I'm considering changing my hotel plans to enable me to stay in Monteriggioni - in the Hotel Monteriggioni - for a night on the way from Siena to the CT. Any thoughts on whether it's worth the trouble to re-plan? Or will we be satisfied with just a couple hour stop to walk around the town? (we leave in just under 3 weeks). Thanks!
Katie

Monteriggioni is really, really small. In a few hours, you can cover every square foot of it. Rather than such an intensive tour of the village, I would suggest walking around a bit and having lunch at Il Pozzo. (According to an old guidebook, Il Pozzo is closed Sunday evening and Monday; that may have changed.)

Monteriggioni is 20 minutes at most at from Siena...even if there were more to see than there is in this tiny hamlet--not much in my opinion--I can't see making it an overnight stop on the way from Siena to the Cinque Terre.

If a stop is needed, Lucca would be my nomination.

We were there in mid-November. The up side of that was that since the tourist season was over, there was almost nobody there. The down side of that was that since the tourist season was over, most of the shops were only open on Friday and Saturday. And not even then if they didn't feel like it.

It is a beautiful little town and we went there several times to buy some jewelery in a shop where the artisan was making it. We didn't buy it the first day we were there (a Friday) and since we were staying nearby in Vagliagli we thought we could just pop in at any time and buy it. She was never open again while we were there. So we took lots of pictures and poked around the shops that were open. We had lunch at Il Pozzo (on Friday) and it was very, very good.

Unless you just really want to kick back and not do much of anything, just stopping off there for a couple of hours (or more if you include lunch) would be sufficient.

Quite easliy done in a day trip along with other stuff (be sure to go to Isole del abbadia just to walk around of to lunch at Sogni del 4 Frati (an old recommendation but we did have a great meal there in 2001). The village is really nice and there is a chapel you can get opened up and it has pretty amazing freschi.

Also, from Siena you can day trip easily to Murlo and its Etruscan Museum. Well worth the trip. I love Bosco della Spina in Lupompesi not far from there. All my Montalcinese friedns swear by the Pizzeria in Murlo for dinner.

It's a very small town, with only one or two restaurants (maybe only one). I'd do the two hour thing and call it a day.

I stayed in the Hotel Monteriggioni last year--it's a great place. And Il Pozzo is an excellent restaurant. I had a really nice afternoon/overnight in Monteriggioni--even though it was a rainy day. I climbed the wall surrounding the city and had the amazing view all to myself. And it was fun to watch the small city empty out--I had my own Tuscan village! I'd vote for an overnight.
Sharon

Here's a photo I took from on top of the wall.

Really nice picture, Sharon!

- Andrys

Andrys,
Thanks--after lookig at some of the photos in your online diaries, I'm very happy to accept the compliment!

I like your photos--and hae to explore a bit more.
Sharon

katie,
in the spirit of "slow travel", monteriggioni is a true slow traveler's paradiso...

i, for one, happen to love this ancient, medieval village. i love it because it is almost unchanged. it is what tuscany once was.

this village was created in 1203. the towers were built to guard siena's border against the ever-threatening florentines. history reports on the continual drama over many centuries. dante, in his "inferno", compared the "ring-shaped citadel...crowned with towers", with giants standing in a moat. its all sooooo romantic and ethereal.

i can't imagine anything more italian (or especially tuscan), than a quiet evening spent in monteriggioni, enjoying a fine meal, walking the wall, looking out over that beautiful landscape (even if you have to bundle up a bit!), and imagining what life must have been like when dante made his observations.

the shops may not be open, the pace may be quite slow, the quiet just might be deafening, but the opportunity to immerse oneself in being a part of total tranquility, is not to be missed. i like to think that finding a spot in the over-crowded, tourist-packed chianti, as a bit of heaven.

you might be satisfied with a couple of hours, but you won't get the true feeling of this wonderful old place.

i say....go, stay overnight, slow down, eat at "il piccolo castello", (which is located across the street from "il pozzo", and in my opinion, is the better of the two), walk, observe, look, talk with the people who live in monteriggioni, and soak it all in. pretend you're a villager who lived there long ago.

i have no doubt that it's worth it. i think you'll agree.

I thionk that hte point here is whether Monteriggioni makes a good overnight stop between Siena and cinque Terre. I strongly doubt that a Sinea-Cinque terre trip really needs an overnight stop (after all, it's a 3 hours drive, 3 hours and a half if you get caught in the traffic between Certosa and Firenze Sud) and Monteriggioni is really very close to Siena (20 minutes is a good estimate). I would rather opt for a lunch stop. You may consider adding to the driving time by using the slower (oh, so much slower) SS 222 from Siena through Chianti and finally to Florence and hav e a stop in that area for lunch, tan once in Florence take the autostrada and goo al the way to Cinque Terre. As an altenrative, make an early departure and take the Firenze-Siena highway; drive all the way to Massa and the Alpi Apuane area and stop there for lunch.