Is Val D'Orcia scenic in late June?
 

I'm planning a trip to Tuscany in late June,especially Val D'Orcia area.

Would the contryside be too brown and dry? Harvest?

Can I see some scenic green area at this period?

Thank you very much.

Depends on the weather, the river will still flow, the hills will still be there, June is not July so probably greenish but up in the hills while the trees will be green the grass may be withering. You'll still see trees marching across hillsides etc.

Have you been to California, particularly Napa and Sonoma?

Are they too brown and dry? Tuscany looks a lot like Napa and Sonoma. It's supposed to be brown. That's why they have good wine.

Ireland, Galicia, and Brittany are green. They have lousy wine.

Seriously, the Val d'Orcia is beautiful whenever. But a Mediterranean climate is a Mediterranean climate, whether it is in Europe or California.

bilboburgler, Thank you very much.

Ackislander, Thank you very much.

I've not been in late June/early July, but I have seen the brown and bare hills of the val d'Orcia and found them to be extremely beautiful. Rather like velvet in some stretches or covered in gold hay. The textures and colors are rich. If you prefer green and flowers and want to hedge your bets, you could position yourself somewhere within easy reach of both the val d'Orcia and the Chianti -- the latter never having been denuded like the val d'Orcia was through intense hyperlocal farming practices, so it has a lot of greenery. Maybe somewhere between Monteriggioni and Sovicille, so you wouldn't more than an hour's scenic drive to either famous area, plus you would be in a beautiful spot in and of itself, and near Siena if that interests you.

The wheat will almost certainly have been harvested, but there should be sunflowers blooming.

A lot of central and southern Tuscany was formerly intensely farmed, but is returning to brush and woodland, because the little farms and the farms on slopes aren't amenable to farming with modern equipment. The same thing is happening where I live (in Le Marche) but it's not as far advanced. The Tuscany region has been doing a census of abandoned land, in the hopes of recuperating it for agricultural use. They're the first region, I think, to try to address the problem, but I don't know who they're going to find to farm this land. The fact is that the tourism industry is more profitable than farming.

I have a feeling the process is irreversible. Around here, all the farmers I know are elderly, and their kids are all doctors and lawyers. Farming just doesn't pay any more, and the people who farm do it because they can't imagine life away from the soil. Many small vineyards can't even sell their grapes, and those that can don't break even. I know a farmer who has certified DOC Verdicchio grapes, and a few years ago, the local cooperative hadn't paid him yet for the previous year's harvest and told him they didn't want the current harvest. The huge mechanized vineyards are the only ones that are profitable, and that barely. The locally produced olive oil here costs more than twice as much as what you can buy in the supermarket. We buy local oil in bulk every year, and it's the only kind of oil we use, but I see even rural families using supermarket oil.

Woodland is very nice, and it's green, but once most of the land is wooded, there are no long views, and with monoculture there's no visual variety. I think the real beauty of central Italy is the patchwork of little fields, olive groves, and vineyards, all of different colors, and I'm afraid we're the last generation that will see it.

Thank you very much everyone, I most appreciate your reply.
It really helped me.

I've been there in June 3 times & Oct the same. Both timeframes are beautiful, but June greener.