Hike Day 3: PONTE D’ARBIA – TORRENIERI

Hello day 3

Today we walked 7.44mi to Caparzo winery. Then continued another 4 miles, ending in Torrenieri then taking a car ride to Montalcino. We eat & sleep here tonight. 11.49mi on trail, 15.34mi total today — wow!


From our guides:
Today we head to Buonconvento at the confluence of the Arbia and Ombrone rivers. This is an important agricultural center which flourished in ancient times due to its location on the pilgrimage road. Then we followed a trail that goes along the crest of the Southern hills of Siena and through the famous vineyards of Montalcino, where we enjoy the taste of some of Italy’s best wines. 


At times, I was overcome by a combination of the beauty and how fortunate I feel to be here. Not too embarrassed to share that I had a couple cases of the feels while walking, a mix of joy & gratitude — and yes, there were a release of tears. It was truly wonderful.

The first half of the day

Heading out

Beginning of Trek 

Walking through a town

Signs lead the way 

Vineyards 

Interesting signage 

More vineyards

We toured a winery 

Where we stayed

ALBERGO IL GIGLIO

(Giglio means Lily)

Where we walked

11.49 mi 

Second part of the day 

Montalcino 

This is where we are sleeping tonight! We got to our Albergo, showered, changed and went out exploring! Later we met at 6:15 to walk up to the castle. There we climbed up to the top and had amazing views. After, we wandered to find a restaurant. A lot of people went to one restaurant but with such a small town, we kept looking and found a really nice place where we had fresh pasta and the most delicious plate of oven roasted vegetables that I’ve ever had in my life. Wow! Been needing to get more vegetables in, most meals are breads, cheeses, prosciutto, pasta, pizza. It felt so good to eat vegetables!
Our hotel

View from our room

View of the town

View from the top of the castle 

Another view from up top

We got to see the sunset 

Appetizer of Pizza

Tom & my food 

Homemade pasta with a white sausage 

Tom’s dessert 

Where we wanted to sit
(reservations only, we had to sit inside)

After dinner walk, up up up 
(This street had handrails)

The church at the top of that street

What’s next? 

We need to have our bags downstairs by 8am and eat breakfast. Then we will be driven back to the beginning of the trail. It is going to be a long day — 14mi. Taking naproxen to take any swelling down in advance.