The Via Cassia running South of Siena towards Rome opens up a wonderful area of Tuscany, with the strong strange landscape evoking, just as well as the towns and individual buildings, a sense of the extraordinary political and art historical importance of this area. Show me properties in the South of Siena
The ‘Crete’, eroded clay hills are embroidered with hill towns and monasteries testifying to food production, power struggles and commercial travel using the road and the rivers Arbia and Ombrone through the centuries.Cuna is a fortified entirely brick built medieval granary once belonging to the hospital at Siena. It has an immense ramp leading to the first floor where grain was stored. A particularly fascinating place to visit in this culturally rich area is Monte Oliveto Maggiore, founded by the order of the Olivetans or White Benedictines in 1313. It makes an exceptionally impressive sight, on a promontory in the ‘crete’, in a crowd of dense, dark cypresses. Here there are beautiful frescoes by Signorelli and Sodoma, and stunning marquetry work on the choir stalls. The monks today are famous for their book restoration.
Further south, Montalcino, a classic Tuscan hill town watched over by an 11th. C. fortress, makes some of the best wine in the world: Brunello. Nearby, Gregorian monks chant on Sundays in Sant’Antimo, one of the finest Romanesque churches in Italy. More fine Romanesque work may be admired in the Lombard entrance portal to the Collegiata at San Quirico d’Orcia. When your feet are tired, you can bathe them in hot springs near Bagno Vignoni, famous since Roman times for its Spa waters.
Pienza, a complete Renaissance town, was created in just over three years, between 1459 and 1462. Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later to become Pope Pio II, arranged for Bernardo Rossellini and artists to work on this project which would exemplify the governing principles and philosophy of a great age which was blossoming: the Italian Renaissance. The main attraction in Pienza is the square, enclosed by the Duomo, the Palazzo Pubblico, the Papal Palace and the Bishop’s Palace.
Combine wine-tasting and a country drive through magnificent Tuscan landscapes on an afternoon wine tasting excursion.
