What is Castiglione d'Orcia known for?

One of three communes that share the 2004 UNESCO listing of the Val d'Orcia cultural landscape between Siena and Monte Amiata. Twelfth-century Salimbeni stronghold in the frazione of Rocca d'Orcia, where Catherine of Siena retired and learned to write in 1377. Painter, sculptor and architect Lorenzo di Pietro, born here around 1410, central figure of fifteenth-century Sienese art.

Where is Castiglione d'Orcia?

Castiglione d'Orcia is a comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany region of Italy, about 87 kilometers from Perugia.

Tuscany · Siena

Castiglione d'Orcia

A stone borgo at 540 meters in the UNESCO Val d'Orcia, first recorded in 714, with two fortresses guarding the road from Amiata to the Via Francigena.

540m

Elevation

87 km / 54 mi

Nearest hub (Perugia)

2,144

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Castiglione d'Orcia sits at 540 meters on a ridge above the Val d'Orcia, the agricultural landscape between Siena and Monte Amiata that UNESCO listed in 2004 as a cultural site shaped by Sienese painters and Renaissance estate managers. The settlement was first documented in 714, when it was a possession of the Aldobrandeschi. The Rocca Aldobrandesca above the village and the Rocca a Tentennano on the neighboring outcrop, in the frazione of Rocca d'Orcia, controlled the medieval road between Mount Amiata and the Via Francigena. Siena took the town in 1251 and entrusted it to the Salimbeni and Piccolomini. Saint Catherine of Siena retired to Rocca a Tentennano in 1377 and learned to write there. Piazza Vecchietta, the small civic space in the centro storico, is named for the painter and architect Lorenzo di Pietro known as il Vecchietta, born here around 1410. The territory is one of three communes in the comprensorio that share the UNESCO inscription.

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Gallery

4 photos · scroll →

Known for

Rocca Aldobrandesca
Aldobrandeschi fortress above the village, documented from the eighth century, walls and keep open as an archaeological site.
Rocca a Tentennano
Twelfth-century Salimbeni stronghold on a basalt outcrop in the frazione of Rocca d'Orcia, where Catherine of Siena learned to write in 1377.
Piazza Vecchietta
Small triangular civic square in the centro storico, named for the painter Lorenzo di Pietro known as il Vecchietta, born here around 1410.
Pieve dei Santi Stefano e Degna
Romanesque parish church on the main square, holding a fourteenth-century panel of the Madonna by Pietro Lorenzetti.
Val d'Orcia panorama
Continuous view from the ridge over the UNESCO-listed agricultural landscape, with Pienza, Montalcino and Monte Amiata visible on a clear day.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months the Val d'Orcia photographers come for, the green hills and the gold stubble depending on the half. The borgo at 540 meters stays cool when the valley floor heats up. July and August push the lower fields into the mid thirties; afternoons thin out the centro storico but the ridge keeps a breeze. November through March is quiet, several restaurants close, and the Val d'Orcia under fog from the Pienza viewpoint is the photograph that justifies the cold. Cypresses on the lower farms hold their shape against the bare clay year round.