Tastes of Tuscan Vineyards: Rome – Montalcino – Rome
Rome → Montalcino → Rome
The Tastes of Tuscan Vineyards journey aboard the Orient Express La Dolce Vita is Italy's most seductive short escape: a one-night, two-day round trip from Rome Ostiense into the very heart of Brunello country. The train glides south through the rolling Lazio countryside before rising into the UNESCO-listed Val d'Orcia, delivering guests to the medieval hilltop town of Montalcino, where centuries of vine-growing tradition have produced one of the world's most revered red wines.
From the moment you are received in the exclusive La Dolce Vita Lounge at Roma Ostiense and board the beautifully restored carriages — dressed in the palette of 1960s Italian glamour — every detail has been curated to celebrate la bella vita. Three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck presides over the dining car, crafting seasonal menus that trace the flavours of the regions outside the window. The Bar Car, anchored by a grand piano and flowing Art Deco forms, becomes a convivial salon for aperitivi and live music as dusk falls over the vineyards.
This is a journey designed for travellers who want to experience Tuscany not merely as a destination but as a sensory narrative — tasted in a glass of Brunello di Montalcino, traced across cypress-lined ridgelines, and lingered over at a table set with linen and crystal as the Italian countryside drifts past.
- ✦One-night round trip from Rome into UNESCO-listed Val d'Orcia wine country
- ✦Gourmet lunch and Grand Soir dinner by three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck
- ✦Afternoon in medieval Montalcino with optional private winery tours at Argiano and Antinori Pian delle Vigne
- ✦Brunello di Montalcino tastings at the 14th-century Fortezza
- ✦Live music and aperitivi in the glamorous Art Deco Bar Car
- ✦Overnight aboard beautifully restored 1960s-inspired carriages in the heart of Tuscany
- ✦Sweeping views of UNESCO-listed Val d'Orcia countryside throughout the journey
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Rome Ostiense to Montalcino
The journey begins at Roma Ostiense station, where guests are welcomed into the private La Dolce Vita Lounge before boarding in the mid-morning. As the train departs and Rome's urban sprawl gives way to the broad, sun-bleached plains of southern Lazio, the Restaurant Car comes alive with a gourmet lunch designed by three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck. The menu draws on the seasonal larder of the regions along the route — perhaps a handmade pasta with porcini, or a slow-braised preparation that speaks to the agrarian soul of central Italy — paired with a curated selection from Italy's finest wine estates.
Through the afternoon the landscape changes dramatically as the train enters Tuscany, climbing into the softly sculpted hills of the Val d'Orcia. Rows of Sangiovese vines, silvery olive groves and lone farmhouses set against a cobalt sky roll past the windows before the train arrives at Montalcino in the late afternoon. Local hosts meet guests at the station to assist with the brief transfer up to the historic centre.
Time ashore in Montalcino is yours to savour. Guests may stroll the medieval streets at their own pace, pausing at the 14th-century Fortezza — the town's great pentagonal citadel — whose enoteca inside the walls pours every category of Brunello by the glass. For those who wish to venture deeper into wine country, à la carte experiences can be reserved in advance: a private visit and organic vineyard tour at Argiano Winery, a cellar exploration and tasting at Antinori Pian delle Vigne, or a guided Brunello flight at the Fortezza itself. The Abbey of Sant'Antimo, a Romanesque jewel set in an oak-studded valley a few kilometres south, is another option for those wishing to absorb the deeper history of the region.
Guests return to the train as evening settles over the hills. The dinner service — Le Grand Soir — is the culinary centrepiece of the journey: a refined, multi-course dinner in the glittering Restaurant Car, paired with exceptional Italian labels and followed by live music, conversation, and nightcaps in the Bar Car. The train rests overnight at Montalcino.
Day 2 — Montalcino to Rome Ostiense
Morning begins gently aboard the stationary train with an Italian breakfast — served in your cabin by your personal steward or taken in the Restaurant Car — featuring fresh pastries, seasonal fruit, artisan cheeses, cold cuts, and a proper espresso. As the train begins its return journey northward, guests are invited to linger over a final coffee, enjoy the passing Tuscan scenery from the comfort of their cabin or the Bar Car, and take in the last moments of a journey that has threaded landscape, gastronomy and Italian style into a single, unhurried experience. Arrival at Roma Ostiense completes the circle.
Destinations & Highlights
Rome Ostiense — Gateway to La Dolce Vita
The journey departs from and returns to Roma Ostiense, one of the Eternal City's great historic stations and the dedicated hub for the La Dolce Vita Orient Express. Guests are received in the train's private lounge here before boarding — a transitional moment that marks the crossing from the ordinary world into something altogether more refined. Rome itself, of course, needs no introduction: two and a half millennia of empire, papacy, art and street life compressed into a city that remains one of the world's great travel experiences.
Montalcino — Capital of Brunello
Montalcino sits at 560 metres above sea level in the southern reaches of the Tuscan province of Siena, its medieval silhouette — crowned by the great 14th-century Fortezza — visible from miles across the rolling Val d'Orcia. The town's origins stretch to the Carolingian period, and its strategic hilltop position made it the object of repeated struggles between Siena and Florence; the Fortezza itself served as the last refuge of the Sienese Republic in the mid-16th century. Little in the fabric of the historic centre has changed since then.
What has changed — and changed the world's perception of this quiet hilltop — is the wine. In the mid-19th century, local viticulturist Ferruccio Biondi-Santi isolated a particular clone of Sangiovese Grosso (locally called Brunello) and demonstrated that it could produce wines of remarkable structure, longevity and depth. Brunello di Montalcino became Italy's first DOCG wine in 1980, and today a constellation of estates — from historic family producers to internationally celebrated names such as Antinori's Pian delle Vigne and the biodynamic Argiano — tend vines on the slopes below the town, each microclimate producing wines of distinct character.
The Val d'Orcia landscape surrounding Montalcino — an undulating canvas of wheat fields, cypress avenues, fortified farms and vineyards — was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 in recognition of its extraordinary beauty and the role it played in shaping Renaissance ideas of the ideal landscape. The Abbey of Sant'Antimo, a sublime 12th-century Romanesque church rising from the valley floor south of town, is among the finest examples of sacred architecture in Tuscany. The Civic Museum of Sacred Art, housed in the former convent of Sant'Agostino, preserves a rich collection of Sienese painting and polychrome wooden sculpture dating from the 12th to 17th centuries.