The magnificent landscape of the Val d'Orcia, among the Tuscan hills, was included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 2004. The Val d'Orcia, a combination of art and landscape, geographical space and ecosystem, is the expression of wonderful natural features but it is also the result and the testimony of the people who lived there.
According to UNESCO this valley is an exceptional example of how the natural landscape was redesigned in the Renaissance and reflects the ideals of "good governance" (14th and 15th centuries) typical of the Italian city-state, whose splendid places were celebrated by the painters of the Sienese School, which flourished between the 13th and 15th centuries. The images of the Val d'Orcia and in particular the reproductions of its landscapes, in which people are depicted living in harmony with nature, have thus become icons of the Renaissance era.
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