For as, on its round wall, Monteriggioni/ is crowned with towers, so there towered here, above the bank that runs around the pit,/ with half their bulk, the terrifying giants, who still – whenever Jove hurls bolts from heaven – /remember how his thunder shattered them.
-From The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri as translated by Allen Mandelbaum
The sign that took us on a side adventure
I mentioned in one of my Florence posts about my son’s love of Assassin’s Creed II
Looking out over the walls
With my sweetie enjoying the views
David next to the huge stone walls
David and Mat talking about how cool it would have been to see the fortress in a battle
I never imagined that I would be grateful to a video game for anything, but I am really pleased that the influence of Assassins Creed lead us to one of the true gems of our vacation. Monteriggioni is a tiny walled village in the province of Siena that was originally built by the Sienese in the 1200s to be the front line of defense in their war with Florence.
The boys wandering the streets
And hanging out by the walls
One of the restaurants lining the main piazza
Dédi and the boys resting outside of one of the shops
It is absolutely picturesque, filled with renaissance style architecture and surrounded by gorgeous Tuscan countryside. I loved touring the church in the main square and the boys were all enthralled with their armor museum, where they were allowed to touch nearly everything and even try on authentic armor.
The church
The church façade and the interior – seriously small churches are the best!
The knights of Monteriggioni
Mat looks like he could have been a real Monteriggioni knight
The knight and his squires
Little guys getting in on the action
Little Man loved the full armor suits on display and playing dress up
David liked trying out the weapons
David, Mat and I managed to carve out time for shopping at the adorable little shops lining the cobblestone pathways and wine tasting at Fattoria Castillo di Monteriggioni. The tasting was excellent. Not only was the wine delicious, but we got a great education in Italian wines and how they are made. Mat and David each ended up walking away with six bottles of wine (which would make packing to go home interesting down the road) and I bought two Italian cookbooks (that I hope I’ll be able to translate). We’ve really enjoyed the wines and the good news is that they ship to the US!
The main gate and the front of our favorite shop.
Shopping and wine tasting
The wines we tasted
David showing off the new additions to his wine collection