Val d'Orcia Tuscany: UNESCO landscape and what to see

The Val d’Orcia was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, not for a specific building or artefact, but for an entire agricultural landscape. The rolling hills, the cypress-lined roads, the medieval villages on every promontory: the UNESCO designation recognised that this is a landscape of exceptional beauty created and maintained over centuries by human cultivation.

The painters of the Sienese school depicted these same hills in their 14th-century masterpieces. The landscape visible from the road today corresponds closely to the landscapes they painted six centuries ago. Some views have barely changed.

Val d’Orcia: why UNESCO protected an entire landscape

The UNESCO citation for the Val d’Orcia describes it as a “cultural landscape” that was designed and managed in the Renaissance as an idealised image of good rural governance. The Sienese noble families who owned these lands in the 15th century planted the cypresses, shaped the field boundaries and positioned the farms according to both productive and aesthetic criteria.

The painters of the Sienese school, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and their followers, depicted these same hills and villages in their 14th-century masterpieces. The landscape visible from the road today corresponds closely to the landscapes they painted six centuries ago.

The practical consequence of the UNESCO designation: strict development controls prevent construction that would alter the visual character of the landscape. The Val d’Orcia you see today is protected.

The cypresses: the image that defines Tuscany

The cypress trees of the Val d’Orcia are not wild, they were planted deliberately, in rows along roads and around farmhouses, for both practical reasons (windbreak, property boundary markers) and aesthetic ones.

The most photographed scene is the Cappella di Vitaleta road, near San Quirico d’Orcia: a white gravel road flanked by a double row of cypresses leading to a small rural chapel. It appears in countless books, calendars and photographic exhibitions about Tuscany.

Other classic cypress scenes: the Podere Belvedere (visible from the Via Cassia near San Quirico), the approach to Montalcino from the north, and the farms around Pienza in the early morning light.

The best light for cypress photography: the hour after sunrise or the hour before sunset, when shadows are long and the colour of the sky changes quickly.

Pienza: the Renaissance ideal city

Pienza was built in a remarkable three years (1459-1462) by Pope Pius II on the site of his home village of Corsignano. He commissioned architect Bernardo Rossellino to create a model Renaissance city from scratch.

The result is Piazza Pio II, considered by architectural historians to be the most harmonious Renaissance square in Italy. The Duomo, the Palazzo Piccolomini, the Bishop’s Palace and the Palazzo Comunale were designed as a coordinated ensemble, with matching proportions and materials.

What to visit:

• Piazza Pio II: the heart of the project, surrounded by harmonious buildings
• The Duomo: extraordinary light from the Gothic windows, Pius II specifically requested a “glass church” inspired by German Gothic cathedrals
• Palazzo Piccolomini: papal residence with a hanging garden overlooking the Val d’Orcia, one of the finest panoramic terraces in Tuscany

The town is also famous for Pecorino di Pienza DOP, the local sheep’s cheese, available in various ageing stages in the shops along the main street. Buy some.

Pienza is 75 km from Hotel Alcide in Poggibonsi.

Montalcino: Brunello and the Fortress

Montalcino is a hilltop town of about 5,000 people at 564 metres altitude. Its fame rests entirely on wine: Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is Italy’s most internationally recognised red wine, produced from Sangiovese grown on the slopes around the town.

The Medici Fortress at the top of the town houses a wine bar where you can taste Brunello and its younger sibling, Rosso di Montalcino, typically more approachable and significantly less expensive.

For visitors interested in the wine beyond the tasting, the vineyards and cellars of Montalcino are among the most beautiful in Italy. The major producers, including the historic Biondi-Santi estate that created the modern Brunello in the 19th century, offer cellar tours with advance booking.

Montalcino is 90 km from Poggibonsi, about 1 hour 15 minutes by car.

Bagno Vignoni: thermal waters in a medieval square

Bagno Vignoni’s piazza is not a square, it is a large thermal pool, fed by a spring at 52°C, that has been the centre of the village since the medieval period. Steam rises from the water. The medieval buildings surround it on three sides.

You cannot swim in the historic pool (it’s protected). For bathing, there are natural pools along the Orcia river (free) and paid establishments nearby.

Lorenzo de’ Medici and Saint Catherine of Siena both came to Bagno Vignoni for the waters. The combination of medieval architecture, thermal water and Val d’Orcia landscape makes it unlike anywhere else in Tuscany.

60 km from Poggibonsi.

San Quirico d’Orcia: the underrated gem

San Quirico d’Orcia is one of those towns that people drive through on the way somewhere else and don’t stop. They should stop.

The Collegiata di San Quirico e Giuditta is the finest Romanesque church in the Val d’Orcia, with extraordinary carved portals. The Horti Leonini, a formal Renaissance garden open to the public, offers a quiet refuge with box hedges and holm oaks. The historic centre is largely intact and, for once, genuinely quiet.

San Quirico is also the natural base for combining Bagno Vignoni (5 km east) with Pienza (12 km east).

How to get to Val d’Orcia from Poggibonsi

By car via the Via Cassia (SS2) south through Siena, then continuing to San Quirico d’Orcia: approximately 65 km, 1 hour 5 minutes.

Public transport is impractical for the Val d’Orcia, the main villages are not well connected by bus, and the distances between them require a car.

The ideal approach from Hotel Alcide: leave by 9am, and you’ll be in Bagno Vignoni by 10am. A day in the Val d’Orcia, Bagno Vignoni, Pienza, Montalcino, returns comfortably to Poggibonsi by early evening.