Val d’Orcia and Crete Senesi

The Diary

What we know about the place we live in: where to eat well, what is genuinely worth seeing, how the seasons work out here. Written by people who are here all year, not only in August.

Harvest day at the farm, and where our grapes actually goWe picked the grapes today. They leave for the winery next door: why a small farm doesn't build its own cellar, what it means to share an address with Montalcino …The Via Francigena in the Val d’Orcia: the stages from Siena to RadicofaniThe Sienese section is the finest stretch of the Italian Francigena: the stages between Siena, Buonconvento and Radicofani, and what you really need.What to see in the Val d’Orcia: three days without rushingA three-day itinerary built the other way round: few things each day, with time to stop. Montalcino, Pienza, Bagno Vignoni and the Crete Senesi.The white truffle of San Giovanni d’Asso, six kilometres from usThe Crete Senesi have their own white truffle, the same species as Alba's. Where it grows, when the season runs and how not to be taken for a ride.The white gravel roads of the Crete Senesi: gravel riding, the Eroica and where to eatGravel, clay and constant short ramps: what riding the strade bianche is really like, and the problem nobody mentions — eating halfway round.Where to eat near Montalcino: the countryside instead of the townMontalcino packs thirty restaurants into a few streets, but people who come for the Brunello often eat better outside town. How lunch really works around here.

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