Agriturismo Podere Giardino - Montalcino Siena

The countryside

NEARBY - There are many places of interest to tourists. The ancient towns of Val d'Orcia, such as Montalcino with its Museums, the Fortress, S.Antimo's Abbey, the castles and the parish churches; S. Quirico d’Orcia with its splendid Collegiata, the Church of S.Francesco, the "Horti Leonini" Gardens; Pienza, the ideal Renaissance town with its stupendous Cathedral, historic palazzos, museums and the majestic Palazzo Piccolomini. Not far from Podere Giardino is also Siena, city of the Palio, the splendid capital city of the province, simply undescribable... The Maremma coastal region, with the Uccellina park, the Etruscan sites, the thermal baths of Saturnia and lots of small ancient towns surrounded by an incontaminated country. Monte Amiata and the nearest coastal resorts (Castiglione della Pescaia, Marina di Grosseto, Talamone) are about 40 minutes away.

Montalcino e la Val d´Orcia - Cenni storici e paesaggistici

Montalcino is situated 564 m above the sea level, between the river valleys of Asso (east), Orcia (south), Ombrone (north and west). You can recognize Montalcino’s municipality on every sufficiently detailed map because of its shape: a square surrounded by the rivers. “Montalcino” comes from the latin words “Mons Ilcinus”, that mean “holm oaks hill”; in fact, the holm oak is the most widespread tree in Montalcino’s territory. Montalcino shares an important part of its history with Siena: when Siena was attacked by Spanish invaders allied to Florence, Montalcino was the last refuge of Sienese Republic and the last medieval free city in Italy to lose its freedom (second half of 16th century).
Montalcino is part of the Val d’Orcia’s territory, but its landscape is quite distinct from the rest of the district because of its particular geographic characteristics. The surrounding valleys give relief to the “silhouette” of Montalcino’s hill, that overlooks the surrounding territories, northwards until the Apennins, southwards until Giglio Island (you can see it in clear days from Podere Giardino). The Val d’Orcia’s territory is a hilly region crossed from east to west by Orcia river. Val d’Orcia’s sceneries are known all over the world, and have been sculpted by the sea receding millions of years ago. Then sands and clays deposited on the valley, and the action of a volcano (Amiata mountain, now extinct) ulteriorly modified the landscape.
The main element of Val d’Orcia’s sceneries is the soil erosion, that exposes clays (“crete”) to meteoric agents. The most impressive erosion phenomena are “calanchi” and “biancane”, still visible in many localities (S.Quirico, Pienza) simply following the main roads. This landscapes are very similar to the ones of Crete Senesi’s territory, area situated between Siena and the municipalities of Asciano, S.Giovanni d’Asso, Buonconvento, bordering on Montalcino and S.Quirico (and so contiguous to Val d’Orcia). On southern side of Montalcino’s municipality, where Podere Giardino is situated, the valley makes larger flanking vineyards and woods and going towards Ombrone river, Maremma and the sea. Climbing up Amiata mountain you can find wild woods of beech and chestnut trees.
Val d’Orcia has a great cultural worth because of the very high concentration of monuments, artistic and historical sites. For this reason it has been declared heritage of the mankind by UNESCO.

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Montalcino is situated 564 m above the sea level, between the river valleys of Asso (east), Orcia (south), Ombrone (north and west). You can recognize Montalcino’s municipality on every sufficiently detailed map because of its shape: a square surrounded by the rivers. “Montalcino” comes from the latin words “Mons Ilcinus”, that mean “holm oaks hill”; in fact, the holm oak is the most widespread tree in Montalcino’s territory. Montalcino shares an important part of its history with Siena: when Siena was attacked by Spanish invaders allied to Florence, Montalcino was the last refuge of Sienese Republic and the last medieval free city in Italy to lose its freedom (second half of 16th century). Montalcino is part of the Val d’Orcia’s territory, but its landscape is quite distinct from the rest of the district because of its particular geographic characteristics. The surrounding valleys give relief to the “silhouette” of Montalcino’s hill, that overlooks the surrounding territories, northwards until the Apennins, southwards until Giglio Island (you can see it in clear days from Podere Giardino). The Val d’Orcia’s territory is a hilly region crossed from east to west by Orcia river. Val d’Orcia’s sceneries are known all over the world, and have been sculpted by the sea receding millions of years ago. Then sands and clays deposited on the valley, and the action of a volcano (Amiata mountain, now extinct) ulteriorly modified the landscape. The main element of Val d’Orcia’s sceneries is the soil erosion, that exposes clays (“crete”) to meteoric agents. The most impressive erosion phenomena are “calanchi” and “biancane”, still visible in many localities (S.Quirico, Pienza) simply following the main roads. This landscapes are very similar to the ones of Crete Senesi’s territory, area situated between Siena and the municipalities of Asciano, S.Giovanni d’Asso, Buonconvento, bordering on Montalcino and S.Quirico (and so contiguous to Val d’Orcia). On southern side of Montalcino’s municipality, where Podere Giardino is situated, the valley makes larger flanking vineyards and woods and going towards Ombrone river, Maremma and the sea. Climbing up Amiata mountain you can find wild woods of beech and chestnut trees. Val d’Orcia has a great cultural worth because of the very high concentration of monuments, artistic and historical sites. For this reason it has been declared heritage of the mankind by UNESCO.