A WALK

We start our walk in front of the Church of St. Agnese, and, after skirting the the Poggiofanti gardens, we enter the town through the Porta al Prato. Passing the Colonna del Marzocco, the symbol of an alliance with Florence during the rennaisance, we continue our walk past the important buildings of Avignonesi, Cocconi, Bucelli, until we reach the Church of St. Agostino and the Torre di Pulcinella ( a mechanical puppet that chimes the hour on a bell). A steep slope brings us up to the Logge del Grano. Turning left towards the Palazzo Cervini, we continue our climb towards the Church of Jesus. At this point we turn right and pass under the first city wall, in front of the theatre, and begin our descent towards the home and birthplace of Poliziano. Continuing our walk we exit from the town and arrive at the Church of St. Maria.

This is the route.

We then walk uphill towards the highest point in the town, entering through the Porta di San Donato, passing the Fort and finally arriving in the main square, the Piazza Grande. Here we find the Duomo (cathedral), the Palazzo Comunale (the town hall), the Tarugi and Contucci palaces (which posseses one of the oldest underground cellars of the town ), the Pozzo dei Grifi e dei Leoni (well of the griffons and lions ).

Descending between the palaces of Capitano , Ricci (now a library) and Neri-Orselli (that now houses the civic museum ) we reach the piazza of San Francesco, a beautiful panoramic spot that has a perpendicular drop over the rock, known as the "sasso", which holds up the highest part of the town. Descending once again towards the Porta del Paolino, two sharp turns take us to the Porta de’ Grassi, and we leave the town centre to begin our walk down towards the Tempio di San Biagio, a magnificent 6^th century construction of Sangallo. We walk down a lane planted on both sides with tall cypresses, each one in memory of a soldier from Montepulciano who died during the First World War . We take a steep uphill left turn ( also shaded by cypresses ) and arrive back in town through the Porta di Collazzi.

We continue to the end of this road where we reach thesplendid 5^th century Cantina del Redi ( Redi cellars), located under the Ricci palace. We descend again and turning right find ourselves in front of the Church of St. Lucia. Once more walking downhill we arrive in front of St. Agostino. We turn right and find ourselves at another panoramic spot on the city walls, and then come out in front of the Colonna del Marzocco

This is the altimetry

We turn right into Piazza Savonarola where we find the Church of St. Bernardo,and then enter a small alley way which leads us to a small piazza above the Porta al Prato. From the walls we can see the place from where our tour began, St. Agnese and the Poggiofanti gardens. It would be wise , at this point, to go and eat a well-deserved icecream and relax because we will have made exactly 5779 footsteps!