A Weekend In Val D’Orcia

About an hour south of Siena, there’s a valley you might have seen several times in movies like The Gladiator, The English Patient, or Romeo & Juliet. Whether you’ve seen it at the movies or at home on your TV, Val d’Orcia is a real place, dense with long, perfect cypress trees roads, and postcard-ish houses on top of too-beautiful-to-be-true hills.

Epicenter of this incredible area is Pienza, a lovely medieval town that oversees the whole area and awards you with unforgettable panoramas and memories.

While strolling through the historic centre of Pienza, don’t miss the culinary experience of “panino con cinta senese e pecorino toscano”, pici (a type of pasta) or lampredotto. The place proliferates with restaurants and “osterie” where you’ll feel and taste truly authentic Tuscan cuisine.

You can find countless bed and breakfasts and “poderi” to stay, most of them featuring enchanting views of the surrounding hills. Hop in your rental car (you will 100% need one) and visit the close villages of Montepulciano, Bagno Vignoni and San Quirico d’Orcia, along with the insanely beautiful places like Cappella di Vitaleta. This a place you’ll want to visit again, and again.