Tuscany travel:
Montepulciano

Montepulciano

BRIEF HISTORY

The city of Montepulciano has a past tied in part to two important regional cross roads (From Chiusi to Arezzo running south to north, and from the Valdorcia to the Valdichiana and to Trasimeno running east to west) and its strategic position at the border of the area of influence of various powerful, medieval based cities (Orvieto, Perugia, Siena, Florence).

This happened in the first centuries of the second millennium when its riches and power were considerably developed, to the point of the city becoming a desired prey and acquired for itself of an appreciable autonomy that can be clearly seen in its alliance with the leading cities around it which were in perennial conflict among themselves.

Unfortunately its final entrance in the Florentine state, after 1511, although it developed an important style (which is reflected in the important public and private buildings realized after that date and the establishment of the diocese in 1561) it suffered a slow economic and social decline, and at one point in the 18th century the Gran-duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopoldo became concerned, and looked into ways to give back some life to the very prestigious center that had started to decay.

In the 19th century the drainage of the Valdichiana renewed the importance of the city and it became the administration center of the area signaling an appreciable revitalization, however this did not last beyond the middle of the 20th century. A population loss in the valley due to immigration to the north of many farmers who were transformed into the workforce for factories, and the changing ways of cultivating the land, which has not been completely compensated for by a similar growth of the small and medium industrial businesses. The prestigious art and history of the city has again an appreciable fascination also at a international level, and by this it is hoped, that Montepulciano will be able to make itself known as a center of cultural development.

The second period saw the presence and influence of the celebrated architect Fra' Andrea Pozzo, a Jesuit, who left to Montepulciano the impressive Gesu' Church, with a particular almost circular plan, the reception room of the Contucci Palace with its perspective effects, and the numerous interiors that he redesigned: the Santa Chiara outside the walls and the Church of Santa Maria above all, have examples of this sober and legendary late baroque style.

For many centuries, at least until our time, Montepulciano has been the cultural center of major importance of the western Valdchiana . The theatrical activity is documented up until the end of the second half of the 15th century: existed at that time an Academy (called the Raggirati) and was often requested by the Municipality to provide various functions and support of. Performances. At this Academy the 'Intrigati' was performed (from1706), only recently has it died out, from that, was born a literary Academy, that soon developed an intense theatrical activity, the first theatre was constructed in a space in the Town Hall (1761): this revealed inadequate and was demolished, then came the construction of the Theatre Poliziano a more appropriate seat (1793), the construction was completed in 1881 and opened in the spring of the following year.



The Theatre Poliziano remained the property of the Academy until 1978 when it passed to the Municipality, having been restored to make it compatible with legal requirements, hosting a winter theatrical season, some of the summer performances of the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte and has been used for varied events (conventions etc.). The Municipal Library boasts a base of 12,000 antique books and around 18,000 modern ones. Its original nucleus being made up of the Library of the Jesuit College that existed in the city, suppressed, together with the order in 1773, as well as books from other convents that were suppressed, and from bequests and purchases. At present it is a Library of study and research being used, above all by numerous students from the middle and superior schools in the city as well as university students as a support frame for their bibliography research.

Montepulciano also boasts a valuable Civic Museum: the exhibitions are principally made up of the painting collection of Primicerio Francesca Crociani, who left it to the city in 1861 and who helped to look after many of the paintings that were suppressed by the convents, as well, there is an interesting archaeological section collected from Etruscan tombs from the 6th to 5th centuries B.C., a Roman section, that came from the hamlet of Acquaviva (that was perhaps in Roman times an important station along the consular road that passed through the Valdichiana) and another Etruscan section of value, making the museum very complex with its time span, that goes from ancient times to the 19th century, and its variety of pictorial art: the likes of which have no parallel in the other museums in the area.

GASTRONOMY AND WINE

There are many simple and typical rustic dishes that are characteristic of the cooking in the area: wheat and maize, bread, oil, beans milk and …good wine are among the principal ingredients, the excellent local dish is pici: a pasta made with flour and water that 'sticks' the fine strips to the palm of the hand. With the same pasta (but with an egg added) macaroni or fine tagliatelle are made. Panzanella is made with stale bread, a salad seasoned with a good quantity of oil and enriched with the aromas of onions, basil, mint, or ribollita, made with slices of bread sprinkled with bean soup.

Flour made into dough, rolled and cooked in oil and until a short time ago, was made with maize flour, flattened and cooked between two leaves of cabbage. In the same way, ravaggiolo, a type of soft cheese that is typical of the area, is cooked between two fern leaves. Again with bread, toasted over a flame, with new oil and a clove of garlic rubbed over it, makes bruschetta. Chicken on the spit, duck, goose, pork (porchetta) cooked with salt, garlic and rosemary, roasted capon, guinea fowl or rabbit are the meats of the countryside, which are found in the city's restaurants.

To these we add the typical antipasti with crostini of spleen or livers, dishes of game and mushrooms, pansanto (sacred bread) slices of bread seasoned with boiled cabbage, vinegar and oil), as well as the celebrated beefsteak of the Chianina cattle, all accompanied with focaccia (flattened bread seasoned with oil) or a typical Tuscan bread without salt so as not to compete with the other flavours of the food.

Other important aspects of the gastronomy are the desserts: cantucci, almond biscuits to dip into the locally produced Vin Santo, lattaiolo similar to crome caramel, castagnaccio a chestnut slice, the 'ciaccia dei morti' the seasonal dessert for the festivals of November, and crogetti the typical fried sweets of Carnival.

VINO NOBILE DI MONTEPULCIANO

But there was more importantly, the poet and doctor Francesco Redi who made famous, in the 17th century, the Nobile wine with his famous writing about 'Bacchus in Tuscany', in which he is ideally accompanied by Bacchus and Arianna in the examination of all the famous wines in Tuscany. Redi created the motto today everyone knows and which all the Poliziani use with pride: 'Montepulciano of all wines, is the king'.

The adjective Nobile could have been derived from the fact that the wine was of superior quality and was in the past the exclusive prerogative of the noble families of the Montepulciano area. The Nobile di Montepulciano was one of the first Italian wines of a high quality and of an antique fame to obtain recognition with the denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) on the 12th July 1966, while being the first wine in Italy to receive the donominazione di origini controllata e garantita (DOCG) that decreed it one of the best wines of our country.

Other wines of esteem produced in the area of the municipality are Rosso di Monetpulciano DOC, Bianco Vergine della Val di Chiana DOC, Chianti Colli Senesi DOC and also very esteemed and sought after Vin Santo DOC.

Courtesy of Pro Loco Montepulciano

© 1997-2010 Enrico Massetti
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