val d'orcia – Our Man In Volterra

Today, we did a thing: we invited our friend to what we term a ‘sticky day of fun’ (referring to the state we land home in, given the usually hot weather in which we explore). This day would be fun, but would be considerably less sticky – the weather wasn’t the best. However, Tuscany can be grand in all weathers and a little rain (or a lot of rain) wouldn’t spoil the day….. completely.

We took the road Siena road, going through Castel San Gimignano, Campiglia, Le Grazie and Colle di Vald’Elsa, and from there joined the motorway system all the way to our first destination: San Quirico d’Orcia. I’d been wanting to visit this little town ever since we blazed past it during our first trip to the valley, over two years previously. The journey took a little under two hours. We parked in a free carpark and took a couple of flights of steps up to the outskirts of the old town. As soon as we’d passed by a couple of buildings and a sculpture, and we passed through behind the wall into the town itself, the rain started to come down.

One of the first things Irish visitors say about Italian hilltowns, once they’ve gotten over the different aesthetics, is how clean the streets are. And we, even though we were used to hilltowns, all commented on how clean San Quirico’s streets were. They were immaculate. There were also large sculptures within the piazzette dotted around the town.

We found another gate into town at which stood a white-stoned church. Not the one above, but another smaller one. Inside was the most extraordinary sculpted relief on a lectern, which looked very Celtic in origin – it took Niamh and I by surprise.

Hunger was beginning to be a factor, but we completed our route around the town – in as much as the rain allowed. We came across gardens, squares and lovely little courtyards. The one thing I thought was lacking in the old town, were views of the actual Val d’Orcia itself. It seems to rest on a hill, which gently declines all around, and on which are build modern areas. Even when I managed to climb to a walkway atop an old wall, the view into the modern town and beyond was blocked by larger olive trees. There are some views, but they seem to be across a more level plain near the Val d’Orcia. Just an observation… not much the townsfolk can do about it.

Hunger took us, and we had a look at a couple of menus until we found one that would suit all of us, and settled on La Bottega di Ines.

We were pleased with both the food and service, and it was just a nice place to sit and relax out of the rain. Would I recommend San Quirico. Yes – it’s lovely, and it’s perfectly well-positioned to be a base of operations for exploring many Val d’Orcia sights, like the Vitaleta Chapel, the Cypress hill and our next destination – the spa hamlet of Bagno Vignoni.

It’s not often Google sends us all over the place, but we were about to experience the havoc it can occasionally wreak getting into Bagno Vignoni. This village lies just 5.5 kilometers south of San Quirico. Google took us to a dirt track to park. The so-called carpark must be for the nearby thermal river. We rechecked before we found a ridiculously obvious carpark just outside of the village.

Bagno Vignoni is pretty much there for tourists… the whole village. Buildings surround a thermal pool, which is emptied and refilled periodically. Small offshoots of roads with hotels, shops and holiday rentals spread away from this central square. All is perfect and seemingly ready-made. Normally, this might annoy me, but honestly the effect is profoundly lovely, and we swore that we’d come again in better weather to spend a couple of nights in the spa hotel. We actually have not gotten around to do this yet.

The town was surrounded by distant thick fog and mist, but rain threatened, and we only made it about two-thirds of the way around the pool before the heavens opened.

Love the view of the background tower here

I had to laugh, as I was pointing my phone everywhere, when I got closer to the row of sculpted monkeys and saw that they too were not fully present, and were too on their phones, not paying sufficient attention to their surroundings. To my credit, I started filming and taking photos less. We stopped at a shop recommended to us by our friend – one of those general Tuscan crafts stores, but sadly it was closed. Protecting our heads, we stopped under an awning and pondered our next move. The bar!

The ladies had a prosecco each, and I had a refreshing cedrata.

We had one final stop – one of the most famous hilltowns in Tuscany: Montalcino; a town famous for its incredible wines, most notable Brunello di Montalcino.

When we approached the town, we gritted our teeth when Mrs. Google seemed to take us through part of the centre of town. I was keeping an eye out for ZTL signs, but it didn’t look like to me we went through any. We wound up near the top layer of the town in a carpark right next to its magnificent fortress (more on that later).

