Book Montalcino tours & attraction tickets

Perched on a ridge in the Val d'Orcia, Montalcino looks out over a landscape so composed it seems arranged rather than grown. Vineyards roll away in every direction, punctuated by cypress lines and the pale stone of medieval farmhouses. The town itself is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes, yet its name carries weight far beyond its size, almost entirely because of what grows in the clay and limestone soils of the surrounding hills: Sangiovese Grosso, the grape behind Brunello di Montalcino, one of Italy's most celebrated and age-worthy red wines.

The Fortezza, a fourteenth-century fortress that anchors the town's southern end, offers some of the finest panoramic views in southern Tuscany. Within its walls, an enoteca stocks an extensive range of local producers, making it a natural first stop for anyone wanting to understand the breadth of what the denomination produces before venturing out into the vineyards themselves. The Piazza del Popolo, with its loggia and the slender tower of the Palazzo dei Priori, gives the town its civic centre, and the streets radiating from it are lined with wine shops, small restaurants, and the occasional artisan selling local pecorino and cured meats.