Our company, located in the Florence area, offers excursions to the most famous art cities in Tuscany and central Italy . Florence and Tuscany history, together with the unique landscape and the art masterpieces that you can admire, will make your holiday unforgettable.
Private full day tour Val D’Orcia - Montalcino - Bagno Vignoni - Pienza - starting from Florence - about 10 hours long
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ROCCA OF MONTALCINO
This fine example of a 14C fortress has been remarkably well preserved despite the fact that the development of artillery in the following century made this type of defensive system vulnerabie to attack. The high walls, complete with a parapet walk and machicolations, form a huge pentagon in which the population could seek refuge. The angles of the structure are marked by five polygonal towers, one of which has been partly destroyed.
in the interior (left of the entrance) are the remains o fa basilica and (far right) the keep (mastio) designed to house officials and noblemen in times of siege; there Is wine-tasting (ground floor) and the standard of the Repubhic of Siena painted by Il Sodoma (second floor). From the parapet walk there is a vast panoramic view over the town and surrounding countryside.
The Origins of Pienza
Built of the top of a hill dominating the Orcia Valley (elevation 491 metres), Pienza is the most important example of an “Ideal Renaissance Town “. Originally the small town was just an hamlet called Corsignano (also mentioned by Boccaccio in one of his Decameron Novels). Here, the noble family Piccolomini lived, where they had some properties, after being exiled from Siena in 1385, for political reasons. So in Corsignano in 1405, was born the man who was to become the most important member of this old family and one of the most famous figures of the XV century in Italy: Enea Silvio Piccolomini.
The Cathedral of Pienza
The work, as per the wishes of the Pope, was bound to be of pre-eminent importance with its visual impact. Rising along the base of the trapezium, this unique construction is in fact, isolated from the others. The facade in travertine is in the purest Tuscan-Roman Renaissance style, here the reality of elegance, harmony and proportion unite the theory of the great humanistic thinkers. At the centre of the tympanum the Piccolomini coat-of-arms is within a fine crown of foliage and fruit probably executed, from a design by Rossellino, by Sienese workers.
The octagonal bell-tower represents strong similarity with those of the Austrian and German Churches.
The interior has three naves of equal height, and is characterised by the intense light that penetrates the great gothic stained glass. The eclectic style of this sacred building was greatly inspired by the Hallenkirchen style of northern Europe that Enea Silvio, not yet Pope, admired during his travels.
Among the notable internal works are the altarpieces, all dating from between 1462 and 1463, and carried out by the major Sienese painters of the time: (from right) Giovanni di Paolo, Matteo di Giovanni, Lorenzo di Pietro, called Vecchietta, Sano di Pietro and again Matteo di Giovanni.
In the crypt are conserved sculptured fragments coming from the Romanesque church of S. Maria, demolished to make way for the new Cathedral and a baptismal font from Rossellino‘s workshop.
Bagno Vignoni - The history
The origins of the baths are very ancient: probably the Etruscans knew of it and certainly they were used by the Romans: in fact there are numerous inscriptions that testify to their presence, one on a plaque attached under the portico of Santa Caterina, has a dedication to the waters to the Nyinphs.
The central position the Spa of Bagno Vignoni enjoyed, by being on the Via Francigena (Pilgrim ‘s Way) that connected the north of Europe with Rome, became a destination for pilgrims and travellers, who utilized the water for both therapeutic and hygienic purposes.
In the second half of the 1300’s the locality was the holiday settingfor the young Caterina Benincasa, who around a century later was proclaimed a Saint by Pope Pius II. Caterina was taken to Bagno Vignoni by her mother, who tried to distract her from her strong vocational religious tendency by frequenting this Spa environment, to ensure that she made acquaintances and met with young peoploe of her own age.
Legend tells that Caterina, instead, chose the hottest waters, to transform the pleasure of the bath into an ulterior penitence.
Testimony in the XV century to the importance achieved by Bagno Vignoni was given by the illustrious presence of Pope Pius Il (Enea Silvio Piccolomini), who commissioned the architect Bernardo Gambarelii, called Rossellino, the creator of Pienza, to construct a palace, which today still exists. Towards the end of the 1400’s aiso Lorenzo the Magntficent, often frequented the baths to cure his gout and rheumatism.
The establishinents then became developed by the Sienese State and by the family of the House of Lorraine, but the use of the baths in the modem sense started only in the XVIII century.
The springs
In the pool of the main square of the town, closed on one side by a covered loggia with the chapel of Santa Caterina, there are various springs: the principal one has a temperature of 51°C (123,8°F).
Swimming is not permitted in this pool, but it is possible to use the same water in the canals that descend down to the Orcia River for a relaxing footbath, and to bath freely in the natural pool at the base of the valley. The water temperature slowly diminishes as it distances itself from the springs. In the past all the waters that flowed down this slope towards the Orcia River served to work mills. In the Middle Ages Bagno Vignoni represented an important point of reference for the economy of the entire valley thanks to the inexhaustible character of its mills that were constantly fed by the waters.