The town actually had two rings of walls originally, but the residents eventually filled in the area between the walls with their homes. So the town assumed its current donut shape, just one circular cobbled road surrounded by cobbled homes, with the church sitting in the middle. We walked around the circle twice, without hearing or seeing any signs of life, so the town had a certain Children of the Corn feel to it. But we did find the town's only restaurant. The door was open but nobody was around so we just sort of wandered about, and sat down at a table with great views of the countryside. We then trudged back down the road to Greve, and waited a couple hours for the return bus.

We had dinner at a popular local restaurant, which was called something like Osteria Antigo, but that just means old restaurant, so I'm sure it was more complicated than that. Anyway, the place was packed and they had lost our reservation, so another logistical breakdown. But they managed to squeeze us in sort of a closet to the side, which was a very depressing addition to a fun, lively restaurant. (15-10-10).

78. Montefioralle

Montefioralle, like Monteriggioni, was a walled medieval town atop a mountain that served as a fortified outpost of Siena. However, once Siena was absorbed into Florence, most of the residents of Montefioralle had the good sense to decamp to a more convenient place now that the war was over. And that's how Greve was born. A half dozen families stayed up here, and if you don't mind the inconvenience, it's a very pretty place to live.

On the verge of giving up, I looked up and saw some medieval looking clump of buildings high atop a hill overlooking Greve. So I dragged an unwilling Somchai uphill for about an hour, listening to his nonstop complaining that a) we should have known the bike shop would be closed and b) we were walking to nowhere. He was right on a) but we were both pleasantly surprised on b).