Need Val d'Orcia suggestions - photography

The centers of pretty towns like Pienza will be thick with tourists, of course, but otherwise you can explore without a problem. Especially true if you rise early to catch the low light. To get itinerary ideas go to Google's http://www.panoramio.com where people's photos are placed on a map according to where they were taken.

See the famous photo on top of the website below? The curvy road?
It's in Monticchiello, very near Pienza.

http://endlessitaly.com/special-deals/must-see-tuscany-and-florence-6-night-package

Mary,

What a coincidence, I did almost the same thing (although I wasn't quite at 60 at the time) and took a photography workshop in the Val d'Orcia. Our group stayed near Bagno Vignoni, which was a good place to use as a home base. We visited a number of different shooting locations, including Siena and also Montechiello where the famous "twisting road" shown in Roberto's link is located.

THIS is one good location for an early morning vista, but I can't recall where it is. There is a Villa on a hilltop in the middle of that fog, although it's not too visible. I must try to do a bit more work on that image. Here's a better version. One other location that's popular is the small grove of trees that's by itself in the middle of a field (I've seen it featured in tourist brochures). I'd also suggest a visit to the Abbey of Sant'Antimo, which is in that area. As I recall, we also visited the Abbey of S. Anna in Camprena which is also close to Pienza, which was used in the filming for the movie The English Patient.

If you're in Pienza for lunch, we stopped for lunch at Trattoria La Chiocciola one afternoon, and I'd certainly recommend it. As I recall, I decided to try Pici al Tartufo along with some Vino of course, and it was very good. Although it was a "workshop", one has to eat :-)

If you happen to be close to Monatlcino, one other restaurant that I would highly recommend is Il Grappolo Blu.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

July is actually not a bad time to visit the area. We spent a long weekend in early July a couple of years ago and were pleasantly surprised at the lack of crowds. The Italians head to the beach and the American and Canadian crowd tend to visit in the autumn during harvest, according to a wine maker we know.

If you'd like to visit a nice winery, check outVentolaio. Little English spoken!

We love this area. Here are some of my snapshots:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/patterns/
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/la-foce-in-the-heart-of-the-val-dorcia-2/
The views from the gardens of La Foce are spectacular as is that general area; the route to Monte Oliveto Maggiore and also the route to the Sant Antimo Abbey are both lovely. We have traveled there in spring with the poppies thick on the ground and in fall when the fields were plowed (the snapshots above) and it is always picturesque. The views from the ramparts of Montepulciano are also spectacular and the town itself picture perfect.

Hi Mary,

I have done quite a bit of homework in advance of my trip and by my count other than most everything being photogenic in the region and the hill top towns also providing plenty to shoot there are 4 can't miss spots in Val d' Orcia
I did not include the curvy road mentioned as I think that is outside of Val d' Orcia near La Foce.

Odd thing about this region is you will end up using longer focal lengths than most any other landscape area. I normally shoot ultra wide for most everything landscape related so this will be a big change for me.

The most famous spot is what Ken is referring to and often called "Belvedere" or "Podere Belvedere" but not sure if locals know it as that. This is a sunrise or pre-sunrise location so requires getting their early and involves personal property so going in a group may not be the best idea. Make sure everyone knows to keep quiet, tread lightly and be respectful if so. Seems like the dirt roads are above this villa so you have the best vista not getting too close and using a long lens.

Anyway, here are my own personal instructions on what I plan on plugging into my GPS early mornings from Pienza
Morning sunrise at podere belvedere ;
(Dead end Dirt road off of sp146 1 km from San Quirico)
Probably best to set gps to 
 La Buca in San Quirico 
Or localita podere alteta, 52 
53027 San Quirico (43.06448, 11.618248)

2nd spot is
Vitaleta's  Chapel - in between pienza and San Quirico; turn left at cretaiole b&b onto dirt road (very close to above)
Public land for the chapel but not don't think you can drive down the road, so may require a bit of a walk and not sure where to park that is legal. If you look at google maps Belvedere and this Chapel are extremely close and there are agristrimo's / B&B's between them. Unlike Belvedere which is a privately owned house, this Chapel is a tourist attraction.

