Pienza and Val d'Orcia

This is the landscape of the Val d'Orcia.

Rolling hills and solitary cypresses on top of the hills or arranged in orderly rows along the white roads are certainly the most famous and photographed landscapes of Tuscany. Val d'Orcia has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2004 as a cultural landscape.

Those who are passionate about photography will undoubtedly know some of the most famous photographic locations in the Val d'Orcia: such as the cypress grove (also called "I Cipressini") of San Quirico d'Orcia, or the magical panorama of the Belvedere farm at dawn or still the country road between the wheat fields, with cypresses in the background, made famous by Ridley Scott's film Gladiator.

However, the Val d'Orcia is not only countryside scenery, but on its hills, there are some historic villages of exceptional historical value for their architecture, such as Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia and Radicofani.

Pienza, in particular, represents an extraordinary historical example of urban planning, thanks to its construction centered on the project of the Ideal City of the Renaissance, conceived in the fifteenth century by the architect Bernardo Rossellino. The historic center, with its main buildings and the Cathedral, all gathered around the main square, still maintains the structure of the original project today.

In my collection of photographs of the Val d'Orcia, I have selected some classic and well-known landscapes and others I have discovered over the years.

Autumn and spring are the best months to take amazing photos in this area. If you are lucky enough to witness a sunset after a rainy day or a storm, the colors and harmonies between light and shadow these lands offer are fantastic.