Anglo-Irish writer Iris Origo died 12 years ago, but her books describing wartime in the Val d’Orcia are still very much alive. She and her aristocratic Italian husband lived at La Foce, a beautiful villa with a superb Giardino al Italiano designed by English landscape gardener Sir Cecil Pinsent, who worked miracles between 1925 and 1939 to construct an oasis in the midst of the infertile terrain. You can not visit the house, but the garden is open to the public and is a worthwhile stop-off point during a tour of the Pienza/Montepulciano area.
