In the later part of the afternoon on May 24th we got in the mini-vans and toured the countryside with a stop in Monticchiello. This is a very small medieval village- we only saw a few people while walking around the town. The best part of the town was the stunning views across the valley to Pienza.
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A view over looking the Val d'Orcia toward Pienza. The Val d'Orcia (or Valdorcia) is a region of Tuscany which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. It is characterized by gentle, carefully cultivated hills intertwined with picturesque towns and villages.
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The hills are beautiful different shades of green and yellow depending on the light - must be all that spring rain which has be the best time to see these vibrant colours.
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A close up of the gold and green hills looking in another direction.
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We all walked around the small town. This was one of the more colourful front entrances that I saw. While researching the town I came across an interesting story from 1944 which demonstrated the character and tenacity of the townspeople. On April 6th, 1944 the Prefect of Siena, acting on information received during the Fascist Republic dispatched all of his 450 available men to Monticchiello to confront a strong group of Partisans camped around the town. After a long battle the Fascists were forced into a chaotic retreat. The next morning at dawn a German division reached Monticchiello with precise orders to scour the territory and shoot the inhabitants. The soldiers broke into the houses, rounded up the people and lined them up against the wall outside of town gate for execution. The terrible slaughter was avoided thanks to the intervention of Irma Angheben, the German wife of one of the town's landowners, and the priest, Don Marino Torriti.
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Here is the doggy picture of the day.
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We came across bread left outside. I'm guessing it is for the homeless (animals )?
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As you can tell it was pretty quiet in the streets but there were one or two people walking around town. It seemed like the town had held onto its medieval characteristics over the centuries. It was easy to picture Tuscan medieval life while walking through these alleyways.
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We left the town to go check out some other views in the countryside.
A view that all photographers stop to photograph.
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A close up view of the trees.
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Megan added the perfect colour to this scene. You can see a few poppies in the grasses.
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We continued on in the vans looking for more opportunities before we lost the light. This was our last stop of the evening-fortunately there were very few cars on the road where we set our tripods up.
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For part of the time it was really windy as you can see from these blowing grasses. By now it was getting later and colder so it was time to go as we were losing the light. The best part was we got to go back to Pienza and have a fabulous Italian dinner.
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