FREE MONTALCINO GUIDE: MEET YOUR VIRTUAL TASTING COMPANION

Looking for a guide to take you to Montalcino's wineries? Planning to taste your way through wine cellars stocked with Brunello?

The Brunello wine maker consortium had exactly you in mind when projecting their app to Montalcino's 250 vineyards. No need to book a guided tour and cram into a bus. Just download the app on to your iPhone and start cruising independently. Or better even, download the app whilst still at home and start training. Winery visits in Montalcino are nothing for the fainthearted (unless you insist on spitting the stuff - but then why would you?).

Cypress lined road on the way to Argiano winery, Montalcino

Roads less traveled : On the way to the Argiano winery
near Tavernelle, Montalcino

The iPhone app is available in English and Italian. A version for android phones is in planning. Doing Samsung myself, I haven't been able to try the app yet, but will report about it, once it's available to unfashionable smartphone users like me too.

iBrunello - your virtual guide to the vineyards of Montalcino.
Download the app directly from you iPhone or via the Consorzio's iTune page.

SANT'ANTIMO ABBEY - TUSCANY'S ROMANESQUE TREASURE

Sant'Antimo abbey near Montalcino You don't have to be a catholic to remain spellbound by the eternal beauty of the Sant'Antimo abbey. The Tuscan church and monastery can turn a stubborn skeptic into a reborn spiritual. At least for the time of the visit.

SWIMMING, READING AND DINING IN BAGNO VIGNONI

Whilst the sell-out of tourist destination is a well known plague all through Italy, t here exists a tiny town in UNESCO Heritage Val d'Orcia which forgoes made in China souvenirs and just opened a bookshop instead. Bagno Vignoni is one of Tuscany's oldest tourist destinations. In fact the historic spa town has never been anything else than a tourist destination, and the ratio of inhabitants to visitors must always have been at least 1 to 10. Having looked after medieval pilgrims, ailing popes and saints ( St. Catherine of Siena used to live here for a while), Bagno Vignoni isn't tempted at all to put out plastic chairs or pizza takeaways for present day travelers. I used to live close to Bagno Vignoni and have fond memories of chasing my first -born around the town's main square which consists of a steaming hot water pool (a must-see sight for urban architects!). Our healthy mornings were usually finished off with a slice of fudge chocolate c

VAL D'ORCIA: A MAP OF THE UNESCO HERITAGE SITE

About 40 minutes south of Siena and a bit over an hour from the Tuscan coast, Val d'Orcia lies to the east of the Maremma and to the west of Montepulciano and Umbria. The UNESCO world heritage site is made up by the territories of Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia (with historic spa town Bagno Vignoni ) , Pienza, Castiglione d'Orcia and Radicofani. The Orcia river crosses two more municipalities (Castel del Piano and my hometown Cinigiano ), where it divides the province of Siena from the province of Grosseto (Tuscany's two southernmost areas) before flowing into the Ombrone river. View VAL D'ORCIA MAP in a larger map

Mapping MONTALCINO

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