Farms Of the Val d'Orcia

As Carol and Roger are out riding their bicycles each day, they pass through the countryside of the Val d'Orcia.  This is, we believe, bellisssima campagnia  (the most beautiful countryside) in Tuscany.


We can't help but admire the solid, yet graceful farmhouses we see along the way.  There's not a lot to say about them (one exception below), so just enjoy the pictures.

This scene...better shot by professionals...appears on more postcards and calendars than any other in Tuscany.

Some of the larger farmhouses have been converted into agriturismi (Bed and Breakfasts with working farms).











Most have a small vineyard or olive grove.

We thought this was a converted grancia (grain silo), but Stefi the local bike shop owner told us this tower was built for defense and dates back more than 100 years.

Not all of the farmhouses are old.  Every once in a while you see a new one going up.

Film buffs might recognize this one.  In the climactic scene of The Gladiator, Russell Crowe dreams of returning home to his family.  He walks through the wheat field and up this gravel road toward the farmhouse in the distance.

But this is the site of a local legend.   Years ago, a Swedish family moved into this isolated farmhouse. Each day, the woman walked her two children down to the highway so they could catch the bus to school and then to meet them at the end of the day.  The mother was quite pregnant with her third child.  


One morning, she walked her children to the bus, and when they returned home from school she was waiting at the roadside...babe in arms.  The Pietini have a phrase for her that translates...loosely...into "one tough cookie."