Memories of Painting in Tuscany | A one-month residency in 2019

I spent 4 weeks in June 2019 painting in the hilltop village of Montepulciano, in the province of Tuscany, Italy. I picked it (not to be confused with the wine by the same name, which actually comes from the province of Abruzzo) not only because it has medieval charm and is in lovely Tuscany, but it also hosts a well-rated Italian language school for my husband. I found an apartment in the historic center conveniently located near the school, and it turned out fortunately also to be very close to one of the main gates, outside of which was the supermarket within a few minutes walking distance. The apartment was in a building surrounding a small garden that faced the valley below town. From the street, you would never know there was a small green oasis behind the building, lovingly tended by the proprietor every morning.

View from our kitchen window into street below

In the mornings, while I painted, my husband attended a class. We met for lunch either back at the apartment or at the tiny pizzeria up the street, and sometimes we went to one of the small snack shops where we tried interesting combinations of cured meats and cheeses in warm paninis. After a rest during the hottest part of the afternoon, I went out again in search of late afternoon light. The irregular, extremely steep streets that often ended in small piazzas afforded a surprising variety of views. I painted in different parts of town every weekday. My legs were very tired by the time I left.

One of the main streets

On the weekends we explored the other small villages nearby and marveled at how each has some unique characteristic that separates it from the others. Sometimes it was the architectural design or quirks (the most towers, for example); one’s residents seemed to compete for having the most flowers in front of, alongside, and on their homes; and another was well-known for its particularly excellent sheeps’ milk cheese. We even found the restaurant with spectacular views that we loved when we were in Tuscany almost 15 years before, during our wedding week in Italy.

It was a special experience to “live” there: shopping for sheeps’ milk cheese at the grocery store, learned how to put out garbage and recycling, became a regular at the tiny pizzeria up the street, and discovered that when beet greens are in season they appear at every restaurant and sandwich shop for days on end.

At the supermarket one day, a local pork farm had a guy there offering tastings from a unique type of local Tuscan pig, stuffed with herbs and spices and roasted whole. It was delicious. I bought a few slices to take home!

Needless to say, I cannot wait to do something like this again in the near future. Getting to know our hosts, being recognized at the shops next door and the pizza guy up the street were truly the way to delve into the culture (and language) of a different country. And painting scenes that became familiar, was also quite special. Arrivederci, Italia!

Click HERE to see the paintings from this extraordinary Italian adventure.

Video of artist Ella Yang talking about her experience plein air painting in Tuscany, Italy, in small hill town Montepulciano