An area lives by the stories it holds: events that happened in distant or recent times, so important or extraordinary that they are told and passed down through the years. Some stories are so old that over the centuries they have turned into legends.
The Val d’Orcia, with its abundance of imposing castles and fortresses, is a compelling land, where it is easy to imagine the battles and love stories that came to life among the stones of ancient towers and noble palaces.
From the ramparts and strongholds, sentries watched the surrounding valleys waiting for the enemy; encounters and sieges took place under the walls of the fortified villages. Visiting these places is a leap into the past, when the Middle Ages were the present time and life took place accompanied by the clangour of swords and the rhythm of galloping hooves.
The strategic location of this territory has given it a dual aspect: a borderland on the one hand and a land of welcome on the other, the Val d’Orcia has seen armies and pilgrims, archbishops and brigands, saints and kings pass through from all over Europe. Merchants brought rarities and beauties to the villas of the aristocracy, while outstanding artists left their signatures in frescoes and paintings that still grace churches and museums today.
Today, the villages and nature-protected under the designation of World Heritage Site-reveal themselves to anyone who wants to listen to the stories and set out to discover the places where history took place, seeking adventure.
On foot along the ancient Via Francigena or biking along the Eroica trails, the Val d’Orcia stretches out before the slow traveler and reveals, hidden in the landscape, the still majestic profiles of medieval fortresses and the expanses of rows of vines where wines of excellence are born, the spearheads of an area that is indeed compelling, but also extremely tasty.
