Probably one of the most attractive and still intact villages outside the tourist routes, such as the famous Pienza which is only 15 minutes away by car! A small fortified medieval village, which has always been a faithful ally of Siena and a stronghold of its defensive system before the enemy Montepulciano allied itself with Florence. In 1559 it was one of the last fortresses to surrender to the Florentines, four years after the fall of Siena. For more than five centuries until 1777 Monticchiello had the statute of Municipality, governed by a Council where each family had a representative and participated in public life. Here we will make our stop to visit the spectacular village and have lunch in one of the characteristic local restaurants.

The great history of Pienza is concentrated in just six years (1458-1464) during the pontificate of Silvio Piccolomini, its most illustrious citizen. Elected Pope, Pius II commissioned the Florentine architect Bernardo Rossellino to transform his native village (then called Corsignano) into a new city, with the construction of the Cathedral, Palazzo Piccolomini and other buildings, including the palaces that the cardinals had forced to build. Corsignano was renamed Pienza, from the name of the Pope. On the death of Pio II, the works were interrupted and the city returned to being a quiet country village, illuminated, however, by testimonies of such importance as to be declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1996. In 2004 the same recognition was also given to the Val d'Orcia, as a way to safeguard a historic landscape designed by man following ideals of beauty and harmony with nature.

This small chapel, framed between two rows of cypresses, although small and lost in the fields of the Val d'Orcia, has truly become the protagonist of the most famous landscapes in the world. It stands in Vitaleta, near San Quirico d'Orcia, and was for many years a place of adoration of the simulacrum of the Virgin of Consolation, until, in 1553, a famous statue of the Virgin attributable to Andrea della Robbia was inserted inside. The statue, now kept in the Church of the Madonna di Vitaleta in the center of San Quirico d'Orcia, carries with it a very interesting story: It is said that it was the Virgin herself, appearing to a shepherdess, who suggested that the faithful go to a shop in Florence where they would find the statue to be placed in the church of Vitaleta.

Said to be one of the most beautiful wineries in the world! and I can't say the opposite.. A visit to this winery is a journey through time and history, here is the very essence of the sweet land of Tuscany, the wine, which our distant ancestors, the Etruscans, some centuries before the Christian era. This will be our last stop, but definitely not the last in terms of beauty. We will taste the famous Nobile di Montepulciano wine of the historic De'Ricci family, after the guided tour. Then we return to Florence in 90 minutes on a comfortable road.