Belle Montisi

 Montisi - another beautiful Tuscan hill town.  It has 350 residents. It is built on an ancient Etruscan necropolis.  It is beautiful. It is hard to describe Montisi with words, so here are some scenes that captured my heart.

On the way to Montisi.

Villa Maddalena, our home for one week. The door we enter is the middle one.

Walking toward the villa. Notice the flag - one room of the villa is the clubhouse for one of the four contradas.

The Contrada San Martino bulletin board. Several bedrooms of the villa are above the San Martino clubhouse.

From the loggia of my room, I look out over the Tuscan hills and part of Villa Maddalena garden. Ah............

From this map of Montisi, you can see it's very small.

Plaques like this are all around town.  I suspect that this is a depiction of the annual joust.  I hope it's not a real person being beheaded.

Many churches throughout Tuscany have mini labyrinths on display.

One of a collection of frescos at the back of a small parking lot.

If I could move to Montisi I would soon look like this.

Is this a little hotel?

Another fresco.

Belle Montisi. If you add wonderful food, fabulous wine, engaging day trips to the country side and a villa full of extraordinary people to the experience you end up with an enchanting week in Tuscany.

Grande Finale with Tuscan Chefs

All of us at Villa Madellena love  Tuscan food.  Why not invite a local chef to come teach us how to cook for our last night together?  Five of us signed on to produce dinner for the entire group.  Eleanora and her assistant Consuella came to the villa at 4:30 and we were off and cooking.

• Panzanella
• Lemon ricotta tortelli with spinach and speck
• Pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon and puff pastry
• Marscapone mousse with homemade caramel sauce and hazelnuts

Margit, Bruce, Jamar and Sue getting ready to make tortelli (think large tortellini).

Our final feast at Villa Madellena.  This was the only dinner we ate indoors. I think we sat down around 8 pm.  Eleanora and Consuella served dinner and cleaned up.  Now that's the way to cook.

I was too busy to take photos of the food, but I thought it essential to take time to take pictures of the diners.  Most of us came to Villa Madellena as strangers, but I think we all agree that we left as friends.

Richard

Kevin

Richard and Kevin came to Montisi from Florida and they will be heading to London to binge watch plays when they leave the villa.

 

Sue and Larry come from Seattle. After leaving the villa, they are going on a Rick Steves tour of Greece.

Margit, from the Portland area, will be travelling with us to Florence and Venice.

Ted joined us at Montisi after cruising in the Mediterranean.  He lives in both Seattle and Palm Springs.

Laura heads back home to Seattle after leaving the villa.

You may have noticed that Taylor and I are missing from the photos.  This is because I was taking the photos and Taylor was upstairs in bed with the traveler's grippe.  He missed a fabulous dinner.

Finally, the master minds of our fabulous week:

John

Bruce

If John hadn't worked with Marcia, the owner of Chateau Madellena, years ago, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to come here.  Also, these two geniuses masterminded the selection of the group and most of our activities. Fortunately for them, they are heading off on a Rick Steves tour of Prague and Budapest when they are done with us. Thank you John and Bruce.

During our week at Montisi we have taken day trips to other hill towns.  Since we either pack ourselves into two small cars, or pack ourselves into a van with a driver we are getting to know one another.  The last two days I sat next to Richard, who is from Florida.  On our second day of nonstop talking, he suddenly asked me if I knew who Pink Martini is.  Do I know?  Naturally.  It turns out that Richard, and his partner Kevin, are huge Pink Martini fans and have been to concerts in various parts of the world.

This brought on our own private Pink Martini sing a long in the kitchen after dinner.

Ted and I know all the words.  Laura, from Seattle, is a newbie.  I wonder if our off key singing and general enthusiasm have caused her conversion?

Under the Tuscan Sun

We have been in Montisi, at Villa Madellena, since Saturday.  It's time to slow down a bit and enjoy the Tuscan sun.  But first we go to the local market in Sinalunga.

Ten of the eleven of us fold ourselves back into the two cars at 7:30 am and drive to Sinalunga which is about 10 miles away.  We scored!

Food for lunch and dinner.

I got these table cloths for 10E each!

Margit and I got new clothes.  Margit also got the red necklace.  My linen dress has polka dots.

When we got back to the villa at 10:30 a.m. we each found our own niche.

The social people ate together.

John liked his peace and quiet in the breakfast room.

Taylor read the New York Times in a shady garden alcove.

Jamar worked on her blog.

Ted totally knows how to relax.

A perfect day in Tuscany.