We got out of the car and walked back down the hill more towards the centre of town. The first thing I noticed was there there seemed to an incredible number of enoteche, where you can go in and have a wine tasting, along with some nibbles to help with the flavour profile. I would have said there might be a couple of dozen in the town, maybe? I imagine most large producers have a tasting shop in Montalcino, as well a space near the vineyards.

It was a little wet, with rain spitting down every so often, and so our explore was somewhat cursory. Having said that, the town had a really positive effect on me, and I found myself falling in love with it. But we also had to do what people do when they usually come to Montalcino: wine! In our explore, we hit the main piazzetta, with its magnificently narrow council building and secular belltower, but wandered down some side streets, trying to settle on a place to stop for a half hour to try out the vino, and maybe have an afternoon pastry.

We walked into a place and were greeted by the owner, and showed into the back, where one would ordinarily be able to see a magnificent view of the valley over some of the town’s rooves. The ladies stalled, not otherwise liking the look/smell of the place and because the view was non-existent today, we walked out again. I hate doing that – especially in places that are already quite empty. I get an attack of the guilts. Instead, we walked back to the main square, into a fairly hifalutin place, where I’d say they already get their fair share of custom, despite the reviews on Google: Caffè Fiaschetteria Italiana 1888.

The enoteca was trying to be more than actually was, but the service was friendly enough – one new girl was being trained in very diligently by the other on duty, who was dressed like an old-school waiter. We asked for three Brunelli of different levels of maturity, with me getting the middle one. I came out the victor, more through sheer dumb luck than any true oenophilia. They were expensive, but I have to say I enjoyed mine.

Once done, we headed back to the car, but visited the fortress before heading home. It’s a magnificent place, and I is a wonderful venue for outdoor cinema and concerts. I didn’t take too many photos, but you can see more footage in the YouTube video below.

When it was time to go, I pulled my usual trick of setting a route home to avoid tolls and motorways, so we’d have something new to see. Unfortunately, for the first 10 or so kilometers we were taken on a white road. Not fun to drive on, but in fairness it gave us some potentially wonderful views, especially the thumbnail of the video below – which would have been nicer in better weather.

So, would I visit Montalcino again? You betchya… I’d even stay over once the weather gets finer!

Thanks for reading and viewing all the way to the bottom. Please drop a comment – I’d love to hear from you!

Hello again! A little warning that this blog will have a ton of photos.

As we knew we had a day-and-a-half in front of us, we didn’t go for a walk in the morning. Instead, we left early and drove the route to Siena, past the starkly lovely Colle val d’Elsa. Rather than take our usual exit to head to Siena, we motored past that and on into the Crete Senesi. This is an unofficial region of which you probably already have seen if you’ve seen postcards of Tuscany. Rolling hills and winding dirt roads abound, lined with Cypress – everything you’ve seen is true. Then there are other parts which seem almost lunar – it’s a remarkable place.

However, we didn’t stray off the main roads, as you risk damaging your car if you do. The result was that we really didn’t see the best of it. In fact, what we did we didn’t thrill us any more than the surrounding area of Volterra: the Val di Cecina, Val d’Era etc. I would be tempted to say that those areas are actually nicer! Anyway, I didn’t take photos of the journey, as I was filiming instead – you can find the movie of this day near the bottom of this blog. We did see several signs with kilometer indicates to Rome – you know you’re heading south in Tuscan when you see those!

After winding our way through several towns, we stopped at Buonconvento – at first in the large pay carpark outside the walls of the old town, thinking it was the free carpark. The free one is in a small triangular section just beside it, so we moved the car just in case and had a wander around the old town.

It was lunchtime, so we checked Google where to eat. We passed by a couple of places that looked ok, including a bit of an oddity I’d never seen in Italy before: choose your noodle, then choose your sauce – a bit like the prescriptive menus you get in Chinese places. We skipped that as I thought you should be guided towards the right pasta for the right sauce.

Instead, we went for one of Google’s highest-rated places. It was outside the town walls, and when we got there it seemed to be a simple bar with a small menu. I had high hopes. Unfortunately, the best thing about the experience were the kickass soft drinks which were made locally. Niamh had a cola, and I had a lemon. The pasta dish Niamh and I both had was so-so (some sort of zucchini sauce), but the dry, bunless burger my brother had with undercooked potatoes was a shocker, to be honest. What a shame. Anyway, with our tails between our legs, I suggested we had the time to visit Pienza, little knowing the route we’d travel through to get there. Things were about to get better. So, to sum up – definitely travel to Buonconvento, but if you want a decent lunch, maybe actually stick to the old town!

