San Quirico d'Orcia

San Quirico d'Orcia, city of remote Etruscan origins, rises in the heart of the dreamy landscape of the Orcia Valley along the Via Cassia. It was once a rest station for travelers, pilgrims, and merchants that went to Rome and then returned. Although today it has become an important commercial and residential center, even with the depopulation of surrounding cities, San Quirico is surrounded by a eminently rural area, formed by the hills between the Asso and Orcia valleys, and today agriculture remains a large part of its economy. Anyway, located a few kilometers from the marvelous and very visited monumental thermal baths of Bagno Vignoni, San Quirco often results as a rather neglected location by a flow of tourists.

The visit to the historical center, closed by the old wall and cut by the ancient streets of Via Romea or Francigena, you are immediately shown a little jewel, that is the elegant Collegiate Church, constructed in 1200 on the old Romanesque parish church: it presents a façade open by three portals, of which the central one is a splendid example of Romanesque art with Gothic returns, while the bell tower dates back to the 1700's; on the interior, next to the baroque and rococo works of art, there is a magnificent inlaid wooden chorus, done by the Sienese Antonio Barili, and a 15th-century wooden triptych attributed to Sano di Pietro. On the side of the sanctuary rises the majestic Palazzo Chigi-Zondadari (17th century), going along the Road, you then reach Piazza della Libertà, heart of the town, where the Church of San Francesco stands out with its simple Romanesque lines (with light Gothic elements): even Church of the Madonna stands out because it holds the statue of the Madonna di Vitaleta by Andrea della Robbia. On the same widening, you reach the major attraction of San Quirico d'Orchia: the stupendous Horti Leonini. The Horti Leonini rose at the beginning of the 16th century by will and based on the design of Diomede Leoni, and thanks to a donation by Francesco I de' Medici. Perfectly conserved, the Horti are a magnificent example of a classic Italian garden. Because of the presence of the Horti, San Quirico d'Orcia is a privileged location for the study of Italian gardens, as is evidenced in the presence of the Italian Archive of the Art of Gardening in the City Library. In the Horti, it is possible to catch a glimpse of the mortal remains of the Tower of Cassero, destroyed during the Second World War. Among the other monuments, worth mentioning is also the little Church of Santa Maria Assunta, beautiful Romanesque construction with characteristic stone small belltower with only one nave and open by a single-lancet window, and in front of it, Scala Hospital, building that over the past centuries has offered recovery to pilgrims and wayfarers of Via Francigena: there is a 16th-century well in the courtyard here.
It is also interesting to follow the route along the medieval wall that remains almost entirely intact and is characterized by fourteen towers (in various states).