San Quirico d'Orcia Voyage Tips and guide

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San Quirico d’Orcia, named after Saint Quiricus, is based in the Val d'Orcia natural park at the northern edge of Val d'Orcia area in southern Tuscany. Its surrounding walls result from its use as a military outpost in the 1550s; however its centre houses a medieval plan and includes the Romanesque Churches of Collegiata ad Santa Maria dell’Assunta, Palazzo Chigi, Church of San Francesco, and the Ospedale della Scala. The latter of these is a monument to the pilgrimage along via Francigena, the road on which the town is located but also more importantly the road which linked Rome with Canterbury.

Although bus run from the town of Buonconvento and the railway station in Chiusi, car is most appropriate.

• The Leonini Gardens (Horti Leonini) on the ancient ramparts. The gardens date from 1581 and include the 1688 sculpture of Cosimo De Medici 111.

Nearby is the hamlet of Bagno Vignoni.