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We fly at
dawn (approx. 6.00 am) after meeting in the local bar for a quick coffee.
Morning flights are nearly always possible where evening flights are often
difficult because the sea breeze (from the Mediterranean 50 miles away)
can be quite stiff and sometimes doesn't drop until well after dark! The
inflation takes about 30 minutes, and the flight lasts more than an hour.
Afterwards we enjoy a splendid champagne breakfast laid out in the field
where we land, before loading everything back on to the trailer of the
chase vehicle which follows our flight from the launch site. The whole
flight, from inflation to return to base, takes about three and a half
hours. The "Ballooning in Tuscany" idea started in 1990 when we formed the Discovery Club. The Club exists to promote the sport in the central Tuscany area near Siena, about 50 miles south of Florence. Italians have taken to the idea although most of our members -- English, German, Swiss, American, Canadian, Australian, Japanese -- are foreigners like ourselves who come to Tuscany as tourists, lured by the picture-book landscape , the long hot summers, the food and wine, and of course, for its artistic treasures. The area in which we fly is about 20 miles south of Siena and is called the Crete Senesi, an area of rolling downland with steep valleys, villages on hilltops, and isolated farmhouses and castles. The wine towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino lie to the east and west of us, with Pienza and the Val d'Orcia to the south. There is a wooded range of hills about 5 miles wide and 1000 feet high which separates the Crete Senesi from the flat Valdichiana which runs N-S. This is intensely cultivated in strips but in the end you can always get in somewhere! Closer to earth we can chat to farmers clipping their olive trees or seeing to their vines as we coast by down the valley, looking for a place to land, skirting castles and villages that have not changed in centuries. It is a tightly cultivated and well cared for landscape that is a pleasure to behold. To the north you will see Siena and even the mountains behind Florence, while to the east the folds of the Apennines beyond Lake Trasimeno rise to the high peaks of Umbria and Le Marche. Southwards we look down on Montepulciano and the Val d'Orcia, and Monte Amiata at 5000 feet dwarfs Montalcino nestling at its feet, with the Mediterranean glinting in the distance to the west. The "ballooning season" is approximately late Spring to early Autumn with annual variations. Sometimes May is cold and rainy and October is warm and sunny -- you never know! -- but the middle months of the summer are regularly good for ballooning. We recommend passengers to overnight locally if they are staying more than a 30 minute ride away. We can arrange simple bed and breakfast accommodation in a lovely hotel in Montisi, near Pienza, about 30 miles south of Siena, or we can organise your stay in more luxurious hotels and country homes nearby. |
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Agriturismo Cretaiole di Luciano Moricciani
via S. Gregorio 14 - 53026 Pienza (Siena) Italia Tel (+39) 0578-748083 - Tel./Fax (+39) 0578-748378 Cell. (+39) 339-6640060 (Carlo) Cell. (+39) 338-7409245 (Isabella) (Deutsch, English, Français) E-mail: info@cretaiole.it All rights reserved to Cretaiole Farm house |