Alec Cumming’s Journal:

Banditto Residency, August 2020

I got there by late afternoon and it was still quite sunny so I popped for a drink at a local bar and called Roy. He came to meet me full of warmth and energy and offered me an Aperol spritz, which tasted amazing after my day of travelling.

After chatting and getting to know each other, we headed off into the beautiful old bits of the village and arrived at a blue wooden door that Roy told me would be my home for the next 10 days.

Upstairs in the house is a lovely kitchen and dining room which immediately felt fresh and crisp. In the corner is a record player with a stack full of records that have been chosen by all the visiting artists. Before you arrive at the residency, Banditto asks you what your favourite album is (I had chosen to give him enough rope by The Clash) and my record was there ready for me to listen to! Up the stairs of this lovely old house is the studio. The studio has beautiful old tiles on the floor and beams with a lovely window out looking onto the village. The site is really nice and the light is absolutely beautiful. Just off the studio is a door that leads to the bedroom. It’s very comfortable and relaxing.

That evening I was still unsure of the best place to go out to eat and as I wanted to make sure I didn’t exhaust all the restaurants in the first few days, I decided to get dinner in. Just across the road from the residency is a grocery shop which sells amazing fresh meats, cheeses, pasta. Vegetables, fruit, and wine, pretty much everything. As a fan of European grocery stores in general, I found it fun just wandering around it and exploring all the incredible food on offer. That night (I think it was a Wednesday) they were making hot fresh pizzas to order.

Not having any Italian knowledge at this point was completely my downfall as I was unable to order anything. I fully recommend that you at least learn a few phrases even if it’s just to make a fool of yourself in front of the woman that works on the deli counter. I managed to get someone else who was waiting in line to order me a pizza and in due course, it came out and I trotted back to the house with a bottle of red wine and a pizza in hand and after a long eventful day, I found myself drifting off into in my new cosy digs.

Day two

On my first full day it was a lovely morning and the sun was out. I was excited to get out and explore the local area. As an absolute bonus, the house comes with a coffee machine which makes great coffee. Roy and his wife Lenny supplied coffee and breakfast items such as fruit, croissants and things like jam. On the previous night I had also picked up a couple of things from the grocery store to make myself some eggs.

This morning I needed to get art materials, although I brought my brushes and some drawing supplies I still needed to get paint and canvas and paper. Roy said if I popped to his he would take me to a local art shop where I could buy anything I needed. So I headed off to his place which is just a five-minute walk away from the residency house. It was lovely to see Roy’s house, he has a beautiful place which he has recently renovated with his lovely and friendly family. He has a really nice garden where we sat and enjoyed a coffee and chatted. Then we headed to the shop to buy art supplies, which was around 20 minutes away from Montefollonico.

The art shop has everything I needed oil paints, acrylics etc. It is reasonably priced but I’d suggest bringing anything specialist that you need from home. After our trip to the art shop me and Roy went our separate ways. This is a great thing about Roy, he’s super flexible and is keen for you to explore on your own, but is also around if you’d like to hang out with him. So I headed off to get some work started. I wanted to do some drawing and get a feel of my surroundings. So I packed up my backpack and went off for a walk around Montefollonico.

The village is located on the top of the hill which overlooks the surrounding area. I wandered around for a while and found a sweet little ceramic shop that sells plates and interesting bits of tiles, which is worth a look. There are two restaurants in Montefollonico, ‘La Botte Piena’ and ‘Restaraunt 13 Gobbi’.

Following Roy’s advice I made sure to book a table at the restaurant La Botte Piena for the following day as it tends to get quite booked up. After exploring for a bit I headed to the bar and ordered an Aperol spritz and sat down to draw and read my book. After a couple of hours I returned to the residency house and used ingredients from the grocery store to cook my dinner. I suppose I could have spent most of my time eating in the restaurant but thought it would be fun to make food too. I guess it made my stay pretty economic but it also made good use of the kitchen! By the end of the day I made some drawings of the local area and set about getting the studio ready for the following day.

Day Three

Today I got up and wandered around in the sunshine, I then went down to the bar for a coffee and to read my book. I loved soaking up the atmosphere and the streets felt bright and fresh. I felt compelled to make work. Often on my first visits to places I’ve never been before I have a very instinctive nature of wanting to record and observe.

This feeling became apparent to me in Montefollonico after just a day of being there. So I began two canvases and one large work on paper in the studio. I used the materials I had bought the day earlier. I find when I travel and paint it can make me a little worried about creating work in an unknown space as I feel like I need to fully relax and absorb the atmosphere. But thankfully having been made to feel so welcome by Roy and his family, I already felt comfortable and able to make some work. I made good progress and was distracted all the way through till the afternoon. I even accidentally skipped lunch as I knew that the evening I would be dining at one of the best restaurants in Montefollonico, LaBotte Piena.

They offer a tasting menu and it is definitely worth the treat. I thought as I didn’t know the next time I’d be in Tuscany eating incredible food from the local area, why not ! I sat there all evening with the tasting menu and it was delicious. The meal was excellent and I fully recommend going there for a treat when you visit.