Originally, I had in my head that we’d just travel around the Crete Senesi, maybe driving to another town or off-road to some of the more photographed. But then we blew through Buonconvento so quickly, and I happened to see that Pienza wasn’t a million miles away. I suggested it and it was accepted! Yay!

What I didn’t realise was that our road to Pienza went past what is possibly the most photographed section of Tuscany. In fact, one of the most photographed countryside scenes in all of Italy: the Cypress Circle in the Val d’Orcia. The first of my regrets of the day happened here – that I didn’t have a drone. Here are the photos. One of them is one of the best landscape shots I have ever taken.

There were about a dozen or so vehicles there, and so it was a comfortable number of people by the relatively new mirror monument. We saw tractors ploughing the land, and I’m pretty sure it was purely for aesthetics: the whole of the Val d’Orcia is a UNESCO heritage site.

Montalcino in the background on the ridge

How I wish I’d had a drone! It’s a stunning place. We only stayed 20 minutes, as it was murderously hot, and we wanted to have a wander around Pienza.

We got back in the car, ignored the one-way system out of the carpark (which was ok, as everyone else was ignoring it too!), and headed towards Pienza. On to the second regret: we blew past San Quirico d’Orcia, and there was a ton of parking space available. Ah well – apologies, San Quirico – maybe next time!

We arrived at Pienza, and found some free parking about a 5 minute walk outside the walls to the old town and wandered inside.

Pienza is a bit mad. It’s gorgeous, but was one of the first towns to ever have been replanned from the bottom-up by Pope Pius II. Pienza was his home town, and he suddenly had both the resources and clout to order it’s total redesign. So understated was the initial estimate by the architect (’twas ever thus!), that the Pope congratulated him on lying so convincingly so that the town was built and now the envy of the region… and gave him a bonus!

The whole walled town is a UNESCO heritage site, and so here and there you will find pockets of loveliness – but it’s also awash with tourists. I would not call Pienza a true representation of a lived-in Tuscan hilltown. Volterra is a better mix of a tourist site, mixed with real Tuscan life. I know I’m biased, but it really happens to be true in this case.

With such a high degree of tourism, you always run the risk of getting sub-par food and drink within a town, unless you do a little research. We were melted by the time we got into Pienza, that the first thing we needed to do was get some gelato. We just headed to the first place that was open. The gelato was so-so, but at least it cooled us down.

We went for another wander once we had cooled down.

We had to cool down again, as well as rest our feet, but had difficulty finding a bar with suitable seating. I also remembered that the artist who produced one of our favourite paintings in our apartment had her studio here, so we Googled it and off we went.

We found her working on a piece and managed to interrupt her. She knew me from Instagram, so we had a chat (her English is good) and we had a look about her studio and found this little beauty.

She had to spray it to protect the paint, and we’d have to come back. She started and the chemical smell from the spray was overpowering, so I asked her to recommend a bar at which we could sit, and she directed us towards Idyllium. We grabbed a seat there and had refreshments. The bar runs parallel to the wall which overlooks most of the valley. A camera with a good optical zoom would be a strong recommendation here!

After we finished the drinks, we headed back to the artist’s studio to find that she’d knocked a good 30% off the price of the piece. You should check her stuff out. I just found out she’s (she being Isabella Bisa) opened up a shop selling her work in Volterra! Anyway, you can check her out in Pienza or on her website.

We headed home then, having picked up our bonus artwork. We went a different way home, and so missed San Quirico again. I think we drove between Foiano della Chiana and Lugignano – towns I will blog about later, as we visited them during our return trip in October.

It was a long drive home, and you can see some highlights of the day in this YouTube video.

By the time we got back to Volterra, we were both hungry and thirsty, and so stopped at L’Antica Velathri Cafe for apperitivi.

The carbs didn’t end there, as we stopped for pizza. We found it hugely difficult to get a table anywhere, but we were shown down the back in Alla Vecchia Maniera. Afterwards, I had an obligatory stop in L’Isola del Gusto for a refreshing lemon sorbet. Then screenwatching and bed. An exhausting but incredibly fun day.