Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CENTRAL TUSCANY
With Siena at its heart, this is an agricultural area of great
scenic beauty, noted for its historic walled towns
such as San Gimignano and Pienza. To the north of Siena
is the Chianti Classico region, where some of Italy's best wines are
produced; to the south is the Crete, with landscapes characterized by
round clay hillocks, eroded of topsoil by heavy rain over the centuries.
The vine-clad hills to
the north of Siena are dot-
ted with farmhouses, villas
and baronial castles. Many are
now turned into luxury hotels or
rental apartments, offering
various leisure facilities such as
tennis courts, swimming pools
and riding stables: this is now one of
the most popular areas for family
holidays in the Tuscan countryside.
To the south of Siena, in the Crete,
shepherds tend sheep whose milk is
used to produce the pecorino cheese
popular throughout Tuscany. Cypress
trees, planted to provide windbreaks
along roads and around isolated farms,
are an important sculptural feature in
this empty and primeval landscape.
Linking the two regions is the S2
highway, an ancient road along which
pilgrims made their way in the Middle
Ages, followed by travellers on the
Grand Tour (see p55) in the 18th and
19th centuries. Romanesque churches
line the roads, and the valleys
and passes are defended by
castles and garrison towns,
most of which have hardly
changed over the years.
CONSTANT CONFLICT
The history of the region is of a
long feud between the two city states
of Florence and Siena. Siena's finest
hour was its victory in the Battle of
Montaperti in 1260, but when Siena
finally succumbed to the Black Death,
and subsequently to a crushing defeat
by Florence in the siege of 1554-5,
the city went into decline.
As several other Central Tuscan
cities experienced the same fate, this
lovely region became a forgotten
backwater, frozen in time. But after
centuries of neglect, the graceful late-
medieval buildings in many of the
towns are now being well restored,
making this the most architecturally
rewarding part of Tuscany to explore.
The beautifully preserved fortified town of Monteriggioni
 
 
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