(A romantic looking fortified village on a hill-top just north of Siena, and a graceful Romanesque abbey church nearby)

15-20 minutes from Barontoli. Free car-park at the bottom of the hill with steps up; paying car-park at the top.

Monteriggioni looks best from below - there is a particularly good view from the Florence-Siena superstrada - with its 13th century walls surmounted by 14 towers. Its main claim to fame is that it is mentioned in Dante's Inferno. The relevant verses are on a plaque outside one of the two gateways into the village: Dante compares the giants stationed around the ninth circle of hell to the towers crowning Monteriggioni's walls.

Inside the walls Monteriggione is a minute mediaeval village with only a couple of streets and a small Romanesque-gothic chapel, needing only a few minutes to walk round. It nevertheless has over the past 25 years, in response to the growth in tourism, been made to accommodate three bars, two restaurants, a 4-star hotel, two retail outlets for the local wine (nothing to write home about) and a number of souvenir shops. Surprisingly, none of these mars the mediaeval atmosphere.

Monteriggioni was a fortress founded by the Sienese in 1203, strategically placed on the road from Florence to serve as one of Siena's outer defences against the constantly attacking Florentines. It had the reputation of being impregnable, and indeed did not fall until 1554, just before the final fall of Siena itself - and even then it only fell because of the treachery of the commander, who was himself of Florentine origin and - doubtless realising that Siena could not hold out much longer - betrayed Monteriggioni to the Medici in exchange for an indemnity for himself.

ABBADIA A ISOLA

Also shown on the signs as Badia or Abbazia Isola (all words for abbey). From Monteriggioni, take the road towards Colle Val d'Elsa (left just before the superstrada). After a few hundred yards, turn left again. The abbey is a little way along on the left through an arch opposite a petrol station. To visit, ring the bell (marked in English) of the custodian's house, which is on the right down the little alley just inside the arch to the right.

The abbey was founded in 1001 as a stopover place for pilgrims on the Via Francigena, the great mediaeval pilgrimage route from Northern Europe down to Rome and - for the really ambitious - on to Brindisi in the south to embark on a boat to Jerusalem. The name Isola (island) doubtless comes from the fact that it was built on high ground in an otherwise swampy area. The abbey church is now almost all that remains, and is a beautifully proportioned 11th century structure built of attractive white stone, with good carvings on the blind arcading at the top of the facade, and an elegant basilican interior with three apses. There is a capital carved with primitive figures to the right of the altar, and a pretty baptismal font near the door, carved with the baptism of Christ and dated 1419. The remains of the old cloister can be seen to the right of the church and are being restored.

The church used to contain some good pictures, including an alleged Duccio of the Virgin and Child. These were removed to the Pinacoteca in Siena some ten years ago, and the "Duccio" has since been reattributed to an unknown master who is now known as the "Master of Badia a Isola". Now the only paintings remaining in the church are some rather damaged 15th century frescoes.

There are two good but pricy restaurants in the area (at least 40-50 euros a head). La Leggenda dei Frati is the cheaper and is in what must have been part of the abbey buildings, tucked away down the little road to the left of the abbey church. The other, Casalta, is in Strove, a little village a couple of miles beyond Abbadia a Isola.

1994; revised 2003