Castiglione d'Orcio and Village of Rocca d'orcia
After leaving the Montalcino and the Abbey we made a stop in Rocca d"Orcia (also called a Tentennano Rocca or fortress of Tinkle) a village in the municipality of Castiglione d"Orcia in the Province of Siena. I found a definition of Rocca and it is an Italian term meaning a high, fortifiable stronghold, usually located in a smaller town beneath which the village or town clustered. The idea is that the villagers could take sanctuary in the castle(or could be something lesser such as a farmhouse) in times of trouble or under the owner's patronage enjoy prosperity. In this town, the rocca was a castle.
I was looking up at the old fortress from down below. For about two centuries, the fortress of Tentennano was the small "capital" of the Val d'Orcia. The fortress controlled the Via Francigena, the famous medieval road that connected Rome with northern Italy and France. Anyone who went to Rome armed or unarmed went to the Val d"orcia under the watchful eyes of the lords of the fortress, high and impregnable.
The defensive system of Rocca D'Orcia consists of a series of walled enclosures. The Republic of Siena did all it could to secure possession of the fortress and after various events and clashes with the various noble families who possessed it at the end of the fourteenth centre, the fortress permanently settled its officers, armies and tax collectors. Eventually the tower of the fortress was abandoned and the village was reduced to a simple quiet one.
Here was the view from the village. Events such as the storm Napoleon, the Risorgimento, the unification of Italy and he world wars brought relatively few changes. There was the boom of the 50's and 60's, agrarian reform, the great exodus from the countryside which changed the life of the Val d'Orcia and the Rocca. The farms were gradually abandoned as young people left to work in major cities.
La Rocca is very close to Castiglione d"orca so its population declined from about 500 to 100 with the school closing in the 60's and at the end of the 70's the last of the artisan workshops also closed.
Different views from the village.
We spent about thirty minutes walking in the streets of the village. The decline of the population over time has had the impact of preserving the old houses and restoring them to respect the environment. The town seemed deserted, we just saw a few houses. |
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Ok -maybe there were a few other tourists wandering around. The fortress just like the whole of Val d'Orcia relies on tourism.
I liked the car, the house and the driveway but I'm sure happy that I don't have to back the car into this tight spot although I have seen worse in Italy.
Just before we got the village square we came to this very picturesque house.
What a great old door.
Here is the town square where everyone seemed to be hanging out. Its official name is piazza Cisterna. I got to take one picture when I was told that we weren't allowed to take any photos. Unfortunately, they were making a movie here so photography was off limits. This square is dedicated to Lorenzo di Pietro (1412-1480), called "II Vecchieta", who was a painter, sculptor and architect.
One of the pretty churches we walked by.
We walked through the village square through some other streets. It sure was a scenic medieval town.
Various old houses of the community.
We came to an area that looked like a park where a father and son were riding their bicycles.
It was a nice spot to stay for a few minutes and watch the action.
As I walked a little further I saw laundry hanging so I wasn't actually sure that it was a public spot after all.
Making our way to where the vans were picking us up, I took a few more photos.
I found it interesting how the flowers were growing out of the rocks.
After leaving Rocca d'Orcia we made a short stop near Castiglione d"orcia.
The cat picture of the day.
The final picture of my series of Tuscany photos. The next day we were off to Cinque Terre.