Things to Do in Montepulciano

The town itself is free, and four things on and below the hill charge. That is the whole of it, and it means a good day here costs whatever you decide to drink. If you are pricing Montepulciano ticket prices, this page is the list of what your money actually buys.

The things that charge, and what they charge

Nobody sells a ticket to Montepulciano. You walk in through Porta al Prato and you walk out again, and in between these are the doors you pay at.

Piazza Grande, and the buildings that enclose it

Piazza Grande is the highest point in the town and the only square that is not on a slope. Five buildings box it in, and once you know which is which the square stops being a photograph and starts being a place.

Palazzo Comunale

The city hall, and the one you climb. Work began at the end of the 14th century and the facade was finished around 1440, attributed to Michelozzo: rusticated stone at ground level, travertine above, and a projecting walkway with merlons on top. The civic tower rises out of the middle of it.

The Duomo

The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, whose front was never faced — it is still bare brick, which is why it reads as unfinished in every photograph of the square.

Palazzo Nobili-Tarugi

Vignola's, with an arcade at street level. The well beside it, with its lions and griffins, was designed by Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio while he was working in the town.

Palazzo Contucci

Sangallo il Vecchio again, and a working cellar: the wine estate underneath it is one of the doors on the square.

Palazzo del Capitano

The oldest face on the square, and the plainest — a Gothic front that survived the Renaissance rebuilding around it.

The walk up the Corso, gate to square

The Corso is the spine of the town and it climbs the entire way. Start at Porta al Prato at the bottom and you have perhaps twenty-five minutes of walking ahead of you, plus however long you stop. Take it slowly; there is no prize for arriving out of breath.

• Porta al Prato. The gate at the bottom, and the bus stop nearest it.
• Palazzo Avignonesi. Vignola's, on your right as the street steepens, and the meeting point for one of the cooking classes.
• Palazzo Bucelli. Look down, not up: the base of this house is studded with Etruscan and Latin inscriptions, set into the wall by an 18th-century collector.
• The Colonna del Marzocco. The lion column, and the point where most people stop to look back down the street.
• Sant'Agostino and the clock tower. The Torre dell'Orologio opposite carries a figure of Pulcinella who strikes the hours.
• Piazza Grande. The top, the tower, and the terrace you can climb.

The Tempio di San Biagio, below the walls

The one building here that is worth the walk on its own account stands outside the town entirely, alone on a lawn at the bottom of an avenue of cypresses. Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio began it in 1518, and it is a Greek cross in honey-coloured travertine with nothing built up against it.

It is about fifteen minutes down from the walls and rather longer back, which is the detail the photographs leave out. Admission is €5 and the audioguide is free in five languages. The e-bike day rides down to it and the coach days from Rome stop for a photograph on the way past.

Inside the Museo Civico Pinacoteca Crociani

The museum sits in the 14th-century Palazzo Neri Orselli on Via Ricci, a few doors from two of the cellar entrances. Its core is a bequest of 188 paintings made in 1861 by a canon of the cathedral, mostly Florentine and Bolognese work of the 17th and 18th centuries, with some Dutch pictures alongside.

Among them are a Sodoma, a panel by Margaritone d'Arezzo, a Nativity given to Benvenuto di Giovanni, and a portrait of a man recently attributed to Caravaggio. It is a small collection and an hour does it, which makes the €8 combined ticket with the tower the sensible buy on a wet afternoon.

The Fortezza and the edge of the town

The Medici fortress at the top of the ridge is Sangallo il Vecchio's too, and it is now a public building rather than a monument with a turnstile. What you come for is the edge: the walls on this side look straight down over the vineyards, and the light in the late afternoon is the best you will get all day.

Where the Twilight scenes were shot

New Moon used this town as a stand-in for Volterra, and the listings sell that in their own copy. The scenes people arrive looking for are on and around Piazza Grande, and the square is small enough that you will find them without a guide. It takes ten minutes.

If you are not drinking

A day here works perfectly well dry, which is not true of every town in this part of Tuscany. The tower, the terrace, the Museo Civico, the temple below the walls and the whole climb of the Corso are the day, and none of them involves a glass.

• The farms rather than the cellars. Both visits to the Cinta Senese farm are about the pigs, the trees and the curing room before they are about wine.
• A cooking class. You leave having learned to roll pici, which is a better souvenir than a bottle.
• The horseback ride. Its fare is bottled water and coffee, and it spends its time in the vineyards rather than in a cellar.
• The walk down to San Biagio. The single best hour in the town, and it costs €5.

Questions about the town

Where these facts come from

Prices and hours are the comune's own season notice and the temple's own site, both checked 20 September 2026. The buildings round Piazza Grande, the museum's bequest and the Palazzo Comunale's dates are published records, read the same day. Everything about a tour is its own listing's.

• Comune di Montepulciano — tower, terrace and museum season notice
• Tempio di San Biagio — admission and opening hours
• Museo Civico Pinacoteca Crociani, Palazzo Neri Orselli
• Piazza Grande and the palaces that enclose it
• Palazzo Comunale: Michelozzo's facade and the civic tower

Tours that fill the rest of a day on the hill

Private Guided Tour of Montepulciano with wine tasting

Two hours on foot with a private guide, meeting in front of the city hall on Piazza Grande. Your party only, and a tasting at the end of the walk.

From $154 per person

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Dining & Cooking Demo at Local's Home in Montepulciano

Two and a half hours at a local host's table in Montepulciano: you watch the cooking, then eat three courses with wine and coffee. The address comes after booking.

From $128 per person

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Horseback riding through the vineyards in Montepulciano Tuscany

An hour and a half in the saddle through the vineyards, out at Localita Bertille. Bottled water and coffee rather than a tasting, and the best view of the vines that does not involve pedalling.

From $93 per person

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