an italian pope's palace frozen in the 16th century

The area surrounding Montalcino has been famed for centuries by artists and poets for its beautiful yet peaceful landscapes, comprising of soft rolling valleys and lightly peppered with olive groves and vineyards of superior quality. In fact the Rosso di Montalcino has long been heralded as being the prince amongst the many splendid red-wines that Southern Tuscany has to offer. Along with the infamous Vino nobile di Montepulciano the red of Montalcino has become synonymous with superb quality and fine production skills. This is really not surprising given that the area has always had a proud connection with wine production and maintaining the very highest standards of agriculture and production. Superb reds and exquisite extra virgin olive oils are all drawn with love from this fine and aesthetically breathtaking land.
However this is by far not the only industry to have arisen from this spectacular countryside, as, just a mere stones-throw from Montalcino there lies a tiny, peaceful village, named Vivo dOrcia where time itself seems to have literally come to a standstill in the 16th century's Renaissance period. This small village is constructed entirely from blocks cut arduously from the larval flow upon which the village is built. The lava once flowed from a volcano that can claim to be the highest peak in the whole of Tuscany, named Monte Amiata. A mountain once sacred to the Etruscan tribes-people, who extracted vital metal ore from various mines on its rich slopes and bathed in its numerous, and luxurious hot springs.
The name Vivo (meaning Alive) was adopted because of both its lively and powerful industrial heart and from the wild and crashing river, named 'Vivo' that ran through the villages six water-mills. These were once used for iron-works, olive crushing and fine paper production. The purity, power and potential of the rivers water, pouring from the familys vast natural volcanic spring on Monte Amiata had long been harnessed by the Vatican. The Vatican, via Pope Marcello II, established a gigantic Papal Castle, using a rather illuminated architectural principal for its time, which aimed to make the Vaticans buildings more humble and more accessible to the local community.
Later came a Renaissance Palace (Palazzo), all designed by the famous 16th century architect of the Vatican Antonio da Sangallo for the Popes living quarters. A Romanesque chapel and an extensive hermitage (Eremo) were also constructed to accommodate for a fascinating group of humble monks, known as the Camaldolesi, who first inhabited the caves that now form the foundations of the castle in 1,004 ad (500 years previously). Along with this impressive estate the church established one of the largest and finest industrial centres of the 16th century, way surpassing anything built up until that time. Comprising of 6 large water mills, several huge and elaborate marble tanks, for cleaning and preparing the paper pulp, the estate soon lived up to its name Alive by becoming the only industrial centre in the whole region, vital for crushing olives, smelting iron tools and producing one of the finest quality writing papers in Europe of its day. A paper, so fine that it was widely distributed throughout the Vatican for recording church data in Rome . After more than five-centuries, a turbulent Papal rule and various social revolutions the Castle, Palace and Hermitage are still remarkably intact and some of the houses have been transformed into luxurious holiday homes, by Count and Countess Cervini (descendants of Pope Marcello II), homes which remarkably manage to echo and honour the estates noble and ecclesiastical origins. The spectacular interior design of these houses was carried out by Daria Cervini, winning her worldwide acclaim for its respect for the properties origins and her attention to fine detail. After a visit to the area another Italian Pope, Pope Pio Piccolomini II wrote in the late 15th century.
"Se vè un luogo al mondo dove le ombre soavi e le argentee fonti e lerbe verdissime e i prati ridenti possono attirare i poeti questo è il luogo

Papa Pio II Piccolomini, 1462
Translated:
"If there is a place in this world where the gentle shadows, silver springs, green, green grass and joyous fields can attract the attention of poets, then this, is that place!"
The ironic and beautiful part Palazzo Cervini's 500-year history is that if Pope Pio Piccolomini II were to pass by the estate again now then he would probably feel compelled to say exactly the same words in 2006, more than 500-years later!
To book luxury apartments at the Eremo, Vivo dorcia, contact www.yourtuscany.com or www.trustandtravel.com
For further reading: "Amiata and Val dOrcia", edizioni effigy.