I will be staying in San Quirico for a week in May. Would anyone have any information on the following?

1. Restaurant recommendations. I'm fine at any price point. Of greater concern, I don't drive after dark due to less than satisfactory night vision, so if it's not in San Quirico, I need it to be not more than about a 15-minute drive from S.Q. so I can dine at 7 and be home before dark. Montepulciano is thus too far to go. Pienza and Montalcino might be OK.

2. Parking. Where is the best place(s) to (try to) park around Montalcino? The last time I was in this area, I didn't see anywhere that didn't look like a fairly significant hike up to the old town.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

This is from my Italy itinerary (see attached). Covid may have changed things:Note on restaurants in the area



My wife and I are major foodies. We dine in restaurants in Europe about 30-40 times a year. We live near San Francisco and dine in "The City" about once a week when we are not traveling. Tuscan cooking is not one of our favorites, and there are few (if any) "destination" restaurants in the Val d'Orcia. The following are our favorites - based on the "quality" of the food/cooking/menu selection only:

Taverna da Ciacco in San Quirico

La Grotta in Montepulciano (has outside seating)

Boccon DiVino in Montalcino (has outside seating)

If ambience is to be considered, I would add La Terrazza Chiostro in Pienza. My rabbit there was overcooked.



Except for the above restaurants, we found that most of the restaurant menus were pretty much the same. Nothing outstanding, by typical Tuscan fare. Don't expect any gourmet treats or many seafood selections on the menus. Probably the best thing to do if the weather is nice is to opt for simple outside dining. The following is a list of restaurants we have tried (most, several times) that have outside tables.

Trattoria al Vecchio Forno in San Quirico

Latte de Luna in Pienza

Locanda La Costa in Montefollonica (many seafood choices - best of this bunch, IMO)

La Porta in Monticchiello

La Locanda de Fonte in San Quirico

All of these are in the '17 Michelin Red Guide except Latta de Luna and Locanda de Fonte.



We've dined at La Chiusa in Montefollonica three times. It's is a very elegant restaurant. At one time, it was a Michelin 1 star restaurant - the only 1 star in the region. Then it lost its star, and is now not even listed in the Michelin Red guide. It is still there, but we have not had dinner at La Chiusa since '96.



On our last trip to this region in 2017, we stayed for 2 weeks in San Quirico. We decided to only have our evening meals in San Quirico. As I implied above, we did not see the need to drive 20-30 minutes elsewhere to find a dinner that is probably not as good as what's in San Quirico. Since 1999, we've dined at Vecchio Forno 5 times, and "other" restaurants in San Quirico about a half-dozen times. Since 2006, we've dined at Taverna da Ciacco 8 times (it opened in 2005). In 2017 we dined at the popular Trattoria Osenna once. If I had to re-do our 2017 dining plans, I would dine at Taverna da Ciacco one more time, and Trattoria Osenna one less time. We actually had 3 dinners and two lunches at Taverna da Ciacco. We also had 3 lunches outside at the Bar Centrale opposite Ciacco.



Dinner tonight. If you are staying close to Montepulciano at the east end of the Val d'Orcia, dine at La Grotta which is next to the big church you see below Montepulciano on the west side of the city. If you drive toward Montepulciano from Pienza, you can’t miss the church – it is quite a sight. (picture taking).



If you are staying closer to Montalcino at the west end of the Val d'Orcia, dine at Boccon DiVino just outside of Montalcino. The restaurant has an outside dining area with a great views of the hillsides. Or, of course at Taverna da Ciacco.

Stu Dudley

Thanks, Stu.

Do you have your updated version for Provence?

Thanks in advance if you do!

See attached

Stu Dudley

Google "montalcino parcheggio" and look at the map