Montepulciano Area

Travelling through beautiful Tuscany, among the rolling hills and small lakes on the border with Umbria, you will come across this ancient town, Montepulciano, which stands on a hill overlooking the Val di Chiana and val d’Orcia. This is a town which is rich in history and art, set in the agricultural landscape of Siena, the ideal place to relax, but also to live in contact with nature, surrounded by gentle hills covered with olive groves, vineyards and forests of pine and chestnut trees.

Montepulciano with its ancient Etruscan and Roman origins - according to legend it was founded by king Porsena - , was long disputed between Florence and Siena. Nowadays Montepulciano is very attractive to tourists, thanks to its characteristic urban structure, to the famous cultural events which it leads, but also thanks to the magnificent vineyards that surround it and which yield the excellent Vino Nobile of Montepulciano DOCG (controlled and warranted designation of origin).

A fortress looks down over the old town of Montepulciano, where on the beautiful Piazza Grande you can admire the Town Hall, built in the fourteenth century and the seventeenth-century cathedral also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. The recumbent statue of Bartolomeo Aragazzi by Michelozzo together with an Assumption by Taddeo di Bartolo may also be admired inside the three-nave cathedral. Palazzo Tarugi, completely covered in travertine, also overlooks the square.

Montepulciano and the hilly clay areas on the edge of the Valdichiana plain such as Valiano, the Abbey of Montepulciano, Sant'Albino, Argiano, San Gavino, Gracciano, are the area of production of the Vino Nobile of Montepulciano. The grape that characterizes this aristocratic wine is the Prugnolo Gentile. The Consorzio of Vino Nobile and several major wineries are based here in Montepulciano, including the Cantina del Redi, directly connected to the roof terrace of Palazzo Ricci.