Orcia Valley to just north of Sienna

After another great breakfast at Villa la Palazzetta we headed north again. Not far down the road we stopped at the Castiglione d’Orcia olive press. They have a tasting room. Their olive oil was really good but the bottles were all too big to carry in my suitcase so we just bought a small jar of local honey.

I’ve been wanting to see someone harvesting olives. We finally saw a guy today. To harvest he spread out a net under the trees then used a kind of motorized branch shaker. You can just see him in the picture below.

We stopped in Sienna and explored a bit. We parked the car just outside the Porta Tufi. We had coffee on Il Campo, the main square where they have their Palio horse race twice each summer.

Next we visited the Duomo, Sienna’s Cathedral. The people lifter working on the front of the building seemed to be removing vegetation.

We are staying just a few miles north of Sienna. We have what I think must be called the tower room it has a 360 degree view. The toilet is down a couple of flights of stairs and the windows are a bit dirty but it is an amazing place to spend the night.