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Road to Monticchiello

The famous road lined with cypress is just southeast of Monticchiello, a small town south of Pienza. As you approach Monticchiello on the main road from the south, the zigzagging cypress lined road is on your right just before Monticchiello.
 
   

Monticchiello is a small centre in the heart of the Orcia valley whose beauty derives from its geographical position and the harmonious integration of its medieval architecture.
Monticchielo, not far off the main road between Montepulciano and Pienza, is best known for its plays titled "Teatro Povero", which are presented in July and August.

Monticchiello still retains its old walls, towers and castle, the village inside the fortifications has maintained intact its medieval characteristics. Walking down the main street, there is the church of S. Agata. The 13th century Church of Santo Leonardo e Cristóforo, with a Gothic facade, contains an altar-piece of the Madonna con bambino by Pietro Lorenzetti.

Monticchiello was the main center of the defensive organization on the oriental border of Siena and so during its history was often object of wars and assaults, destruction and occupations. The whole system of the fortifications is chained to the Torre del Cassero, set in the highest point of the hill where the hamlet rises. The Torre del Cassero is the only tower of medieval fortress that remains intact. The tower is private property. In 1967 it was purchased by the sculptor Eila Hiltunen [1] and her husband.

Special event is the il Teatro Povero, the Poor Theatre, a most impressive and clear sign of the town's vitality. Every year a new production, written, conceived and directed by the people of Monticchiello' returns to speak of past, present and future events of this community.

Villa La Foce, between Montepulciano and Pienza, is located near the site of an Etruscan settlement and a burial-place dating from the 7th century BC. The Villa itself was built in the late 15th century as a hostel for pilgrims and merchants traveling on the via Francigena. In 1924 the property was bought by Antonio Origo and his wife Iris. The gardens and estate of La Foce constitute one of the most important and best kept early twentieth-century gardens in Italy. [2]

The chamber music festival Incontri in Terra di Siena, was founded in 1989 by Benedetta Origo and her son, Antonio Lysy, in memory of Iris and Antonio Origo. The festival is held each year at the end of July / beginning of August.

Monticchiello and Villa La Foce are within an hour's drive from Podere Santa Pia.

Incontri in Terra di Siena - 2009 Season

 

 

  


Monticchiello, one of the towers

Madonna con bambino by Pietro Lorenzetti
     

The medieval castle of Castelluccio (literally little castle) lies on the summit of a hill on the La Foce estate. Each summer, the cultural association La Tartaruga organizes art shows at the medieval castle Castelluccio. The curator, Plinio de Martiis (known for his important gallery in Rome) has in recent years brought the work of renowned artists such as Kounellis and Manzoni to Castelluccio, as well as promoting young, less famous artists.

The Pieve di Santa Maria dello Spino, between Monticchiello and Bagno Vignoni, is used on the annual Corpus Domini procession, the Processione del Corpus Domini. The church of Santa Maria dello Spino, which nowadays belongs to the Gonzi family and lies just 2 km. from Le Fontanelle, is one of the most important little churches of the Val d'Orcia.
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Castelluccio di Pienza
     
Pieve di Santa Maria dello Spino
     
The Castello di Spedaletto, situated half way between Bagno Vignoni and Monticchiello, was built in the 12th century by the monk Ugolino da Rocchione, to host the pilgrims and wayfarers who travelled the old Via Francigena, one of the most important roads in Europe in the Middle Ages. Already in the year 1200 the castle was administrated by the Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala and had surely the function of a fortified farm as well as hostel for the pilgrims. In the Middle of 15th century the castle was restored and got additional fortifications.  

Castello di Spedaletto
 
   
   

Riserva Naturale Lucciola Bella
   
The Nature Riserve Riserva Naturale Lucciola Bella is situated south east of Pienza and Montichiello, in the Val d’Orcia, which stretches up to Chianciano Terme. The riserve is in a small corner of the typical landscape of the crete senesi. In fact the striking feature of the nature reserve is this unusual landscape of the calanchi and biancane, typical erosive features of the Crete Senesi landscape, mainly linked to grazing activities: they house important and exclusive vegetational and ornithological aspects.

  
   
Walking and trekking in Tuscany | Walking in the Val d'Orcia
   
   
Pienza - Monticchiello | 5 km
    

 

From Monticchiello to Pienza you walk on the balcony of Val d'Orcia, a valley among beautiful rolling hills, framed by wheat fields, and occasional dark green pinnacles of cypress. Walk
The walk sets out immediately on quiet dirt roads with sweeping views.
   
