Discover Valdichiana

Looking the success of the post of Montepulciano I think that could be the occasion to focus and give importance to details. Do you remember the "Twilight" movie? And this scene? Probably not everyone know that the place was Montepulciano and especially the main square in front of the cathedral. Indeed Piazza Grande is one of the most beautiful square of Italy with a wonderful cathedral at the center of the square there is the well with coat of arms Medici designed from Antonio da Sangallo and one of main palace of Italy. Around this square worked important artists and architects of the Renaissance one of this is the famous Antonio da Sangallo but also Michelozzo and Ippolito Scalza. Starting from the cathedral you are in front of an important reinaissance building designed from Ippolito Scalza. It was imagined like the other churchs around the area for example Pisa and Florence unfortunately it wasn't finished at all but I'm sure that you can see the eleg...

CORTONA If yesterday we talked about Montepulciano today is the time of cortona. The biggest and most important city of the Valdichiana in province of Arezzo is Cortona. HISTORY The village is known from the antiquity as one of the most important etruscan center (Lucumonia) because his strategical position was ideal for control the surrounding lands. In IV century B.C.  were built the etruscan walls (today visible). An important document was found here called Tabula Cortonensis which show a rare etruscan inscription. In 450 d.C the goths occupied Cortona who lost his importance. During the medieval age was fought a long battle between guelfs and ghibellines at the end the second one won with the help of Siena. From the XV century was dominated from the republic of Florence. An important year is the 1727 when was founded the Etruscan Accademy of Cortona for research and study the etruscan civilisation which collected most important writers, historical of that age. At the end ...

MONTEPULCIANO Valdichiana has not only little villages but there are two towns which are the point of reference for the area: Cortona in province of Arezzo and Montepulciano in province of Siena. Today i'll talk about Montepulciano. It's a town on the top of the hill in the limit area between the Valdichiana and Val d'Orcia. It's famous for his wine Nobile di Montepulciano. Montepulciano is also a city of art, tradition and history. HISTORY  The origin of this village are etruscan, starting from IV-III century B.C. and during the roman domination there was a defensive army on the consular streets. After that became a vescovade with San Donato bishop of Arezzo. During the medieval age the town was contended between the cities Siena and Florence. In three-hundred century the domination family was “ Famiglia del Pecora” lords of Vaiano and anarchs of Montepulciano. Years after Medici submitted Siena and the prosperity and importance of the town decreased. The cardi...

SINALUNGA How can we talk about Bettole and don't tell you about Sinalunga? HISTORY The man in Sinalunga is present from the preistoric age. How about the etruscan period there is an important archeologist from Arezzo Gamurrini who described to have found some etruscan graves on the hills around Sinalunga. Recently excavations confirmed this, indeed was found the necropolis of San Giustino, it's composed on room graves which are attested to the VI century B.C. There are also other finds in the medieval church San Pietro ad Mensulas. After lived there romans from I century B.C., one of the settlement found of the repubblican period was an important coaching inn on the via Cassia probably situated in the area of the medieval church Pieve di San Pierto. Also this land was hit from rising the swamp and the people from Sinalunga refuge on the medieval castle on the hill top. The famous lords owners of this land are Cacciaconti. In 1303 born the free municipality of Sinalunga....

BETTOLLE It's a very little village on the hill near the tollgate Valdichiana. HISTORY The origin of Bettolle are very ancient indeed the area was lived since the etruscan civilisation, this village was called Betula which the meant is forest of birch. During the medieval age Bettolle was governed by the imperator Enrico II and called it as “Villa di Bettolle”(1014). After that the village become a fief of the lords  Cacciaconti from Sinalunga. If it seems little and unknown actually in the past here lived many important authorities like the cardinal Sivlio Passerini (friend of Medici), the king Carlo V who took the village for the Medici family. Few years after the fief was annulled and Bettolle was annexed to the municipality of Sinalunga WHAT TO VISIT? There is an interesting church in the center of Bettolle called Chiesa di San Cristoforo, it's a really old building but was renovated many times until the eight hundred century. The building is on brick with a bell ...

Let's continue to the travel through the Valdichiana. Today I'll stop you in another little village. HISTORY The village was lived  from the IV century B.C. when the etruscan occupied this land until the coming of roman empire. Unfortunately with the deviation of the ancient river of Clanis (dried up) on the water of Arno the valley soon became a swamp and all the area was abandoned. During the medieval age the city was dominated by Siena, Arezzo and at the end from Florence who decided to build the wall to defend the city from the revenge of the other cities. Because of the swamp the florentines built a port, indeed the other villages, as Castiglion Aretino (today Castiglion Fiorentino) or Cortona, could be reached only by  boats. In 1387 Foiano became a free municipality. The reclamation operations started in XVI century ordered by Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena, the man who directed the works was Vittorio Fossombroni. This operation turned the valley in a fertile land es...

THE HISTORY It's a very little village with few inhabitants sourronded by the beautiful landscape of Valdichiana full of history and cultural tradition which send you to the past. Indeed here in the 1554, when Medici were the lords of Florence, was fight an important war for the tuscan history: La battaglia di Scannagallo. This war was between the french party with the help of Siena under the guide of Pietro Strozzi and the spanish party with the command of Cosimo de Medici from Florence. The last fight was fought on the hill of Pozzo della Chiana where today there is a chapel of Santo Stefano della Vittoria who remember that event. The Medicean army won. WHAT TO VISIT You can visit this little chapel inside the modern cimitery from where you have a view of the countryside. Probably the structure was built from Vasari with the help of Ammannati. WHAT TO DO? Every year, in the month of July, the inhabitants celebrate this war with an historical commemorat...

I'm a student of archaeology and  i think that is very important give a value to the places and to the land where you live because I would not lose the history and the tradition that made this valley special for me and who there lives and lived. I live in Val di Chiana, a large and beautiful valley in province of Arezzo and a part in province of Siena. I know that in Tuscany there are cities like Florence and Siena very interesting and full of beauty but there is more. In this blog I will talk of history, tradition and cultural events of the Valdichiana for introduce and help to discover this wonderful valley. Thank you for the attention and Good reading.