Pienza and Val d’Orcia…… wow, what a day trip! If you have ever looked at a Tuscany calendar, chances are quite a few of the photos in it were taken in Val d’Orcia. It is breathtakingly picturesque – I think we stopped every 10 feet to take in the view and snap a photo. We first drove to Pienza which is one of the towns located in this beautiful sprawling valley. We had a stroll around, taking in the beautiful piazza and cute streets. We could see the insanely gorgeous views below from the walls of Pienza and that the light was creeping close to magic hour so we quickly left and set out to explore the side roads and rolling hills.

As the sun slid lower in the sky, it’s warm light spread over the hills in long shadows, bringing out their contours and peaks. I felt like I was in one of those movies where there is a treasure map involved and you need the sun to be at a certain position in the sky to shine through a talisman to reveal the location of buried treasure, but instead, the talisman was my lens and the treasure was everywhere you looked. Wherever the light touched the soft multi-coloured wheat, was a jewel in itself. My Dad and I kept switching between excitedly gushing and being in silent awe. I took it all in like a beautiful dream. Never before have I seen light play like that, and on such beautiful vistas. If you’re ever lucky enough to find yourself in this amazing place, I suggest you wait until sunset to see it in its full glory.

We really only saw the tip of the iceberg- there is SO much more to explore in that valley and next time I’m in Tuscany, I definitely plan to linger longer in Val d’Orcia.

Click here to check out our home base while staying in Tuscany as well as some of the other spots we visited before moving on to next leg of our trip, Cinque Terre. : )
You can also take a stroll through all my Italy adventures here.