 
   
 

The frazioni Monticchiello, Cosona, La Foce and Spedaletto are part of the community Pienza.

Siena Communities near Monticchiello are Chianciano Terme · Montalcino · Montepulciano · Pienza ·San Casciano dei Bagni · San Quirico d'Orcia · Sarteano

 

Restaurants

Osteria La Porta | Via del Piano 1, 53026 Monticchiello | www.osterialaporta.it

Ristorante Taverna Di Moranda | Via di Mezzo, 17, Monticchiello | www.tavernadimoranda.it

   

[1] Eila Hiltunen

The sculptor Eila Hiltunen was born on November 22, 1922, in Sortavala, Eastern Finland The life and career of Eila Hiltunen, who has significantly influenced the history of Finnish art, is rich.

Italy has become Eila Hiltunen's second home country. In 1967 the artist and her husband found a tower of a medieval fortress in the village of Monticchiello near Siena and after a renovation it has become dear to the artist. Hiltunen has received magnificent feedback from Italy. She has been awarded with a gold medal in the Fiorentino Biennial, Florence 1971, she has held a large solo retrospective in the Palazzo Venezia in Rome 1985, and an exhibition in the museum of Santa Croce basilica in Florence 1990. The city of Rome received her steel sculpture Orchid in 1997.

Links

www.eilahiltunen.net

 

Monticchiello, Torre del Cassero
   
   

[2] Iris Origo (1902-1988), the Marchesa Origo, was an Anglo-Irish-American writer, who devoted much of her life to the improvement of the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulciano, that she purchased with her husband in 1924.

Iris Margaret Cutting was born on 15 August 1902, the daughter of William Bayard Cutting, the son of a rich and philanthropic New York family and Sybil Cuffe. Her parents travelled widely after their marriage, particularly in Italy.

Following the early death of Bayard Cutting in 1910, Sybil Cuffe settled with her daughter Iris in Italy, buying the Villa Medici in Fiesole, one of Florence’s most spectacular villas. In 1918, Iris’s mother married the architectural historian Geoffrey Scott, who later embarked on a relationship with Vita Sackville-West. The marriage was to last until 1927; following their divorce, she was to marry for a third time, to the essayist Percy Lubbock. She died in 1943.
On 4 March 1924, Iris married Antonio Origo, the illegitimate son of Marchese Clemente Origo. They moved together to their new estate at La Foce, near Chianciano Terme in the Province of Siena. It was in a state of bad disrepair but which, by much hard work, care and attention, they succeeded in transforming.
They had a son, Gian Clemente Bayard, Gianni, who died of meningitis, and two daughters, Benedetta and Donata. It was following the death of Gianni that Iris embarked on her writing career, with a well-received biography of Giacomo Leopardi, published in 1935. During the Second World War, the Origos remained at La Foce and looked after refugee children, who were housed there. Following the surrender of Italy, Iris also sheltered or assisted many escaped Allied prisoners of war, who were seeking to make their way through the German lines, or simply to survive.

The gardens and estate of La Foce constitute one of the most important and best kept early twentieth-century gardens in Italy.
Passionate about the order and symmetry of Florentine gardens, she and her husband employed the English architect and family friend Cecil Pinsent, who had designed the gardens at Villa Medici, to reawaken the natural magic of the property. Pinsent designed the structure of simple, elegant, box-edged beds and green enclosures that give shape to the Origos' shrubs, perennials and vines, and created a garden of soaring cypress walks, native cyclamen, lawns and wildflower meadows. Through the wood, a path joins the garden and the family cemetery, considered one of Pinsent's best creations.

Today the estate is run by the Origo daughters, Benedetta and Donata, and is open to the public one day a week.

Opening hours: the garden is open to the public every Wednesday afternoon. Guided tours leave from the Fattoria courtyard every hour from 3 to 7 PM (April-September) and 3 to 5 PM (October-March).

Selected Works by Iris Origo

Allegra (1935), a short life of Byron’s daughter
Images and Shadows (1970), an elegiac autobiography
Leopardi (1935), a biography of Giacomo Leopardi
The World of San Bernardino (1963), a life of Bernardino of Siena

Links

Caroline Moorehead, Iris Origo, Marchesa of Val d’Orcia (London, John Murray, 2000)

 


The gardens of La Foce,
Monte Amiata in the background


The gardens of La Foce