From Assisi to Val d'Orcia to Florence

FromSingapore

New member
Hi everyone,

We're a family of 6 coming from Singapore to Italy on our dream holiday in December.

We will be having a rental car with us and we're hoping to tour the pretty Tuscany country side for 2 days before dropping the car off at Florence. We are very keen on driving in the very picturesque Val d'Orcia region and we have a few questions before we can working on firming up our itinerary.

1) We are hoping to stay in an Agriturismo that we can use as a base to explore the pretty countryside
2) We are hoping to do a winery visit as well as a hot spring visit
3) We're even open to a half a day Vespa tour if there's any available in December.

Where would you recommend we stay based on the points I mentioned above ?

What's the recommended route to Florence that's the most pictureque ?

Thank you so much in advance - I appreciate any tips you could impart.
 
Ciao FromSingapore, welcome to our forum!

What a wonderful plan! Val d'Orcia will be the perfect area to cover all those points, maybe even the Vespas, let's see depending on when you're here.

Do you already know possible dates? Early part of the month or later? Because some places in the countryside close during the late and fall but then reopen precisely around the weeks around Christmas and end of the year. So you will have more options as to where to stay if you come in the second part of the month. So if you're still not booked with flights, I'd recommend looking closer to the middle of the month if possible.

Having said that, hotels and B&Bs that are usually IN the small towns themselves in the area don't usually close down, it's just the ones that are are huge and require lots of heating on to stay open in the winter. Just in case you have problems finding an agriturismo that is open.

I would suggest looking into staying in either Pienza or San Quirico d'Orcia for that matter. But once you start searching, just see what appeals to you. Start by taking a look here: https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/val-d-orcia/

Once you're done seeing the area, the most picturesque drive is to head north on the SS2 Cassia to Siena, and then from there continue to Castellina in Chianti on the SS222 the Chiantigiana road, going past Castellina to Panzano and then to Greve and then on to Florence. It will take longer than the Firenze-Siena roadway but lets you also stop along the way and take pics.

Let me know what you like as far as the agriturismos, I can help you narrow search down after.
 
Ciao FromSingapore, welcome to our forum!

What a wonderful plan! Val d'Orcia will be the perfect area to cover all those points, maybe even the Vespas, let's see depending on where you're here.

Do you already know possible dates? Early part of the month or later? Because some places in the countryside close during the late and fall but then reopen precisely around the weeks around Christmas and end of the year. So you will have more options as to where to stay if you come in the second part of the month. So if you're still not booked with flights, I'd recommend looking closer to the middle of the month if possible.

Having said that, hotels and B&Bs that are usually IN the small towns themselves in the area don't usually close down, it's just the ones that are are huge and require lots of heating on to stay open in the winter. Just in case you have problems finding an agriturismo that is open.

I would suggest looking into staying in either Pienza or San Quirico d'Orcia for that matter. But once you start searching, just see what appeals to you. Start by taking a look here: https://www.tuscanyaccommodation.com/val-d-orcia/

Once you're done seeing the area, the most picturesque drive is to head north on the SS2 Cassia to Siena, and then from there continue to Castellina in Chianti on the SS222 the Chiantigiana road, going past Castellina to Panzano and then to Greve and then on to Florence. It will take longer than the Firenze-Siena roadway but lets you also stop along the way and take pics.

Let me know what you like as far as the agriturismos, I can help you narrow search down after.
Thank you so much for your reply Lourdes...let me take down notes about what you said and I will for sure have more questions later :)
 
Hi Lourdes,

We have decided to stay in Bagno Vignoni in a B&B called L'orto Delle Terme. Can you recommend any nice wineries that we can visit within an hour drive from there ? We'd love to visit an olive plantation too if there's any available.

We're planning to come around middle of December. How many hours of daylight would there be around this time ?

You said:
Once you're done seeing the area, the most picturesque drive is to head north on the SS2 Cassia to Siena, and then from there continue to Castellina in Chianti on the SS222 the Chiantigiana road, going past Castellina to Panzano and then to Greve and then on to Florence.

Would this scenic route bring us past San Gimignano ?

Thank you so much and I look forward to receiving your advice

 
Bagno Vignoni will be a great base!! Kits of wineries in the area, you have Montepulciano to the east, Brunello di Montalcino to the west and the area is a Val d'Orcia DOC wine region. You can find a few wineries at the end of this article: the Val d'Orcia Wine area while the wine consortium has a full list of its members here.

Middle of December should give you daylight until around 4.30ish, a little more considering sunset is around that time. Dark by 5 generally.

The route back does not go by San Gimignano but you can most definitely make a detour - from Castellina in Chianti, head toward Poggibonsi, that road is gorgeous! And from there to San Gimignano. I wouldn't have you go back through Chianti to head to Florence - just head north of San Gimignano toward Certaldo or Gambassi Terme, all the roads have good views. The days will be short and you won't want to make too many stops, if you're close to sunset. At that point, you can head to the "fastest" road that will take you to Florence if that were to happen.
 
Lourdes,

Is there any olive oil farms or mills that you would recommend in Tuscany ? One that would allow us to see the picking of olives and the processing of it as well as sampling of the freshly pressed olives ?

Thank you
 
I recently answered a question similar to yours - here is the list of the farms that do open up their farm to both visits and tasting:
https://ask.discovertuscany.com/threads/olive-oil-production.8164/ Just keep in mind that to "see" them picking might not be possible in December, most of the picking in Tuscany is done between October and November.
 
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