Italy
Tuscany
5 days, ~35 miles, September 2024
Tuscany walking - Val d'Orcia
Overview
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We created our own self-guided walk by looking at other available tours (e.g., Mac Adventures, Inn to Inn walking, Backroads, etc.) and following All Trails.
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Day 1: Transfer from Montecatini Terme to Montepulciano (0 miles). Hotel: Manilla House
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Day 2: Montepulciano to Pienza via Monticiello (10 miles). Hotel: Pienzalettings
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Day 3: Pienza to Bagno Vignoni (10 miles). Hotel: La Locanda del Loggiato
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Day 4: Walk to Saint Antimo Abbey from Bagno Vignoni (9 miles, hardest day as including ~5 miles of hiking). Hotel: Casa Vacanze la Pineta
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Day 5: Walk Montalcino to Buonconvento (10 miles). Hotel: Agriturismo Percenna
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Most days more walking than hiking.
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Do not rely on google maps for walking directions. Use Alltrails and other trail maps to ensure you avoid roads.
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Beautiful scenery- walking through rolling hills, via vineyards with bursting grapes or fields ready to be replanted.
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No need to leave for your day to much before 9am / 10am particularly if you are planning to stop for lunch on the way to your final destination. Option for lunch was always available. Most restaurants don’t open up for lunch until 12pm and close by 2:30pm
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Towns are small so if there are particular restaurants or wineries you want to visit you must make reservations in advance.
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Taxi reservations should be made 24 hours in advance if you think you are going to skip a walking day
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If you are traveling with alot of luggage leave what you can at your last accommodation on your way to your first accommodation.
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Wine was excellent as well as the food
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Many stores close 1:00pm - 3:00pm or 4:00pm
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Budget: $650 (not including food/drink and long haul flight)
Day 1: Transfer from Montecatini Terme to Montepulciano
Took the train from Montecatini Terme to Buonconvento via Refredi connection. We wrote our last accommodation on our 5 day hiking trail (Agriturismo Percenna) prior to the trip to see if we could leave a bag. They said no problem so we left behind as much as we could in our rolling carryon bag. It was a short walk from the train station up quite a hill but had enough time to drop the bags off and grab a sandwich to go before getting on our late full bus for a fairly short bus ride through Pienza to Montepulciano.
Montepulciano is charming. It is a hilltop town with lots of wine tasting options, little shops and restaurants. Wonderful place to wander around. We stayed at an apartment (Manilla House) which was right off the plaza at the top of the hill. Good location, top floor, many stairs, had some charm, small.
Pre booked Wine tasting at Cantina De Ricci. Good thing we did, as others who tried to join a tour were turned away. Winery dates back to the medieval times. It is the only wine cellar built like a cathedral with high arched ceilings.
Wine was good, and liked they gave us a cute meat cheese bread appetizer tray to go with our tastes. If we had chosen to ship some wine back home, pricing seemed reasonable.
After tasting, we headed to dinner down and around the corner from our apartment - Il Teatro Cucina Toscana. Ambiance wasn’t anything special but we could eat early (6:30pm). Although they were fully booked, they gave us a table. Service was very friendly and food was great. Glad we were close to apartment as it rained very hard. Waiter recommended a good Nobile wine for a decent price.
Day 2: Montepulciano to Pienza via Monticiello
Hike to Monticiello: 5.5 miles, about 2.5 hours lots of chit chatting with people we passed along the trail (which weren’t many but comforting to know we were on the right trail). First mile paved road rest of trail gravel road with very few cars and bikes. Hike Monticiello to Pienza: Another 5 miles. Must remember to look back for amazing views. Did not need poles. Total day was about 10 miles, fairly easy day of walking.
Breakfast - Lalma. Opened at 9 am. Good option if you are craving eggs.
Found an All Trails route to follow - Montepulciano to Pienze via Monticiello, where we stopped for lunch. Picturesque start on cypress-lined path led to first mile on a busy paved road.
After which was a gravel/dirt road with no traffic. Views gorgeous, Cypress trees, rolling hills, farm land, grapes and olive trees as well as some larger trees.
Had to leave the trail for 2/3 mile to get to Monticiello. Very small cute town.
Lunch - Daria. The first restruant on your right (recommended by a local) as you get into town was full at 12:40pm. So we continued on and found Daria. Turns out Daria is an excellent Michelin restaurant with incredibly freindly service (gave us a complimentary little dessert). Said for dinner you must have a reservation, but lunch had available outdoor tables.
Last mile or two was on the paved road without a shoulder and speeding cars, so not super fun. Loved walking through the gate to the town and the central plaza with the church.
Stayed at a lovely apartment (Pienzalettings) which was surprisingly big as there were 3 small separate areas and an outdoor patio with a small table. Large bathroom and vaulted ceilings. Bonus was a washing machine we weren’t anticipating.
After completing a load of laundry and hanging it out to dry on the patio, we walked around the charming hilltop town.
Had an early dinner at Case Nuove. Can’t go wrong with pasta, salad and house wine sitting outside. Dessert across the path at Buongusto gelateria.
Day 3: Pienza to Bagno Vignoni
Breakfast in front of the church at the only bar that was open at 8:30am. Started walking at 10:15am.
Back down we went, but mostly on carless dirt roads and a true walking path. Only the last 15 minutes or so were we on a paved road. Lots of open space today walking thru fields of rolling hills with hot sun...
... Lots of estates/villas sprinkled through out the hills.
Lots of gnats out today, maybe from the overnight rains. Followed All Trails again today. 5.5 miles to San Querico d’Orvia. Taking us 2 and a quarter hours.
Lunch outside at La Bottega du Ines. We had decided to load up on protein after so much pasta lately, which was apparently a good thing. Our restaurant was out of pasta, and so was another place we passed -seemed unbelievable, and downright un-Italian. Not sure what the deal was. Had excellent gelato at Golosi di Gelato just up the way toward the church.
Mostly wide dirt / gravel roads with little traffic. Was a little over 3 miles, about 1 hour 30 minutes. The surprise was the rain, as we weren’t expecting it from the forecast, although we saw the darkening sky. Fairly light when we were walking. Once we arrived at our hotel (La Locanda del Loggiato) boy did it pour.
Day 4: Walk to Saint Antimo Abbey from Bagno Vignoni
Hardest day. To the Abby was 9 miles in 4 hours, 5-6 miles of hiking (not walking) river beds (some full of water), rocky muddy trails, wooded area. Due to the recent rains lots of large puddles to maneuver. Last 1-2 miles on a dirt road with up to 20% grades. Climbed 2,000 ft.
At the abby we enjoyed the chanting music and being able to sit for a little bit.
Apartment (booked through Airbnb - Casa Vacanze la Pineta) was large and outside the gates of the old town. Beautiful view from the balcony of the town. Only bummer about the apartment was the 15-minute downhill walk into the old city, so climbing that hill back after dinner and Brunello tasting.
Montalcino was charming like all the other renaissance towns, and a bit larger. With various shops and restaurants.
Many more wine shops than we have seen to date offering free shipping to USA, if you bought 12 bottles. We couldn’t resist and look forward to our case when we return home. (We have loved every bottle that we have opened to date)
We had dinner at a restruant with a lovely area outside under an arch ceiling and a quaint back room inside. The wine was excellent and egg parmigiana the best we had. Stopped for gelato on the way home and it was very good
Day 5: Walk Montalcino to Buonconvento
After 2 different stops in town for cappuccino, as we were in no hurry today as we only have a 3 hour / 8 mile walk, we headed down hill some sections of road 20% grade), and after a mile stopped at Paradiso di Caruci for wine tasting. We had no reservation but they squeezed us in.
We tried 4 delicious wines. Wines are all processed by hand. Manager super nice.
Walked another couple of miles on a dirt road through vineyards before we hit a busy paved road with very little shoulder. The last 5 miles was not pleasant. Lesson learned do not rely on google maps for walking directions. Use all trails and other trail maps to ensure you avoid roads. We talked to others and they definitely walked on paths not roads.
We got into Buonconvento around 2pm. Had pizza not great. Followed by gelato before hoofing it up to our agritourism. Our agritourism (Agriturismo Percenna) is charming. Views amazing, wonderful food and warm welcoming hosts.
Next morning before catching our train to Siena we stopped by the town's makert. Lots of fresh vegetables.
