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 San Quirico d'OrciaComing from Montalcino towards Via Cassia, you'll find the road signs to San Quirico d'Orcia: one of the most interesting village of the whole Val d'Orcia. San Quirico boasts incredible beauties, as well as great entrepreneurial skills, specially within the building sector... this might be the reason of the uncommon open-mindedness of its inhabitants! It's no surprise that the village homes the valued publishing house "Don Chisciotte", that publish high-level books about the local history. San Quirico has a marvellous surrounding panorama, while the old town centre hosts a lovely restored Romanesque church and, beside the church, the XV-century Palazzo degli Amerighi, where it was prepared the legendary conspiracy against the Spanish that oppressed Siena (1555-1559). The stately Palazzo Chigi, dating back to the late XVII century, shows all its magnificence into the rooms recently restored by the skilled hands of the citizens in San Quirico. The splendid Collegiata offers instead (a part from the stunning St Peter's altar-piece) the ligneous inlaid chorus which must be seen, behind the questionable baroque altar. Among the numerous marvels in San Quirico, Leonini gardens or Horti Leonini deserve a special attention. These lovely gardens have sixteenth-century origins, they were in fact created in 1581 into a peace of land owned by Diomede Leoni, who gave the name to this stunning work of art and nature. The Horti have kept their original structure, representing a classic example of Italian style garden and a model of reference for future parks. The garden is divided into two areas, the lower artificial one and the upper natural one. The rhomboidal lower area is accessible through a small brick courtyard, surrounded by secular walls and holm-oaks. This beautiful zone takes to the statue of Cosimo III de' Medici, made by Bartolomeo Mazzuoli (1688). Here you'll be able to admire many fine sculptures, like the lions' heads nearby the entrance portals, as well as the representation of Janus, the two-faced Roman god of boundaries, located between the wild and the formal garden. Leonini gardens are open to the public every day :-). Once in San Quirico you must try the sweet olive oil, even celebrated every year in December.
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Other towns in the area: Arezzo, Asciano, Badia a Ruoti, Badia Agnano, Bagni di Lucca, Barberino Val d'Elsa, Bucine, Casole d'Elsa, Castelfiorentino, Castellina in Chianti, Castelnuovo Berardenga , Castiglion Fiorentino, Castiglioncello, Certaldo, Cetona, Chianciano Terme, Chiusi, Civitella della Chiana, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Cortona, Empoli, Figline Valdarno, Florence, Foiano della Chiana, Gaiole in Chianti, Gambassi Terme, Ghizzano, Greve in Chianti, Lamporecchio, Laterina , Lucca, Lucignano, Marciano della Chiana, Empoli, Molazzana, Montaione, Montalcino, Monte San Savino, Montecatini-Terme, Montefollonico, Montepulciano, Monteriggioni, Montisi, Nievole, Panzano in Chianti, Pienza, Pieve Fosciana, Pisa, Pistoia, Pitigliano, Poggibonsi, Poppi, Porciano, Pozzo della Chiana, Rignano sull'Arno, Rigomagno, Rosignano Solvay, San Baronto, San Casciano dei Bagni, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, San Gimignano, San Miniato, Sarteano, Scandicci, Seravezza, Siena, Sinalunga, Sorano, Torrita di Siena, Trequanda, Vagliagli, Viareggio, Volterra |
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