Searching for Signore Toscana

We left Montepulciano at 8.00 to drive to Pisa airport. The previous afternoon the sun disappeared behind torrential rain as we laboured up and down 'white' (gravel) roads turning to mud. The evening brought low cloud (Montepulciano stands at 1800 feet) and a chill in the air.

This was the fog lifting and regrouping over the 'crete' - the big open Tuscan expanses of rolling wheat country - the next morning. Taken in a hurry and even then we were racing to get to the airport having gone by Pienza, Quirico d'Orcia, Montalcino and other towns on the winding roads to read Paganico and Grossetto before heading up the coast for the long run to Pisa. It took more than three hours we had estimated and all got a bit sweaty at the end.

The house hunting was all about looking at different areas - from Barga in the Garfagnano in Northern Tuscany to the Mugello and up into the Appenines, to little towns behind Florence and then a sweep down to southern Tuscany. 

We thought we had resolved on a solution and that went to pot in the glorious sunshine and white roads around Pienza and a fantastic restaurant on the slopes of Monte Amiata (which tops out at about 6,000 ft above thick beech forests).

I'll back blip some other pictures and thoughts of the last four days.