Val d'Orcia

Val d'Orcia

The countryside and the village , nature and culture , are ubiquitous in Tuscany , but it is perhaps here that you can admire the most of " Tuscan " par excellence : rolling hills covered with rows of cypress trees and dotted with villages that hold turreted timeless treasures of art and architecture , immersed in a harmonious . The Val d' Orcia is not only a feast for the eyes but for the body 's well-being thanks to the extraordinary hot springs that the earth has given her ; Val d'Orcia is a remote past illustrious riechegga everywhere . It is above nature , landscape shaped by man in harmony with it . The Val d' Orcia is also a land of unparalleled flavors , where you can enjoy one of the most appreciated wines in absolute next to products whose excellence has been handed down for centuries .

Montalcino

One possible route between the towns of Val d' Orcia in Montalcino starts . The city walls were built in the thirteenth century : the fortress , located at the highest point of the city , is 1361 .
Inside the old town of Montalcino you can admire beautiful examples of art in the fourteenth-century churches of St. Egidio and St. Augustine . The Cathedral of Montalcino , dating back approximately to the year 1000 , but it was completely rebuilt in the nineteenth century in the neoclassical style .
Finally, not far from the historic center , there is the Abbey of St. Antimo that has ancient roots : the abbey is built on a 352 oratory , dedicated to the worship of S. Antimo .
Be blown away by the artistic beauty that Montalcino offers to visitors , but do not forget to complete your visit to the village tasting a glass of the renowned local wine , Brunello di Montalcino

San Quirico d'Orcia e Bagno Vignoni

After Montalcino moved to San Quirico d'Orcia, recognizable from afar by its closed form, fortified, and for its fourteen towers, which follow all the walls.
Even San Quirico d'Orcia is a village of medieval origin, it holds within it sublime examples of Romanesque architecture such as the Church of the collegiate.
To visit San Quirico d'Orcia also Leonini, the Renaissance-style gardens had built in the late sixteenth century by Francesco I de 'Medici and then donated to Diomede Leoni, from which they are named.
Continue your tour in the Val d'Orcia Bagno Vignoni known for its thermal waters since Roman times (today a suburb of San Quirico d'Orcia).
One of the peculiarities of Bagno Vignoni is the Piazza delle Sorgenti: at the center of the village (in the main square) is a huge spa bath century filled with hot spring water both in Summer and in Winter.
The waters of the deep basin spa, as well as other food tubs where you can bathe outdoors all year round, flow towards the Park of the Mills of Bagno Vignoni. Immersed in the countryside there are 4 powered mills, already ancient times, by the flow of the thermal waters of Bagno Vignoni.

Pienza

The last city of your itinerary in the Val d' Orcia is the town of Pienza , famous not only for the artistic and cultural heritage , also for the excellent pecorino cheese . The scent of the typical local cheese will welcome you just set foot in the old town , where shops specializing in the sale of dairy products are really everywhere .
Just like the Val d' Orcia , Pienza was also declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO .
Pienza , originally called Corsignano , was completely rebuilt in the fifteenth century, thanks to the intervention of Enea Silvio Piccolomini ( the future Pope Pius II ) , a native of Pienza .
The reconstruction was entrusted to the architect Bernardo Rossellino , who tried to transform the ancient village of Corsignano in the " ideal city " of the Renaissance dream of Pio II . Rossellino intervened not only on the architecture of buildings and monuments , but on the whole of the town layout .