Val d’Orcia

the iconic rolling cypress-dotted Tuscan landscape

Valley

Val d'Orcia is not a single venue but a wide rural valley in southern Tuscany, between the hills south of Siena and Monte Amiata, named after the Orcia river. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 as a cultural landscape that preserves its Renaissance-era layout and aesthetic. The area is defined by gentle hills, cypresses, vineyards, olive groves and clay 'crete' formations, dotted with medieval and Renaissance towns such as Pienza (the 15th-century 'ideal town'), Montalcino (home of Brunello di Montalcino wine) and Radicofani. It is renowned for Brunello di Montalcino wine and Cinta Senese pork. The curator note ('Valley') is minimal, but the place is unambiguously the famous Tuscan valley/landscape rather than a specific establishment.