The Val d'Orcia or Valdorcia () is a region of

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

Monte Amiata Mount Amiata is the largest of the lava domes in the Amiata lava dome complex located about 20 km northwest of Lake Bolsena in the southern Tuscany region of Italy. It is located within the provinces of Grosseto and Siena. Geology Mount Am ...

. Its gentle, cultivated hills are occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as

Pienza Pienza () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, in the historical region of Val d'Orcia. Situated between the towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino, it is considered the "touchstone of Renaissance urbanism". In 1996, UNESCO ...

(rebuilt as an "

ideal town An ideal city is the concept of a plan for a city that has been conceived in accordance with a particular rational or moral objective. Concept The "ideal" nature of such a city may encompass the moral, spiritual and juridical qualities of ci ...

" in the 15th century under the patronage of

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August ...

Radicofani Radicofani () is a '' comune'' in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany, located in the natural park of Val d'Orcia about southeast of Florence and about southeast of Siena. Radicofani borders the following municipalities: A ...

(home to the notorious brigand-hero Ghino di Tacco) and

Montalcino Montalcino is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is from Siena, from Florence and from Pisa. Monte Amiata is ...

(the Brunello di Montalcino is counted among the most prestigious of Italian wines). Its landscape has been depicted in works of art from

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

painting to modern photography.

World Heritage

The Val d'Orcia was added to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

list of

World Heritage Sites A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 2004.

Orcia DOC

Within the Val d'Orcia is a strip of land following the Orcia river between the DOCG zones of Brunello di Montalcino and

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a red wine with a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita status produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montepulciano, Italy. The wine is made primarily from the Sangiovese grape varietal (know ...

. Here

Sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grape ...

and Trebbiano-based wines are produced under the Orcia ''

Denominazione di origine controllata The following four classifications of wine constitute the Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; English: “designation of origin”), * ''Indicazione geografica tipi ...

'' (DOC) status. The DOC red wine is composed of at least 60 percent Sangiovese with other local varieties, such as

Abrusco Abrusco is a red Italian wine grape variety grown primarily in the Tuscany region where it is a minor blending component permitted in the wines of Chianti. The grape has long history in the region and was mentioned in 1600, under its synonyms A ...

, permitted to fill in the remainder of the blend. The dry white wine and ''

Vin Santo Vin Santo ("holy wine") is a style of Italian dessert wine. Traditional in Tuscany, these wines are often made from white grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Malvasia, though Sangiovese may be used to produce a ''rosé'' style known as "Oc ...

'' style DOC wines are composed of at least 50 percent Trebbiano filled out with other local varieties. All grapes destined for DOC wine production are limited to a maximum harvest yield of 10

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

, with the finished wines required to have a minimum

alcohol level Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

of at least 12 percent.

Historic railways heritage site

Val d'Orcia is crossed by a 19th-century railway, whose tracks, stations and tunnels are continually maintained in working order, the normal railway service provided by the state having been discontinued in 1994. The scenic line connects the small town of

Asciano Asciano () is a ''comune'' and hill town in the province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany. It is located at the centre of the Crete senesi between the river Ombrone and the torrent Copra, some southeast of the town of Siena by rail. Hist ...

with

Monte Antico Monte Antico is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Civitella Paganico, province of Grosseto, in the area of the Ombrone Valley. At the time of the 2001 census its population amounted to 33.

using historic steam engines and carriages on selected dates throughout the year, to serve visitors to local festivals.

Film locations

Val d'Orcia has been a location for many well-known films, including: *''

8½ ' (Italian title: , ) is a 1963 surrealist comedy-drama film directed and co-written (with Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano and Brunello Rondi) by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. The metafictional narrative centers on Guido Anselmi, played by M ...

'' by Federico Fellini (1963) *''

Brother Sun, Sister Moon ''Brother Sun, Sister Moon'' ( it, Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna) is a 1972 film directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Graham Faulkner and Judi Bowker. The film is an examination of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. Plot Francesco, the sp ...

'' by

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...

(1972) *''

Nostalghia ''Nostalghia'' (UK: ''Nostalgia'') is a 1983 Soviet- Italian drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and starring Oleg Yankovsky, Domiziana Giordano, and Erland Josephson. Tarkovsky co-wrote the screenplay with Tonino Guerra. The film depicts a ...

'' by Andrei Tarkovsky (1983) * ''The English Patient'' by

Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...

(1996) *''

Stealing Beauty ''Stealing Beauty'' (french: Beauté volée; it, Io ballo da sola) is a 1996 drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Liv Tyler, Joseph Fiennes, Jeremy Irons, Sinéad Cusack, and Rachel Weisz. Written by Bertolucci and Susan Mi ...

'' by

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

(1996) *'' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' by Michael Hoffman (1999) *'' Gladiator'' by Ridley Scott (2000)

In literature

The book ''

War in Val d'Orcia ''War in Val d'Orcia'' is a civilian Second World War memoir in diary form, set in Tuscany. The author was the Anglo-Irish writer and philanthropist Iris Origo. Setting Origo, with her Italian husband Antonio, a nobleman, owned and managed the es ...

'' by

Iris Origo Dame Iris Margaret Origo, Marchesa Origo, DBE (née Cutting; 15 August 1902 – 28 June 1988) was an English-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to improving the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulc ...

(1902–1988) is a detailed, first-hand account of the World War II events of 1943–1944 in the region, written as a diary in English.Iris Margaret Origo, Marchioness: ''War in Val d'Orcia. A Diary'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1947 (British Library details).

Gallery

File:Val D Orcia Sunrise (151505625).jpeg File:Siena Hills - Montalcino, Siena, Italy - june 23, 2018.jpg File:Castiglione-Scenery-2012.JPG File:Castiglione d'Orcia, Province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy - panoramio.jpg File:Orcia cipressi 001.jpg File:San Quirico d'Orcia - lo.tangelini.jpg File:Toscana - Val d'Orcia - dalla Via della Foce - Flickr - Oishi Kuranosuke.jpg File:Dry and Desolate (Unsplash).jpg File:Cypress (257433311).jpeg

References

External links

Val d'Orcia Natural Park (Official page)UNESCO World Heritage Centre :: Val d’OrciaHeritage railways in Val d'Orcia. The Asciano-Monte Antico line
{{Authority control Romanesque architecture in Tuscany Hilltowns in Tuscany Valleys of Tuscany World Heritage Sites in Italy