Mapping MONTALCINO

I'd suggest you just jog, walk or cycle through the amazing Tuscan hills (for a bike just ask at Montalcino's petrol station for  noleggio biciclette  - bicycles to rent). But if your workout isn't a workout, unless it happens in a restricted and smelly indoor space - Montalcino does have a gym too.  The town's fitness studio is tiny - people here tend to get enough exercise in the vineyards - and centrally located in the Pianello neighborhood close to Montalcino's hospital (just in case). A day pass is available for 10 Euro and special deals may be possible if you stay for a full week. Stop by or call Carla beforehand, who co-owns the gym and speaks excellent English.  Carla  also teaches a great Zumba class. And she definitely knows how to pump up the volume. 

TIME FOR A CAREER CHANGE? Dog lover, who had enough of the banking crisis? Here's to your new life. San Giovanni d'Asso's museum visit and guided walk will introduce you to the two salient points of truffle hound training.  start off by teaching the dog how to smell out the truffles (how? I don't have a clue, but that's exactly why you're driving all the way to Tuscany) once the dog is getting the scent right, the art is to explain your animal friend, why he's not supposed to eat the truffles after sniffing them out. Which must be the really tricky bit.  However, no sense trying to train a dog, if you yourself don't know how to recognize a truffle in the first place. Which is why the afternoon will start off with a guided visit at San Giovanni d'Asso's truffle museum. Even people not mad about that rather peculiar scent (aka anyone's children), will enjoy the interactive and stylish exhibition inside San Giovanni ...

 Osteria Sant'Angelo Foodie pit stop in Sant'Angelo Scalo Sant'Angelo Scalo is one of those Tuscan villages that tourists keep missing out on by driving straight through.  Utterly lacking in noteworthy sites, Scalo (as the locals call it)  doesn't have medieval town walls or great views, let alone any Renaissance art.  If anything travelers slow down their car to ask for directions to the nearby Castello Banfi and Col d'Orcia wineries (two of Montalcino's biggest Brunello producers).  The small village on the way to the Maremma, is just so not the Tuscany you were dreaming about when booking your flight a few months ago. But for once, fo rget about art, culture and quaint medieval hilltop villages. Join the locals instead, binge on Tuscan food and wash it all down with one of Italy's best wines.  The Orcia a Tavola food festival will make sure you'll remember the Val d'Orcia not just as a Unesco World Heritage site with cypress ...