JAZZ AND CLASSICAL MUSIC AT THE BANFI WINERY, JULY 2013

July is Montalcino's festival month. One Jazz and two classical music festivals take place in Brunello town each summer, and the Banfi winery is involved in two of them.

Castello Banfi (formerly known as castello Poggio alle Mura), turns its courtyard into a stage for one of the concerts of the Melodia del Vino festival on Tuesday, the second of July. The winery opens its doors at 6.30 with a sumptuous aperitif and tastings of its wines. French pianist Marc Laforet and cellist Henry Demarquette will play Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert from 8.30 pm.

Sunset view of Maremma's hills from Castello Banfi

A good reason to arrive early: sunset at the Banfi winery

On the 10th and the 16th of July two concerts of Montalcino Jazz & Wine will take place at Castello Banfi before the festival moves up to its stronghold in Brunello town.

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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