Religious itinerary in Val d’Orcia

• Abbey of San Salvatore
• Church of the Madonna del Castagno
• Madonna dei Remedi

• Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Pietro

• Church of San Giovanni Battista

From Abbadia San Salvatore you can quickly reach the town of Piancastagnaio, a beautiful ancient village surrounded by medieval walls and natural trachyte cliffs.
The city is divided into districts that annually participate in the Palio di Piancastagnaio, a beautiful competition, which involves the whole country.
Among the churches that you absolutely must visit is the Church of San Bartolomeo, which you will meet as soon as you arrive in the village, surrounded by a lawn that welcomes a beautiful secular chestnut tree. The small church appears very beautiful in its simplicity, inside there are fragments of fourteenth-century Sienese school frescoes.
Continuing on the road you can visit the Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta which is accessed via a staircase. The interior houses a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament in Baroque style, a chapel dedicated to the Santissima Annunziata with a Baroque wooden altar and an altarpiece depicting the Annunciation and in the lower part a representation of the wooden dead Christ by Pasquale Leoncini.
Leaving the village, along the road to Santa Fiora your attention will be captured by the beautiful Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Pietro. Let’s pause a few minutes and visit the Sanctuary:

The religious itinerary in Val D’Orcia continues in the Bagno Vignoni area, one of the most characteristic of Tuscany. Bagno Vignoni thanks to its proximity to the Via Francigena was the main route followed by pilgrims on their way to Rome.
We advise you to take some time to visit the village, one of the few in Italy that houses a 16th century bath with a spring of thermal water. Since Roman times the baths of Bagno Vignoni have been frequented by illustrious personalities such as: Pope Pius II, Lorenzo De Medici and Caterina Da Siena.
According to tradition these waters are considered blessed thanks to the passage of great saints and important personalities who have stayed in this pleasant place far from the chaos of the city.

San Quirico d’Orcia is one of the most famous and most photographed places in Tuscany. Known worldwide for the image of the small Chapel of the Madonna della Vitaleta that stands proud on top of a hill surrounded by cypress trees. Tourists from all over the world visit this famous location only to stop for a few minutes to observe the Vitaleta Chapel.
The medieval village, surrounded by walls, can be accessed from the four doors. The door to the northwest gives the possibility of arriving, as soon as possible, at the Collegiate Church of Santi Quirico and Giulitta. The “famous” Chapel, on the other hand, is located a little outside San Quirico.

The last stop on the religious itinerary in Val D’Orcia is Pienza in the province of Siena, considered the most important municipality from the artistic and cultural point of view of the whole Valley.
To the point that in 1996 the historic center was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Part of the city’s artistic heritage is located in the main square named after Pope Pius II who worked hard to make Pienza an ideal city. The projects of Pius II entrusted to Bernardo Rossellino remained incomplete but Pienza remains one of the most significant examples of urban planning of the Renaissance period.