We are in Tuscany, in the Val d’Orcia. Here among cypresses, olive trees and sunny hills stands a medieval village, among the most suggestive and evocative of Tuscany. We are in Montalcino, a fortress with its perched houses and its stone walls where even today you can breathe the air of ladies and knights.
In 1840 Clemente Santi founded the “Tenuta Il Greppo” two kilometers south of the city of Montalcino, on a hill with steep and steep sides from which the name “Il Greppo” derives, which means “barren and steep side of a mountain or hill.”
Here Clemente began cultivating a particular type of Sangiovese, Sangiovese Grosso, later baptized “brown” and then “brunello” due to its dark and intense color.
Why visit Montalcino? Because it is a village set in the magnificent Tuscan countryside, rich in history and art and where the absolute protagonists are good food and good wine: Montalcino is, in fact, the home of the famous Brunello, one of the best wines in the world.
As soon as you approach the town center you are pervaded by its medieval atmosphere, by the sense of ancient and noble quiet.
The first thing to see in Montalcino is its Fortress, which has remained practically intact since the 16th century, when it was the last bastion of the Republic of Siena. A classic castle with a pentagonal plan, surrounded by walls and towers. The Fortress dominates the entire village and the entire valley: from its bastions, in fact, you can enjoy a spectacular panorama that goes from Monte Amiata to Siena, crossing the entire Val d’Orcia and the Crete Senesi.
There is also no shortage of interesting destinations throughout the historic center: Piazza del Popolo with the long and narrow tower of the Palazzo del Priore and the beautiful Gothic loggia; the Bishop’s Palace, the churches of Sant’Agostino, Sant’Egidio, and San Francesco; the Civic and Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art which houses valuable paintings, sculptures and finds from the Etruscan and Roman era.
A few kilometers from the town centre, in the hamlet of Castelnuovo dell’Abate, is the magnificent Abbey of Sant’Antimo, a monastic complex completely immersed in greenery, whose origins are lost in history and legend in the times of Charlemagne and which is certainly one of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in Tuscany and throughout Italy.