Montepulciano La Città Sotterranea

Useful Information

Location:	Via Gracciano del Corso 82, 53045 Montepulciano (SI). (43.095943, 11.784824)
Open:	All year daily 8-22. [2023]
Fee:	free. [2023]
Classification:	Subterranea Museum
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Montepulciano La Città Sotterranea, Via Gracciano del Corso 82, 53045 Montepulciano (SI), Tel: +39-0578-716764. E-mail: agricultural.ercolani@ pec.it
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1988	Cantine Ercolani farm founded./td>

Description

La Città Sotterranea (The Underground City) of Montepulciano is not a museum or tourist site, it is a series of underground passages and chambers which was used for numerous purposes since the 15th century. So its more or less a Renaissance underground Mall. The cellars are also called Cantina Ercolani, because all the shops actually belong the Azienda Agricola Ercolani. The Cantine Ercolani farm was founded in 1988 in Montepulciano by the Ercolani family, who have been cellarmen and winemakers for generations. Great-grandfather Ercolani already worked in the cellars in the 1940s. The shops sell the wine, the local cheese, and the truffles and numerous products made from this extraordinary and unique fungus. Most products are from the farms, olive groves and truffle huts of the farm Ercolani, all are from the area. There are actually two versions of truffles, the white truffle and the black summer truffle.

The subterranean cellars extend under the noble palaces Tarugi, Avignonesi, Del Pecora and Batignani. There are chambers with oak barrels and bottles of wine, the famous red wines Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and VinSanto DOC. There are also strange chambers, and they have signs with the origin of those chambers. One passage is said to be an Etruscan tomb, this might be true, or just the wishful thinking of the shop owner. And there is a torture museum, displaying numerous torture tools and Medieval weapons. Then there is an exhibition how wine is bottled.

The shops offer free tastings of their products and deliver the goods you purchased over the day at the end to your car. They also offer free tours which include the wine cellars, pecorino cheese cellars, and other underground structures. The tour ends with underground tastings of typical products of the area such as pecorino, oil, salami, wine, grappa, and truffles. They also have an online shop and deliver worldwide.