Thinking of Montalcino the thought goes immediately to a great glass of Brunello. The noble wine is just one of the wonders that this untouched medieval village offers to those who decide to walk thtrough its narrow streets breathing its history, art and culture, but above all its special atmosphere. The walls of this medieval town already mark a border with the rest of the world, as if to tell the story that here time has stopped a few centuries ago, when the first kilometers of walls and the thirteen towers were erected. The village became a fortress in which many families, after the surrender of Siena to Florence, found refuge.
Montalcino and its excellence: from art to wine
The heart of the medieval town is the main square, Piazza del Popolo, with its typical galleries. To start this journey into the architectural beauty we just have to raise our eyes. We see, for example, Palazzo dei Priori, the seat of the municipality, built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and clearly inspired by Sienese art, which shows on the facade some marble coats of arms of renowned beauty. The Cathedral of Montalcino, instead, is a sumptuous example of neoclassical architecture: it was built between 1818 and 1832 and it stands elegantly on the surrounding area.
Art also finds room inside the village, especially inside the Civic Museum, guardian of some examples of Sienese art ranging from the 12th to 19th centuries. In the Museum visitors can appreciate the beauty of the artwork of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Girolamo di Benvenuto, but the most celebrated work is the bronze Crucifix by Giambologna. Also the Glass Museum is interesting: it is located inside the Castle of Poggio alle Mura and lays down the history of glassmaking from Egyptians up to the Venetian master craftsmen.
But it is the wine that makes people talk about Montalcino; a red wine that is the expression of a small town and its surrounding territory and that, from there, has conquered the world. Brunello, in fact, is one of the best known and appreciated wines. A marvelous wine, therefore, born in an area where the Mediterranean climate and an even more original microclimate perfectly support the growth process of the grapes, filling and connoting the wine with characteristic nuances.
Brunello di Montalcino consists of 100% Sangiovese grapes and requires a long maceration process in order to obtain its characteristic colors and aromas, but above all it must remain in large barrels -or in barriques, depending on the current of thought- for at least three years. It’s precisely here that the wine takes on special aromas of spices. A fragrance that tells a story, a tradition, a way of being, but that above all reveals a territory to the world.
