San Quirico D’Orcia

San Quirico d’Orcia is a town of Etruscan origin, but the first written mention is of the year 712. Starting from the 11th century, the village acquired a growing importance due to its particular geographical position and its location on the Via Francigena. In 1155 Federico I Barbarossa camped there to meet the legates of Pope Adrian IV. In 1559, after the fall of the Republic of Siena, he took an oath of loyalty to Cosimo I dei Medici. In 1667 Cardinal Flavio Chigi was appointed Marquis of San Quirico by Grand Duke Cosimo III dei Medici. Its territory represents the heart of the Val d’Orcia, cultural landscape recognized in 2004 World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The Dutch Etruscan scholar Van Der Meer identified the current San Quirico d’Orcia with the locality of Ena mentioned in the Etruscan liber rituales known as Liber Linteius Zagrabiensis, the oldest book in Western Europe, written between the 3rd and 2nd century BC. from the "Priestly Brotherhood of Ena"

San Quirico d’Orcia has the special characteristic of being at the center of landscapes known everywhere.
When you are on a plane or train and traveling to foreign countries, when you browse the pages of a glossy magazine or raise your eyes to an advertising poster posted in a shop window or on the walls of who knows what city in the world, it may happen that you see an image that has the unmistakable air of a Tuscan landscape. Well, you will very often find yourself in front of one of the extraordinary landscape icons found here, right here in San Quirico d’Orcia.