Castiglione d'Orcia

Castiglione d'Orcia is in a postcard setting among the gentle hills of the Orcia River valley. The classic landscape encompasses rolling fields dotted with grapevines and olive groves and interspersed with woodlands. The villages here are stone and gleam golden in the sunlight. Castiglione d'Orcia is a charming hamlet of narrow lanes and pretty piazzas with a handful of restaurants and shops.

The town is dominated by its unusual-shaped castle called the Rocca a Tintinnano. The solid stone structure was built in 853 as a defensive fortress and there are breathtaking views from its ramparts. Don't miss the Sala d'Arte San Giovanni, a cooperative effort by the town and its parishes to recuperate five paintings from churches of Castiglione d'Orcia that had been taken to a museum in Montalcino, to return them here and put them on permanent display.

There are thermal springs in the area, which attracted the Romans and still have curative effects that draw people to their mineral properties. Castiglione d'Orcia is near Pienza, San Quirico, and Montalcino in the Siena hills.