HOTEL RIF IN SANT'ANGELO IN COLLE: MAY 27, 2015

Montalcino's festival season hasn't started yet and we're still waiting for the release of the program of Jazz&Wine 2015. But with the longer days and warmer weather the first musicians are back in town. Sabrina Turri closed Montalcino's music season last autumn at La Pieve and is reopening it this spring with a concert in the beautiful piazza of Sant'Angelo in Colle.

HOTEL RIF, SANT'ANGELO IN COLLE, WEDNESDAY MAY 27, 7 pm

The concert is organized by restaurant il Leccio. Come early to enjoy the sunset view from the town walls of Sant'Angelo in Colle (the best in Montalcino) or to have dinner at restaurant il Leccio before.

If you're not going out on an ordinary weekday catch Hotel Rif on Sunday May 24 at Siena's Teatro dei Rozzi for a special performance commemorating Italy's involvement in the first world war together with writer Emilio Franzina. Or come to Cinigiano on lunch time on Saturday May 30, to start the weekend with music and plenty of aperitivi and hopefully even a dance to Hotel Rif's lunch time gig in my Tuscan village.

SANT'ANTIMO ABBEY - TUSCANY'S ROMANESQUE TREASURE

Sant'Antimo abbey near Montalcino You don't have to be a catholic to remain spellbound by the eternal beauty of the Sant'Antimo abbey. The Tuscan church and monastery can turn a stubborn skeptic into a reborn spiritual. At least for the time of the visit.

SWIMMING, READING AND DINING IN BAGNO VIGNONI

Whilst the sell-out of tourist destination is a well known plague all through Italy, t here exists a tiny town in UNESCO Heritage Val d'Orcia which forgoes made in China souvenirs and just opened a bookshop instead. Bagno Vignoni is one of Tuscany's oldest tourist destinations. In fact the historic spa town has never been anything else than a tourist destination, and the ratio of inhabitants to visitors must always have been at least 1 to 10. Having looked after medieval pilgrims, ailing popes and saints ( St. Catherine of Siena used to live here for a while), Bagno Vignoni isn't tempted at all to put out plastic chairs or pizza takeaways for present day travelers. I used to live close to Bagno Vignoni and have fond memories of chasing my first -born around the town's main square which consists of a steaming hot water pool (a must-see sight for urban architects!). Our healthy m...

VAL D'ORCIA: A MAP OF THE UNESCO HERITAGE SITE

About 40 minutes south of Siena and a bit over an hour from the Tuscan coast, Val d'Orcia lies to the east of the Maremma and to the west of Montepulciano and Umbria. The UNESCO world heritage site is made up by the territories of Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia (with historic spa town Bagno Vignoni ) , Pienza, Castiglione d'Orcia and Radicofani. The Orcia river crosses two more municipalities (Castel del Piano and my hometown Cinigiano ), where it divides the province of Siena from the province of Grosseto (Tuscany's two southernmost areas) before flowing into the Ombrone river. View VAL D'ORCIA MAP in a larger map

Mapping MONTALCINO

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