Mapping MONTALCINO

About 40 minutes south of Siena and a bit over an hour from the Tuscan coast, Val d'Orcia lies to the east of the Maremma and to the west of Montepulciano and Umbria. The UNESCO world heritage site is made up by the territories of Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia  (with historic spa town Bagno Vignoni ) , Pienza, Castiglione d'Orcia and Radicofani. The Orcia river crosses two more municipalities (Castel del Piano and my hometown Cinigiano ), where it divides the province of Siena from the province of Grosseto (Tuscany's two southernmost areas) before flowing into the Ombrone river.    View VAL D'ORCIA MAP in a larger map

November in Tuscany's countryside.  Time for Sunday walks around Etruscan archaeology digs, wild boar hunting and c hestnut roasting.  CYPRESS LOVE On the way to Sant'Angelo in Colle

Buonconvento: benches waiting for the idle visitor.  I've written about my passion for Buonconvento before. The Southern Tuscan town sports  great museums and ice-cream and a beautiful town center with impressive town walls. Plus, the town is often overlooked by tourists heading towards Montalcino and the Val d'Orcia. Buonconvento is not entirely off-the-beaten track, but definitely refreshing after an afternoon spent jammin' it in Siena or Pienza.  This said, during a few days of the year you'll be surprised by running into quite the crowd in Buonconvento. Luckily it will be made up by mainly locals, not tourists.