Day 6: San Quirico d'Orcia

Not such a pretty day this morning….overcast with the threat of rain. We have our breakfast in the apartment and I am happy to have a few big cups of drip coffee along with our rolls, butter, strawberries and fabulous ricotta cheese from the local producer who has a store around the corner from us.

The electrician comes early to size up the heating situation….he replaces the thermostat but the main problem seems to be with the fan of the unit which necessitates a call to the manufacturer. So we will hope for warmer weather and will continue to rely on the portable electric heater in the meantime.

After breakfast, I walk over to the Palazzo del Capitano to say hello to our friend Arianna who is one of the desk clerks there. Later in the morning, we visit another San Quirico d’Orcia apartment that I have just seen on the internet. It is owned by an American expat who lives in Germany and her German husband. It is on the third floor of a recently renovated condominium that looks out over the Horti Leoni.

We are very impressed…it is light and airy, very comfortably furnished with lots of space, has a large well-equipped kitchen, an extra-large bathroom and a washing machine and a dryer. We have a nice talk with the owner and tell her that we would be happy to rent it for ourselves any time and would hope to be able to send her some clients.

http://www.vrbo.com/204437

On the way back, we stop to buy more supplies for lunch which we eat in the apartment. After lunch, the weather continues to threaten so we decide to take a drive the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, set high on a hill overlooking Buonconvento.

Monte Oliveto Maggiore (on a sunny day)

It was founded by wealthy businessmen from Siena in the 14th century and is well known for preserving books. Part of the tour includes visiting its extensive library which features shelves and shelves of old books and very handsome chest with striking wood inlays (intarsia) on the doors.

There is also a very impressive fresco cycle in the cloister that has scenes from the life of St. Benedict painted by Luca Signorelli and Il Sodoma….the 36 wall panels are rich with detail and color. However, the day was so dark that pictures were not possible so here are web sites that have more pictures and information about the Abbey.

http://www.monte-oliveto.com/

More pictures and information

There are also some beautiful intarsia choir stalls in the main church but, even though they are lit up when you drop a euro in the coin box, most of them are roped off and you can’t get closeup looks at them. We are always very taken with the intarsia that we see in Italy and the examples here at the Abbey are some of the finest in Italy.

Even more pictures (with intarsia stalls)

The rain is coming down harder as we leave the abbey so we drive back to the apartment for some work and rest.

Dinner is with our friends Zak and Gary, who live in nearby Chiusure and run a villa rental company that I work with frequently–Tuscan House.com. We meet at their favorite pizzeria/ristorante in another nearby village–Torrenieri–and we have a very nice evening catching up with their house construction in Tasmania (where they spend the winter), bemoaning the economy’s effect on tourism and talking about the beauty of southern Tuscany. Diana has a very nice tagliatelle with a meat ragu and I have the local special pasta–pici–with a very un-Tuscan cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper). My frittura mista is excellently prepared and Diana has a tagliata (steak) which is not that good.

It is a short drive home to San Quirico…..and we are hoping for improved weather tomorrow.

Jim and Diana