Montalcino

Montalcino needs 1 day: the medieval Fortezza, with its wine bar inside the walls, on one end, a tour of the surrounding wineries dedicated to Brunello di Montalcino -considered one of the world's finest red wines- on the other. April-October is best. It's expensive for its size, with lodging and food prices driven up by high-end wine tourism. Brunello, made exclusively from Sangiovese Grosso grapes and aged a minimum of five years, put this village of barely 5,000 residents on the world wine map.