Where to stay in Val d'Orcia

The valley south of Siena that ended up on every calendar, and it does look like that. Montalcino for Brunello, Pienza for cheese, Montepulciano for both — small towns, long views, slow roads.

The Cassia runs the length of the valley, and San Quirico d'Orcia sits level at its centre. Pienza, east on its ridge, is flat inside the walls and the place to walk to dinner. Montepulciano is the biggest and steepest, a long climb from Porta al Prato to Piazza Grande. Montalcino stands alone on its western hill. An agriturismo between them has the views and means driving to dinner.

It suits drivers and photographers. It suits anyone without a car badly: Siena's buses keep a weekday timetable, and Buonconvento and Montepulciano stations sit far below the towns. All three are ZTLs; park at the Fortezza in Montalcino, outside Pienza's walls and below Porta al Prato. Bagno Vignoni's piazza pool is for looking at; the free hot water is at Bagni San Filippo.

Three nights covers the towns; a fourth adds the Crete Senesi. The fields are green in spring, gold in June and ploughed brown by the Brunello harvest. Arrive from Siena down the Cassia and leave by Chiusi, on the Florence–Rome line, with either city a train away. The day trips are gone by five.

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