see_the_world7

We are headed back to Italy in 6 days and are staying in a villa about 3 km from Pienza. My husband chose this area for how beautiful it looked it pictures he'd seen online. He does landscape photography and is really hoping to get some incredible pictures while we are there.

We have been to Italy twice before and really love the country. Last time we stayed near Lucca and visited much of northern Tuscany, but only got down to Siena and San Gimignano at the very end of our trip. It was by far, the prettiest area of our trip so we decided to come back and focus on southern Tuscany.

We have no schedule for our week this time. We plan to hike and visit small towns in the area. We have some hiking books, but I thought I'd ask for recommendations on walks/towns within an hour of Pienza. Any must-sees that we shouldn't miss? Our kids (ages 6 and 8) will be with us. They are good hikers, but we'll limit ourselves to hikes of no more than 8-9 miles.

Thanks for the input!

kybourbon

I was in Pienza a couple of weeks ago and ran into a group that had hiked from Montepulciano. I would think it is less than 8 miles.

Lucca/Siena/San G. areas don't compare to southern Tuscany which is much prettier.

Mappy.com and ViaMichelin have pedestrian features if you want to map some routes.

I had a website bookmarked that had hiking routes in the area. I'll see if I can locate it.

TuckH

Some attractive destinations within easy reach from Pienza are...
Monticchiello
San Quirico
Bagno Vignoni
Sant'Antimo

bobthenavigator

Tuck is right on for good photo ops. I would add the routes north of Pienza up to Montisi with a stop at Santa Anna in Camprena where THE ENGLISH PATIENT was shot. Also, the road to Asciano via the Crete region, with a stop at the Abbey at Oliveto Maggiore. Look at the first page of my Bella Italia photo gallery on the Slowphotos site for some examples.

sebinah

We stayed in Pienza for 4 nights this summer and loved it. What is the name of the villa you are staying in? Does it have a swimming pool?

see_the_world7

sebinah: We are staying just outside of Pienza (3km away) in Val D'Orcia. The property is called La Casetta.

Thanks for the suggestions of locations.

kybourbon

If you scroll down to the bottom of this webpage link, they have some hikes in the area Val D'orcia area with maps, distances, degree of difficulty.
http://www.albergoleterme.it/Html_EN/LeisureTime.htm