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montepulciano |
| The highest of the Tuscan hill-towns, at more than 600m,
MONTEPULCIANO is built on a long, narrow ridge 65km southeast of Siena,
along which coils the main street, the Corso , flanked by a series of
dark alleys which drop away to the walls, providing slivers of views
between Renaissance palazzi out over the rolling countryside. Henry
James, who compared the town to a ship, spent most of his time here
drinking - a sound policy, in view of the excellent local table wine and
the more refined and much-celebrated Vino Nobile . The town is set in
superb walking country and is not yet overrun by day-trippers. A short
distance east is the little Etruscan town of Chiusi . The Town Montepulciano's unusually consistent array of Renaissance palazzi and churches is a reflection of its remarkable development after 1511, when, following intermittent alliance with Siena, the town finally threw in its lot with Florence. In that year the Florentines sent Antonio Sangallo the Elder to rebuild the town's gates and walls, which he did so impressively that the council took him on to work on the town hall and a series of churches. The local nobles meanwhile hired him, his nephew, Antonio Sangallo the Younger, and later the Modena-born Vignola - a founding figure of Baroque - to work on their own palazzi . The work of this trio is totally assured in conception and execution, and makes a fascinating comparison with Rossellino's Pienza. Sangallo's first commission was Montepulciano's main gate, the Porta al Prato , at the north end of town. Inside the gate the Corso begins. In the first square, beside the Albergo Marzocco , is a stone column bearing the heraldic lion ( marzocco ) of Florence. Just beyond is the church of Sant'Agostino , designed by the earlier Medici protégé, Michelozzo, who also carved the relief above the door. Within are good Sienese paintings by Lorenzo di Credi and Giovanni di Paolo. Across the street a medieval tower house , a rare survival in Montepulciano, is surmounted by the commedia dell'arte figure of Pulcinella, who strikes out the hours on the town clock; most un-Tuscan, it is said to have been put up by an exiled bishop from Naples. About 100m further along is Piazza dell'Erbe overlooked by the Renaissance Loggia di Mercato , which marks a fork in the street. A right turn off the Corso brings you up steeply to a beautiful little piazza fronting the church of Santa Lucia , which has a fabulous Madonna by Signorelli in a chapel on the right. Just below Santa Lucia, Via del Poggiolo runs down to the church of San Francesco and continues - as the imposing Via Ricci - up to the Piazza Grande past the Sienese-Gothic Palazzo Neri-Orselli, home to the Museo Civico (closed for renovation at the time of writing), an extensive collection of small-town Gothic and Renaissance works. From Piazza dell'Erbe, the Corso continues to the left past further palazzi . A long, pleasant stroll through an untouristed part of town brings you onto the quiet, countryfied lane of Via di Poliziano, which loops briefly outside the walls and alongside south-facing vistas up to the Baroque Santa Maria dei Servi , before climbing steeply back into town alongside the old Fortezza , now part-occupied by houses. Piazza Grande , Montepulciano's theatrical flourish of a main square, is built on the highest point of the ridge, and is worth the climb. Its most distinctive building is the Palazzo Comunale , a thirteenth-century Gothic mansion to which Michelozzo added a tower and rustication in imitation of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. You can climb the tower for free (daily 9.30am-12.30pm), and on fabled clear days the view supposedly stretches to Siena. Two of the palazzi on the square were designed by Sangallo. The Palazzo Tarugi , by the lion and griffin fountain, is a highly innovative building, with a public loggia cut through one corner; it originally had an extension on the top floor, though this has been bricked in. Headier pleasures await at the Palazzo Cantucci , one of many buildings scattered about the town that serve as cantine for the wine trade, offering free degustazione (tastings) and sale of the Vino Nobile. Sangallo and his contemporaries never got around to building a facade for the plain brick Duomo across the square (daily 9am-1pm & 3.30-7pm). Its interior is an elegant Renaissance design, and it's scattered with superb sculptures by Michelozzo. The finest of the church's paintings is the Sienese Taddeo di Bartolo 's iridescent altarpiece of the Assumption , a favourite subject among Sienese artists. The piece was commissioned in 1401 at a time when Montepulciano was briefly under Siena's sway; the choice of an artist and a subject with resonance for Florence's old enemy must have been as much political as aesthetic. Sangallo's greatest commission came in 1518, when he was invited to design the pilgrimage church of San Biagio on the hillside below the town. It's a fifteen-minute walk from the centre: aim for the Porta di Grassi, a couple of levels below the north side of Piazza Grande, from where Via San Biagio slopes down to the church. This was the second-largest church project of its time after St Peter's in Rome, and exercised Antonio until his death in 1534. The result is one of the most serene Renaissance creations in Italy, constructed from a porous travertine whose soft honey-coloured stone blends perfectly into its niche in the landscape. A deeply intellectualized building, its major architectural novelty was the use of freestanding towers to flank the facade (only one was completed). Within, it is spoilt a little by Baroque trompe l'oeil decoration, but remains supremely harmonious. Scarcely less perfect is the nearby Canonica (rectory), endowed by Sangallo with a graceful portico and double-tiered loggia. |