The real Italy. Part One

Alexey Mihailovich tells: "Usually time flies. Days, weeks, months — as if fast-fast. But it happens that only two or three weeks, filled with movements and impressions, accompanied by the most beautiful views, stretch out like just a teaspoon of honey turns into an endless thread flowing into a jar or mug of tea."

Source: LiveJournal/lelique

For the second time, I accompanied my mother on her traditional annual trip to Italy. She goes there regularly and for many years, knows a lot-reads, fumbles-understands, strangely sho is not a guide, so if suddenly someone is interested in visiting Italy historical and wine, I recommend contacting, and since mom is also in tourism for several years, in principle she can help organize not only the route, but and everything else. As it is now customary to say — "Expensive. Guarantee". But it's worth it. I can give you contacts.

So… The feature of this particular race was supposed to be a rented car, and he became it. The main desire was to visit hard-to-reach places that are already difficult to get to by public transport, or expensive, or both. The car, as you know, gives much more freedom, unties you from the time frame, allows you to go where you can't go by bus.

We arrived in Milan in the afternoon, jumped-into-the—bus from the airport and to the central station, there was a completely unexpected full house at the station for Monday, but more importantly, there were no tickets to Florence. Whuuuut? The closest one available is only for Tuesday. Not an option. It is necessary today. Now. They asked the taxi driver, well, just for the sake of interest ... something there is more than 300 euros. Back to the cashier. It turns out that there is a life hack from Trenitalia: you buy the simplest ticket for a regional train, take it to Frecciarossa ("Red Arrow" in our language), sit in the vestibule and go, waiting for the conductor, to whom you explain the situation and pay the full ticket price of this particular train on the spot. Yes, they count at an inflated rate, but at least you are going, and not spending an unplanned night in another city. By the way, almost all the vestibules were occupied by the same people who wanted to leave, and not stay and wait.

In general, we reach Florence, coffee, hop-on-the-bus again and in an hour and a half we are already in Siena, which was the destination of the first day. In total, about 17 hours from door to door.

Siena. If not the heart, then another vital organ of Tuscany. Since I am not strong in history, I will continue to quote Wikipedia here: "Siena, or Sienna (Italian. Siena is a city in the Italian region of Tuscany, the administrative center of the province of the same name, one of the largest tourist centers in Italy. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the powerful Republic of Siena, the center of the artistic life of the Trecento era. The well-preserved medieval core of Siena is protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site."

The central square of Siena. Piazza del Campo.

It is remarkable in itself, but also by the fact that to this day, traditional ... horse races are held on it twice a year! Horse racing on bareback horses! Yes, damn it, right on the square. They will fill it up, then, all with sand, people in the middle and around the perimeter, and between the crowds check-in! Isn't it awesome? I didn't see it, so here are two photos from Google, a representation common to.

Wiki: "The Siena Palio (known in Italy as Il Palio) is a traditional horse race held twice a year, on July 2 and August 16, in Siena, Italy. Of the 17 contrades available in Siena, ten participate in the competition on July 2, and the remaining seven on August 16; next year the participants change places (these seven perform on July 2, and three more participants from the previous year's ten are added to them by drawing lots). Each contrada has its own coat of arms and the traditional colors in which the rider representing it dresses."

In the afternoon we took a wheelbarrow, walked a little around the city and drove. To the "base camp", which became the guest villa of the Il Poggione winery. The topic of agrotourism is on the rise now, so many farms offer similar services. We saw a lot of signs on the way. But this is exactly what is located in the valley, away from the paved roads (albeit quite calm), at the foot of the hill, on top of which the tiny town of Sant Angelo in Colle is located, but more importantly — literally 5-6 kilometers from Montalcino, about which in the next issue.

We got to the place late in the evening. The landscapes are such that I could hardly restrain myself from stopping for another photo, reassuring myself that I would still be driving back and forth along this road for the next week, but of course I clicked a few frames. Driving up to the house, I met wild boars at the pond (there is no photo, they immediately ran away), it turned out that they drove up from the wrong side, then they found everyone, got the keys, drove into the territory through the right gate, and then — oops! — a pheasant swept through the vineyard — not bad! NatGeo Wild is straight. Then I saw a hare a couple of times, and once in the evening a deer flashed in the headlights, ran across the road.

In the center of the frame, hidden by the crowns of trees, on a hillock stands the very house in which I was lucky enough to spend a few days.

The next morning, having woken up to the measured rattling of the tractor a little earlier than the sun peeked out from behind the hills, I went to shoot the neighborhood. The district pleasantly surprised and amazed, and in general it seemed that she begged to stay.

Yes, there will be a lot of such photos, but perhaps that's what I wanted. It's hard to stop, I want to capture everything again and again, and not only in my head, but also in ones with zeros, no matter how it sounds.

To be continued…