Montepulciano Events

The Bravio delle Botti

Montepulciano's event, and a real one. On the last Sunday of August, and since the 14th century, the town's contrade race heavy barrels uphill through the streets to Piazza Grande.

It is worth being clear why this is different from most Tuscan festivals: it is not a reconstruction and not a show put on for visitors. The route is the same climb every resident makes daily, the contrade are real neighbourhood organisations, and pushing a barrel up it is as hard as it sounds. The town is extremely full that weekend — book months ahead or deliberately avoid it.

The vineyard year

• Winter — pruning on the slopes, cellars by appointment, and the quietest and cheapest time to come. The climb is easiest in the cold.
• Spring — bud-break, and the best season for an unhurried cellar visit.
• September into October — the vendemmia, and the best combination of weather and quiet all year.
• Late autumn — the new vintage into wood, beginning the two years' maturation that Vino Nobile requires from the 1 January following the harvest.

The cellars, year-round

Several historic cellars are cut into the rock beneath the palaces on the Corso and are open to visitors. This is the easiest serious wine tasting in Tuscany because you walk to it, and it solves the driving problem entirely. Ask for Vino Nobile and Rosso di Montepulciano together — the same grapes under very different release rules.

An honest gap

The town's civic museum and picture collection are not given hours or prices on this page: its own website answered 403 from every path when this was written, and we do not publish operational details from anywhere other than the operator. Ask at the municipality, 0578 7121, at Piazza Grande 1.

Planning

Two things decide a visit here: whether you are coming for the Bravio, and what time of day you intend to walk up the hill.