Rocca d'Orcia

Hi Knittah!

We spent 2 nights in Rocca, the first after the walk from Castelnuovo dell'Abate and the second after a walk from Rocca to San Quirico (from which we got a ride back to town by the local contact, Paolo).

The walk from Montalcino to Rocca was beautiful. We kept seeing the Castello di Ripa d'Orcia, of the Piccolomini family (of Pope Pius II and other infamous personages), from different angles:



Here Barbara and Bill enter Rocca:



Rocca is considered a great example of a medieval borgo (hamlet). The fortress on the top of the hill was built about a millenium ago. The old town piazza, around the well, dates from the 12th century:



Our hotel, San Simeone, was just below the fortress.





Elements of the hotel were built right into the hillside. Here's Eliza's bathroom:



We ate both nights at the town's only restaurant, Il Borgo (the hamlet), a lovely restaurant whose proprietess, Marta, spoke English and French fluently, in addition to Italian. (Apologies for the fuzzy photo--Eliza had the camera settings all wrong.) Marta was a lovely hostess and was incredibly patient in explaining the menu:



Here you can see the view across the rooftops of Rocca, towards Bagno Vignoni and San Quirico, the hike for the 2nd day: