As I mentioned, a couple of weekends ago Stefano and I accompanied a close friend, a photographer from the UK, on a weekend tour of Val d’Orcia, a lovely part of southern Tuscany AND World Heritage Site. 

We had a wonderful, relaxing time.

We spent Saturday night in a 4-star hotel in San Quirico d’Orcia, a lovely little town we’d never visited before, where we were “upgraded” to two deluxe double rooms for the same (bargain!) price we’d found online. What a super deal!

The hotel staff were fantastic, very helpful, and the meals we had were absolutely first-rate…and cheap, too, compared to most restaurants you find in Florence.

So, if you decide to visit lovely Val d’Orcia, get in touch with me. Now I have a few more pointers inside my “can’t-miss-in-southern-Tuscany” bag! 😉

The only thing is, I’d wait until May or June…or perhaps even late fall or winter. This is an in-between season (which is why we got the hotel deal, in fact)…but, as you can see, Val d’Orcia is still drop dead gorgeous…

And yes, no doubt about it, the theme in Val d’Orcia is…CYPRESSES! 🙂

Again, hover over the photos to get a description of them…and/or click on them to get an enlargement.