Day Four

I was up early painting. My mind was racing with new ideas and fresh thoughts having seen such new landscape. It was awakening some inspiration in me that I really missed in the first 2020 lockdown in the UK. I noticed the works I was making had a new golden feel to them and vibrancy that I had been longing for, I think I felt fully refreshed from the trip already. I decided to get up early and make work as this afternoon Roy and I were taking a trip to Pienza, the home of the pecorino cheese! Pienza is around a 10-15 minute drive away from Montefollonico and an easy journey by car. I was excited to see this new town, it is slightly larger than Montefollonico and it does have more tourists but also more shops and cafes. It overlooks the Val d’orcia, so there are plenty of sights and things to do. Roy took me to this excellent place that he goes with all the artists to get a coffee and we sat and looked over the Val d’orcia and discussed his visions of the Banditto Galleria, which all sounded really exciting. We then spent some time wandering around the streets and exploring. Then Roy suggested we need to go for lunch he took me to this lovely place, it was a little restaurant selling local dishes, a bit like a Cantina brasserie style food.

The lunch was delicious, I had a couple of glasses of wine, Roy was driving lucky for me, unlucky for him! We returned in the afternoon to Montefollonico. I then looked at the work I’d made until that evening. I popped to the bar and read whilst having an evening watching the sun go down making drawings. That evening I went to the grocery store and bought some things for dinner and carried on through the late evening painting. It was wonderful, the atmosphere was great as the warmth of the day was still in the air. I felt fully focused on my work with no distractions and progress was good and I worked very late into the evening.

Day Five

Strangely enough today I woke and it was pouring with rain! Who would’ve thought I would travel to the middle of Tuscany in the middle of the summer and be presented with pouring rain! I wasn’t feeling phased by this though as I was already well and truly established in my painting and felt that a day in the studio would do me good, as I was already halfway through my trip. My studio was a hive of activity with ideas buzzing around me. The rain was not going anywhere all day so I spent most of the day tucked away in the studio.

Day Six

After feeling like I should do as much exploring as possible and not wanting to tie myself completely to the studio, I decided to take a trip out to Montepulciano in the hire car. Lennie had given me some great tips on places to visit and it was just a short drive away, around 25-30 minutes away.

Luckily I went there early morning as I was still a little rusty with left-hand driving, so I was glad of the lack of cars! Parking was easy and I had a coffee at café Montepulciano, a very famous heritage style café with a lovely ambience. They have a balcony which if you are early enough you can get a spot that overlooks the valley floor. There is lots to see and I wanted to take in. It’s very pretty and inspiring!

There is a very famous old square in the middle which has been used for several movies and you can go and see some of the wine cellars in Montepulciano. It is rumoured to be some of the best wine in Tuscany, perhaps even the whole of Italy! I would very much recommend going to see a wine cellar and doing a tour, best to ask Roy and Lennie for advice on which ones to go to. On returning to the studio that evening after a full day exhausted I sat and took in much of the paintings I had made already I thought I’d already been quite busy I was keen to take in as much surroundings as possible and make the most of having the time in the studio.

Day Seven

Today I went to Bagni San Filippo, it is a hot springs with a waterfall coming out the side of a hill. The water is lovely I drove from Montefollonico through the val d’orcia which was beautiful and then through Pienza and over the hills until I was completely lost. After some time and some handy mobile data powered sat nav work, I managed to find my way, to this illusive location.

I really recommend taking a trip here, it’s beautiful and there is a lovely way down to the waterfall. I took some bits with me for a picnic and sat by the spring for lunch after having a dip in the waterfalls. I felt like this place could become the source for many paintings as it had such great compositions at every angle.That evening I went for dinner with Roy looking out over val d orcha in Montepulciano. We ate at a great Pizza place, a perfect last meal with my host, catching some of the evening sun, great conversation and absorbing the atmosphere and colours of the Tuscan hills.

Day Eight

I painted all morning and then in the afternoon we had Alfredo, the photographer, coming to take photos of me and the work in the studio. So, I had planned to make sure I had as much work finished as possible. I have made several canvases, two large watercolours on paper and lots of drawings! It’s always interesting making work in new places as I often find the drawings and sketches become really important tools for my return to my own studio in the UK. For lunch I visited the second Restaurant of Montefollonico, a wonderful very traditional place that is family owned. Here their house specialty is a rustic tagliatelle pasta tossed in the wheel of pecorino cheese. Naturally this was my go-to choice!

Day Nine

Just down from the town of Montefollonico, a short drive away there is a farm & Dairy called Caseificio Cugusio, where they make excellent Peccarino cheeses. They also have a deli that if you go at lunch you can pick from their meats, cheeses, wines and beers and they will put it all in a hamper for you and you can take yourself off and find a spot in their beautiful farmland to have a picnic and enjoy the surroundings. This was such a great thing to do and one of best things I did on my stay. Once back at the house and studio, it was time to pack and get ready to leave for the UK.

Day Ten

It was now home time, since I had already packed and my flight was not until the evening, Roy, Lenny and I had arranged to meet for a morning coffee at the bar which was followed by a trip up to the studio to have a look at work I had created during my stay. I then headed to the airport and began my journey back to the UK after a wonderful, inspiring 10 days at Banditto Residency!