has several museums and sights featuring the underground caves hand carved by the Etruscans, and the aqueducts they built to manage the water they would need to defend their hilltop locations. We took two tours that day, the first below the surface to see the caves, and the Etruscan and Roman tombs excavated beneath the town. The second, beneath the town’s main church, explored more of that handiwork through a series of tunnels that spread half across the town. That tour, though, was in French, so much of the nuance was lost on us. The most exciting part was when a bat flew by, inches over our head. When we came out of the tunnel to an open cavern, we could see several bats hanging from the roof above us. The guide explained that we were in the “Labrynth of Porsenna,” a name taken from Pliny the Elder’s description of the mausoleum where Porsenna was buried. Above ground, we wandered through a market where everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to underwear and sneakers are sold. In two weeks of driving around this countryside, we’ve not seen a mall or department store. Just small shops, and these traveling markets that go from town to town on different days of the week. A very different way of life. Charming in its simplicity.

Montepulciano

Like Chiusi, Montepulciano is in Tuscany, and famous for its wines, especially Vino Nobile. Our goal for our visit was simple: find a spot for lunch, walk off that lunch by exploring the town, and taste some wine. First, though, we had to get to Montepulciano, which meant crawling up the hill one switchback at a time, pushing our luck to find parking before we got inside the city walls. I don’t mind hiking, but there are a few in our party who are less enamored with walking uphill on a hot day; so we asked the GPS to find parking as close to the city center as possible, risking inadvertent entry into ‘zona a trafico limitato’ (or ZTL) areas that would result in big fines. Most of the hill towns have ZTL areas off limits to anyone but locals with special passes. Driving in those areas results in large fines, so its important to avoid them. In Montepulciano, we found a parking garage surrounded on all sides by ZTL signs, save for one route in and one route out. We climbed a few flights of stairs and were in the heart of the town. We quickly found a pizzeria for lunch, and then explored the town. We did much of our exploring on weekdays, so we were not as inundated with tourist crowds as some of the guidebooks lead you to believe you’ll see. Narrow streets, enticing alleyways, flower boxes on nearly every window, the earthy color of the stone walls contrasting with green shutters. People sitting out at the numerous cafes and trattorias with tables that spill out into the street. We stopped into Cantina Contucci to see its cavernous wine cellars, but then found La Dolce Vita, an enoteca recommended by Susan to actually taste the wine. With a flight of six wines featuring several Vino Nobile and Brunellos (another local wine considered among the best in Italy), Momma and I sipped wine while the kids tended to their devices. Its amazing how we’ve bartered screen time for a few hours of adult time here and there. It works! We ended up coming back with a few bottles of nice wine, to save for our homemade Umbrian dinner we had planned for the second week of our stay.

Citta della Pieve

One of the nearest hill towns to where we were based in Umbria, and one of the most charming. We first went there for dinner, and were surprised when the road there was largely uphill, and as the GPS ticked down to 1.5 km away, we came around a bend to see sprawling views of Umbrian countryside below us to the left, and Citta della Pieve directly ahead of us, perched on a hill with the late afternoon sun low in the sky behind it. We parked on a switchback, so close to a stone wall that I could hardly get out from behind the wheel. We climbed the steps and followed an alleyway to the maze of narrow streets that is the town’s interior. Google Maps was a bit off in directing us to the Bistrot del Duca, so we asked for directions, finding a man renovating the interior of one of the buildings on a back street. He directed us – in the perfect American English of an expat – further up the road, down an alleyway and behind a theater, a full three blocks from where we thought the restaurant would be. But then that’s the charm of exploring Umbrian hill towns. Every turn is a new surprise, and the towns themselves are too small to truly get lost. All roads eventually lead back to a main square. The restaurant was a highlight. Simple organic meals, prepared fresh from ingredients purchased that day in the market, paired with a house wine, and served al fresco as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky to the west of us; blanketing the city that stretched out behind us in rich hues of red and orange. It was as about a romantic setting as you could expect, and the food was delicious. Afterward, we took a different path through the alleyways to the main square, where we treated ourselves to gelato in the shadow of the duomo in front of us. By the time we left, it was nearly dark. We enjoyed the experience so much we’ll be going back on our last night in Umbria, one final dinner in Umbria.

Stay tuned for more on the hill towns we’ve visited. In Part 2, I’ll take you on a tour of Assisi, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio and Cetona.

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Grand Poobah

Master organizer of this grand adventure, and father to this raucous bunch of kids. Armed with camera and a tablet, I aim to capture the memorable moments that will allow this trip to live on forever.

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