When in doubt, go up the hill: Arezzo and Montepulciano

Well, I have quite a story for you. 

This weekend I visited my former roommate/current friend Brynne, who’s studying in Arezzo this semester. Arezzo’s a little less than 2 hours from Bologna by train, so I knew a visit was inevitable – I’m glad it got to happen this soon! There’s nothing quite like a familiar face and shared experiences to make you feel at home in a foreign country (not that I have extensive experience with this yet).

The lovely Brynne

I took the train Friday night with some help from Arezzo faculty who were in Bologna for the day. And thank goodness! I barely made the train – we’d been in meetings all day and I had to run home and pack a bag, then get back across town to the station (great time to try a new bus, it turns out) and buy my ticket. A very nice Italian man let me buy my ticket before him after I explained my train was leaving the station in two minutes. But I got on! Once in Arezzo, the teachers walked me to the building where Brynne was at a mixer with OU students and some aretini (Arezzo natives).

It was a pleasant surprise to find more familiar people than I expected in Arezzo – former classmates in Italian, friends of friends and some faces I recognized from campus. After a night out on the town with that crowd I was definitely worn out.

Saturday morning we set out for a daytrip planned by some of the other Arezzo girls. I use the word “planned” loosely, because they’d only thought as far as the train station. We bought tickets for Montepulciano, a small town about an hour from Arezzo known for its wine tastings.

Montepulciano, like many, many Italian towns, is high on a hill. Trains don’t really do hills. So the Montepulciano station is about 9 kilometers below the walled city. Usually that’s not an issue, because buses run to and from the station throughout the day.

But, of course, it was Saturday, and bus drivers need a day off. After the no transportation realization, we started to walk towards the town – how far is 9 km, anyway? Well, there were rain clouds rolling in and we decided 9 km is a very, very long way before we’d gotten very far at all. We decided to stop at a winery we passed to ask if they had any advice about taxis or some other sort of transportation.

I am, of course, the one in the group with the most Italian experience (although it is limited), so after the vineyard owner called several taxi services for us and got no answers, I asked him if he could drive us – his car only seated five, but with eight of us, two trips at 10 euro each was perfect. With that obstacle out of the way and finally in Montepulciano, we wandered the town looking for Piazza Grande, the main square, and a place to eat. It was all uphill, of course -- in Italy, when in doubt, go up the hill. All that walking wore me out, and I was definitely ready for lunch. As it was my first trip to Tuscany, I decided to opt for pappa al pomodoro, a local specialty soup made with lots of tomatoes and infamous Tuscan bread (it’s cardboard. Seriously, guys. Why are you so scared of a little salt? But in the soup, very good), perfect for a rainy day.

Did I mention it was raining? There were also some Oklahoma-worthy winds up on the top of that hill.

Windy and wet, but wow

After lunch most of the group went to find wine tastings, but Brynne and I struck out on our own to see some churches, a palazzo she’d heard about, and the town’s museo civico. After a very pleasant few hours of conversation and Etruscan artifacts, we met back up with the group and headed down the hill towards the now-open tourism office (everything here closes from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Keep that in mind). Brynne and I went into the office to ask about possible ways to get to the train while the group waited under the shelter of the office roof’s overhang.

Etruscan artifacts at the museo civico in Montepulciano

Down the hill to the ufficio del turismo

With some help, I figured out a bus route that would take us to another nearby train station, which also had trains to Arezzo, and which train to take once we got there. I even had a map of how to get to the bus station! Luckily it was just around the corner and through a park.

Of course, by that time our bus was scheduled to leave in five minutes – the next one would go about an hour later, but the group was committed to making that first one, let me tell you. We rushed over to the station, which included a very muddy path down a hill, and bought tickets.

And that’s when the wine bottle dropped. Wine. Everywhere. But we had to go! I shot the man at the ticket window my most apologetic look and he gave me a universal sign for “just go.” So, tickets in hand, some of us raced out to the bus. I brokenly asked the driver if he could wait just two minutes – there were more of us coming. He agreed, and when a few more got on, he started driving. But… then two more came running out of the station. The driver reacted very well to six Americans yelling “Stop!” in a panic. I commend him.

So, we all got on the bus, we all got to the station, and we ended up taking an earlier-than-expected train back to Arezzo. The day ended better than I could ever have anticipated that morning after I got off the train to a deserted station. Montepulciano was beautiful, I had a great time with Brynne, and I got to work on my Italian more than usual.

See what I mean? Montepulciano: beautiful in every direction. 

That night Brynne and I made gnocchi alla bolognese and stayed in, and Sunday afternoon (today) she showed me around Arezzo. It’s a beautiful city – much smaller than Bologna and very charming. I caught an evening train back to Bologna and a bus to my apartment. Rachel was waiting with pasta ready (what a good roommate!) and stories from her weekend in Cesena. She also got me my own set of keys – we’ve been sharing for the last week and a half, which makes this weekend the only time we’ve been apart since we got here. It was strange to be without my Italy buddy.

My first real weekend away was enlightening too – even without paying for a place to sleep (thanks, Brynne), traveling is expensive! I’m definitely going to have to pace myself this semester, no matter how hard it is to resist the call of constant travel.

Classes are starting tomorrow – we’ll see how that works out… We’re still not entirely sure what we’re taking, but we’ll be attending a lot of classes in the next few days figuring out our plan. Wish us luck! Or, as we say here in Italy, in bocca al lupo.

A presto!