Hot Springs and San Galgano

We have settled into a daily routine of sorts in Tuscany.  Leroy is our breakfast chef, which allows me to blog and figure out logistics for our day while he cooks (and cleans...)  Daily temperatures have reached 90 F, so mid-late morning is a great time to use the pool.  We try to eat light lunches (mostly consisting of bread/cheese/wine - I guess that doesn't sound so "light?) mostly to save money, but also to save our appetites for a Tuscan dinner.  By early afternoon we're ready to drive in one direction or another to see what surprises Tuscany has to offer that day.  Yesterday, before we left, I walked to a ridge above the farm to take photos of the vineyard and the lush landcape beyond.

We pointed the Fiat south yesterday.  A divided highway took us most of the way to the hot springs of Petriolo.  Unlike the hot springs in Santorini (which were actually quite tepid), the water at Petriolo is hot.  After changing into bathing suits and scrambling down a wooded slope to a muddy creek, we entered the crystal-blue water of the spring that is separated from the creek by a low wall of rocks.  Water temps hover around 100 F, which is about the same as a hot tub.  A large pipe from the hill above delivered a forceful stream of mineral water (which smells strongly of sulpher) into the pool.  Standing under the pipe provided a powerful hot water massage.  Since the air temperature was at least 90 F, it was great to cool off once in a while in the nearby swimming hole of the creek.

From Pietriolo we drove up a steep hill and followed a ridge through a forest to the sizeable village of Monticiano.  Although it was late afternoon, and the town should have been hopping with activity, we only saw a few people out on the street.  Most of the homes and businesses were shuttered.  We've become accustomed to the Italian equivalent of the siesta; people rest in the afternoon and then resume their activities (and business hours) until late in the evening when they eat dinner, which is about the time we normally go to sleep.  It was eerie seeing no activity at all, though, at 5:00 pm, and we wondered if the heat was just keeping people indoors and out of the sun.

Down the road from Monticiano is the amazing and inspiring site of San Galgano Abbey.  It is a massive twelfth century cathedral that stands alone in the middle of a wheat field.  The roof and beautiful stained glass windows that once adorned the structure are gone.  The church was built by an order of monks who later moved to the city of Siena.  By the end of the eighteenth century, the church was abandoned altogether and became the ruin that remains today.  On a hill above the cathedral is a small, round chapel constructed shortly after the death of Saint Galgano in the mid-1100s.  In the center is an ancient sword buried in a plain, brown rock.  Only the handle can be seen.  The legend is that a knight named Galgano Guiddet renounced his life of power and privilege to serve God as a hermit, and plunged the sword into the rock as a sign of his intent.  After his death, the church was built to preserve the sword and rock.  Later, the cathedral was built in his honor by the order of monks that emerged there.

The road back to our agriturismo north of Siena was long and winding.  We were glad to return safely home after stopping for dinner at what's become our favorite local eatery in a neighboring village.  Today we are changing our routine a bit to take a Tuscan cooking class!