And so the adventure begins! Breakfast at 7.30am and at 8.45am the team were walking. We were hoping to start the day earlier with all good intentions, but a few we had a setbacks.

Todays walk encompasses at total of 15 kilometres and our destination is Pienza . Leaving Hotel Marzocco, we climb to the top of Montepulciano before descending and exiting through the city gates. 

We stop and visit the church of San Biaggio, which is a fine example of Renaissance Greek cross central plan with a central dome and a semicircular apse. Built between 1518 - 1545 by Antonio da Sangallo and is a masterpiece of the 16th century.

Way marks take us through dirt tracks with picturesque views abound in all directions. olive groves, vineyards and cypress trees hug the roads. Eventually we descend into the valley of the Torrente Tresa then climb up and around whilst contouring Monticchiello, before climbing the road that leads us to this little town. Walking through the gate we head into a café for a cool drink and lunch. The panini with prosciutto, provolone cheese and tomato was delicious. We all enjoyed a little time walking through the cobbled streets of Montichiello, seeing beautiful stone houses of this typical medieval village nestled in the countryside of Siena . Monticchiello is 500 metres above sea level and has a population of 223. 

Continuing our walk we noticed that there was not much shade and Cypress trees don't give out shade. The walk is undulating and rough as we descend into valley floors and walk up to ridge lines. 

 Eventually we climb a road to the Porta al Ciglio and enter Pienza. We continue walking through the main street Corso Rossellino, and eventually though the Porta al Murello before reaching our accommodation Hotel Residence San Gregorio. We refreshed ourselves before exploring the cobbled streets of Pienza's walled city. Peter and I enjoyed a local gelato before visiting the Cathedral, which dominates the centre of the piazza, and its façade is one of the earliest designed in the Renaissance manner.

 Pienza was rebuilt from a village called Corsignano, which was the birthplace (1405) of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, a Renaissance humanist born into an exiled Sienese family, who later became Pope Pius ll . Once he became Pope, Piccolomini had the entire village rebuilt as an ideal Renaissance town. Intended as a retreat from Rome, it represents the first application of humanist urban planning concepts, creating an impetus for planning that was adopted in other Italian towns and cities and eventually spread to other European centers. The rebuilding was done by Florentine architect Bernardo Gambarelli. Construction started about 1459. Pope Pius II consecrated the Duomo on August 29, 1462, during his long summer visit. He included a detailed description of the structures in his Commentaries, written during the last two years of his life. Dinner was enjoyed at the Prads Restaurant which had wonderful views of the surrounding landscape. It was a perfect night, dinning Alfresco on a summers night with friends. Peter ordered Gnocchi with a butter sage sauce, whilst I had the Gnocchi with a ragu sauce and enjoyed with a bottle of Montepulciano Red.

The majority of us were so exhausted that we turned in the night for tomorrow we had an early start to our day.