Podere Belvedere

Day 5 of our Tuscan holiday.

The daily routine of a short walk and then a drive to shoot some of the best scenes of Val d'Orcia was finally favoured by the weather. Not so much for the walk, as it was nothing compared to the best walk on the previous trip, but the drive was great.

Podere Belvedere is, or at least used to be, the most popular photo subject in the area, and I had not got a shot nearly this good on the previous trips or the previous drives on this trip.

Poggio Covili (extra #1) is another favourite and the same applies to it, although I'm not quite as happy with the result here. A different approach to landscape photography in the extra #2, but also a very typical Tuscan scene, a lonely tree on a hillside. I took many shots like this on the previous mornings, but the better light made this perhaps the best shot of them all.

After breakfast we left for a day trip to Siena, driving via Asciano. On the way we stopped to see Baccoleno, which together with it's cypress road has become another popular icon of Tuscany. It would be better shot in evening light, but you get the idea in the extra #3.

In Siena we visited three of the Siena Awards photo exhibitions, one of them was in the vaults (extra #5) under the Palazzo Pubblico (extra #4). This one, titled "I Wonder if You Can", had works from various photographers. The other two had underwater photography by Brian Skerry and photos of Americans with their guns (or gun collections) by Gabrielle Galimberti, titled "The Ameriguns". All interesting and different from each other.

We also walked in the streets around the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo (extra #6). Still a lot of people around, even though the tourist season must be over. Drove back to Pienza in dusk and had another great dinner at the hotel restaurant.