Montepulciano

Our second visit to this lovely town was more relaxed as we had worked out the bus. It takes about 50 minutes to get there then we walked up the hill to get through the portal and up to the Piazza Grande. We visited churches on the way including St Agnes where we learnt that one of her miracles was her body had not decomposed after many years after her death. They have her in a casket in the church up on the main alter. She apparently was able to cure the mentally and physically sick people by being with them. She was born in 1268 and died in 1317.

We had a very nice lunch in a restaurant in the Piazza Grande and after walked down to the San Biagio church outside the main walls of the town. The door was open but they were doing some major restoration work so we could only take a quick look inside. We then visited the Museo Civico which holds some Etruscan pieces such as medieval pottery and a great stone door used until Roman times as the entrance to a tomb. Upstairs we saw a collection of medieval paintings donated by Francesco Crociani and some 16th century paintings. The museum also holds the two masterpieces, 'The Virgin and Child Enthroned by Luca Signorelli and Portrait of a Gentleman by Caravaggio.

We had a quick look around the shops as we walked down hill back to the bus terminal.