3rd spot is
Cypress patch in tuscany
This is just north of San Quirico and being right off the main road will be harder to miss and more of a known attraction than the other spots which are "photographer spots"
Also seems like it works well for Sunset, it also appears to be public land so shooting here I would not have the same concerns.
Wide angle does seem to work here and can even have some nice night shots here. The patch of trees is fenced in.

4th spot is
agritristmo poggio covili In Tuscany (cypress lines driveway, 20 min from pienza on sr2 close to other sites
This is a private property / driveway of an an agristrismo so again respectfulness will be required. Nice thing about this spot is it seems to work well on a sunny blue sky day with clouds.

Be on the lookout for any fields of wildflowers of course, those could be anywhere and not sure what might be in bloom/season when you are there.

If you google the exact names I have put above you will see many photo examples. I am going in Sept. so expect there to be more browns than greens so will demand I catch the golden light of sunrise/sunset to make good images which especially when mist is rolling in looks really like similar in low light in Fall as to shots in the Spring.
If I were visiting in Spring time I think you can get any with shooting at other times of the day, as everything is nice and green.
End of July I am not sure but may be more like Sept than Spring but you are definitely more likely to find wildflowers than I will be.
Took me many hours over multiple weeks to find these names and directions, as most people go on vacation find and shoot them but return home a little foggy on exactly where they were. If you don't mind when you return home let me know how you made out and any tips that might help my professional photographer trip here in Sept.

Happy shooting!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am assembling a Google Map of all the places I have identified so that I make good use of the photography light. I will gladly give anyone who asks a link to it.... But it likely won't be complete till late June. Keep the suggestions coming, as I so appreciate them, particularly the last posters with specific locations. I plan to bring my Nikon and Sony A7Rii, with wide angle and zooms, so I thank you for the comment about the zoom. Grazie mille a tutti!

Also an A7Rii user Mary, and think I will be bringing my 16-35, 55 and 135 on the trip and plan on using all 3 in and around Pienza, whereas other areas the 135 will not get any use at all and stay in the hotel room. If you have a good 70-200 that would be more useful than a 135 but I don't have one for the Sony system.

Will you be having a car? If so, I think what is most fun, is to go driving about the countryside in beautiful light and find my own little pieces of Tuscany.... no plan... just some beautiful Italian music playing in my car, a picnic, and lots of freedom to get the creativity going. I can understand wanting to find some of these lovely areas that you have seen pictures of, but I think the most rewarding images are those that are uniquely your own... There are an endless number of photographic opportunities in every town...
One of my favorite little places that I found is San Donato... its a tiny hilltop village near San g. A winery, a church, lots of interesting little arches, flowers and the beautiful Tuscan countryside... I have been there a few times and some of my favorite images are from there. I am a professional photographer and I was just in Florence a few weeks ago and wanted to see about going there. I did not have a car that day and the hotel clerk asked me why I would want to go there... she insisted there was nothing worth seeing :(
Obviously, she did not have the eye of a photographer:)

I love to take any little turn in the road that looks interesting and see what is there...
Have a great time.

I wish I could leave tomorrow. I figure I will plan on sunrise & sunset/blue hours shooting landscape and days doing as suggested driving the scenic routes and city visits (got to try ever gelato place I pass). I'm trying to do this in a roll aboard, with a tripod....so trying to keep lenses simple. For my Sony, likely my 24-240mm and a nifty 50. My Nikon will be the issue as I'd like to bring my 80-400 and my 14-24 both space consumers. I'm very much an amateur, but lovin it. The pictures I'm finding are similar to Washington state's Palouse region (eastern Washington) and the wide angle was my dear friend there. Thanks for all tips.