Walking around the town, it looked like lots of the houses were missing their facades as well, so maybe it was considered fashionable back in the day. I actually like the look on the houses, but it's very depressing on a cathedral.



Montepulciano is also famous for its wine, which sits between brunello di Montalcino and Chianti in terms of prestige. There's certainly a lot more of it than of brunello, judging by the prevalence of wine shops. But the wine shops we visited was quite attractive, and the owner very knowledgeable about all the reasons that montepulciano actually makes the best wine in the world.

The town served as something like a summer home for Florence's noble families, and their grand palaces line the city and seem disproportionate to the rest of the working village. The city's cathedral sits on the main piazza, and again, is unfinished. There must be something in the water here. Actually, not finishing San Biagio makes sense, since it looks beautiful on the outside and it's sitting in the middle of nowhere. But it does take a very strong disregard for civic pride to have your cathedral, sitting smack dab in the middle of the city, go without a facade for six hundred years. You would think someone in the dozens of generations of people who walked through this mud wall every week would have thought to make some improvements, but you'd be wrong.

I'm sure you're tired of hearing this, but the views up on the walk were stunning, pure Tuscany. Here are the last photos of the Tuscan hills I'll be inflicting on you.

82. Montepulciano

Montepulciano is the largest town in the area, and situated on the biggest hill as well. We started our visit outside the town at the base of the hill, where the quite stunning church of San Biagio is for some reason located. This was a high renaissance church, but was unfortunately never finished. We then walked up the steep hill and through the gate into the bustling town.