Ah....The Tuscan Hills

Ah...The Tuscan Hills
The day began leisurely at the Hotel Centrale in Rome. After an adventurous day/night of site seeing and eating, the four travelers slept in. Quick cappuccinos and off to the train station in another great taxi. Just a quick comment on the cars. What a great variety of vehicles here! Small, large, diesel, gasoline... and all very functional. Hopefully we will have access to some of these in our country soon.
At the train station we navigated the various stalls and found our rental car company. We piled luggage and four fabulous bodies into a fine Mercedes diesel wagon. Roberto, AKA “Mario” Reed guided the vehicle through a complex maze of Roman streets and scooters like a true master. Aggression combined with defense is the key to successful Italian driving. “Street lines mean nothing and never commit to a lane” says master Mario. Traveling north on the A1 with Roberto at the wheel was an absolute pleasure. Beautiful countryside passing in a blur of quaint and modern style. The GPS system, AKA “Concetta” was performing flawlessly until Roberto noticed that we had passed the small hill town of Orte. Obviously Roberto knows Orte so we ignored Concetta and proceeded on in search of sustenance. How gaunt and weak we had become! Thank god for the Trattoria da Saviglia. What kind purveyors of simple Tuscan fare. We highly recommend this establishment to all who enter the ancient walls of Commune di Orte. We wrapped up our visit with refreshing gelato and headed north on the A1.
Fantastic roads and perfect driving conveyed the travelers through ancient towns and awestruck views. Arriving in Castelnuovo dell'Abate we realized we had no address for our lodging...only Poggio di Sopra. The town consists of 5 roads that intersect and not much else. Multiple signs to other “Poggios”, but none to Poggio di Sopra. The sun was dropping as Cinda fought with her malfunctioning cell phone and gps. Maurizio caught some fresh air and returned to the vehicle with fresh grapes. More sustenance! Roberto tried all road directions, but alas...where was Poggio di Sopra? At the end of one road is the beautiful church of Sant'Antimo. Maurizio and Roberto found a French Cistercian monk contemplating the serene evening, and asked the location of Poggio di Sopra. The monk knew of this place and instructed us to travel back to the intersection of roads and “look for a sign”. At the intersection the weary travelers looked, but found no sign. Apparently none of us has the holy connection. There was one more road to try...the gravel road less traveled. On this path the travelers found no signs but that of a winery. Strange how that happens with this group! We met a very pleasant and helpful woman who escorted us back to the intersection where we parked, but still no sign of the sign! The women kept pointing to what looked like a 1 car driveway and alas...we saw the sign. The sign honestly could have bitten any on of us. We proceeded up a single lane gravel road to one of the most amazing place any of us have ever stayed. A rustic farmhouse perched on top of a hill surrounded by still ripening sangiovese grapes. I may never leave this place. The sky darkened quickly as we shared a bottle of wine from the estate. Castello Romitorio wine, owned by artist Sandro Chia is very quaff able. Energy stores waning, we drove to nearby Montalcino. Here we enjoyed a lovely meal at Trattoria l'Angelo. Amazing affordable wine with truffle laden dishes. What a way to finish the day. It's hard to believe it can get any better than this :')