Historic Estate · Gardens · Crete Senesi, Val d'Orcia
La Foce
Where Iris Origo built a life — and a road that became the symbol of Tuscany
South of Chianciano Terme, where the Crete Senesi landscape gives way to the wilder southern Val d'Orcia, stands La Foce — a large agricultural estate that was transformed across the 20th century by Antonio and Iris Origo into one of the most remarkable private landscapes in Italy. Iris Origo (1902–1988), an Anglo-American writer and marchesa, described what she saw, built, and survived here in a book — "War in Val d'Orcia" (1947) — that became a classic of wartime memoir. Today the estate is still managed by her descendants, the gardens open for guided visits, and the road to the house remains the most photographed stretch of Tuscany.
The Cypress Road
The Winding Road That Defined a Landscape
The road approaching La Foce from the north makes a series of tight hairpin turns across a bare clay hillside — and at each bend, the verge is lined with rows of tall Italian cypresses. This composition — pale gravel road, dark vertical trees, bald hillside — has become perhaps the single most widely recognised image of the Tuscan landscape. It was not an accident. Antonio Origo planted the cypresses deliberately, in the 1920s and 30s, as part of a systematic plan to reforest and stabilise the eroded hillsides of the estate. The cypresses grew, the road survived the war, and the combination became iconic.
Iris Origo
A Writer Who Stayed
Born in England to an Irish father and an American mother, Iris Cutting married Antonio Origo in 1924 and threw herself into the project of transforming a run-down estate in the Val d'Orcia into a working farm and model of rural community. During the Second World War, she sheltered evacuated children, helped escaped Allied prisoners of war, and kept a meticulous diary. That diary became "War in Val d'Orcia" — arguably the finest first-hand account of rural life under Italian Fascism and German occupation. She is buried in the garden of La Foce.
The Gardens
Cecil Pinsent's Terraced Masterpiece
The formal gardens at La Foce were designed by Cecil Pinsent — the English architect who also designed the gardens of Villa I Tatti (now the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies) near Florence. Laid out in multiple terraces descending the hillside, they combine clipped box hedges, rose gardens, a lemon grove, and stone-framed views over the Val d'Orcia. Guided visits run on Wednesday afternoons and the first Sunday of each month. Advance booking is essential.
Practical Information
- Location
- La Foce, Chianciano Terme (SI), Val d'Orcia — on the road to Contignano
- GPS
- 42.9900° N, 11.7500° E (approximate)
- From Pienza
- 18 km south-east (25 min)
- Garden Visits
- Wednesdays 15:00–18:00 and first Sunday of each month; advance booking required
- Booking
- lafoce.com — essential, visits fill quickly in spring and autumn
- Cypress Road
- Freely visible from the public road at any time
Gallery
