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Buonconvento
 
     
   
Casa Santa Pia is a holiday house in southern Tuscany.
Asciano, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Monteroni d'Arbia, Rapolano Terme, San Giovanni d'Asso, Monterongriffoli, Montelifre, Pava and Chiusure are situated in the surroundings of Buenconvento and are within an hour's drive from Podere Santa Pia. The road which leads from Castiglioncello Bandini to Asciano and Buenconvento, passing first through Castello Porrona, Montalcino, the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, is breathtaking.

n this particular area of the Siena region, many forts and small hamlets are situated on the sites of ancient Etruscan and Roman settlements, evidence of which can still be seen today
The most ancient archaeological finds in this area (cult and divination objects) date back to when these hills were inhabited by the mythical descendants of the Lidi people. Many local place names, such as Porrona, Tergomeno, Calatine, Percenna, Trequanda, Tordovana, Elatora and Cetinali come from their language. Incredibly, the local pronunciation of the letter ‘C’ also reflects the Etruscan pronunciation of the letter. There are many ancient tombs in the area surrounding Montelifré at Belsedere, Porrona and at S.Stefano a Cennano. The necropolis at Poggio Pinci is only a few kilometres away and there is an ancient footpath (which today is part of the Crete Senese Tourist Footpath Network) which starts at Asciano and joins the Via Etrusca that goes from Chiusi to Roselle, to the sea and south to the towns of Sovrana, Sorano and Saturnia.

Buonconvento is an ancient settlement south of Siena, along the Via Cassia, where the Arbia and Ombrone rivers meet in the heart of the magical hills of the Crete Senesi. The name Buenconvento derives from the Latin bonus conventus, meaning "happy, fortunate community".
The first residential settlements in the area of Buonconvento probably go back to the Etruscan and Roman Ages. Despite this historical data about the foundation of the village, its development starts on the 12th century, when the village already had a great importance as a place where the trading activities took place, promoted this latter by the closeness to the two rivers and to its position on the Via Francigena, one of Europe's major routes in the Middle Ages. The first written reference to the town appears in a document dated 1191 in which the king of France, Filippo Augusto, notes passing through Bon-couvent on his way back from the crusades.
Buonconvento became an even more important strategic town during the period when it was under the rule of Siena in the thirteenth century. In 1289 it was invaded by Sienese Ghibellines and occupied by imperial troops led by Enrico (or Arrigo) VII of Luxembourg. It was here in Buonconvento on the 24th August 1313 that the emperor died – his death signalled the end of the hopes of the Ghibelline forces.
After having been captured for a time by the army of Perugia, Buonconvento was fortified by the Sienese between 1371 and 1385. The old town centre is still surrounded by the splendid walls built in this period to defend the town. Remaining intact for centuries, protected by the moat and the Guelf battlements of the watch walkway, the village underwent great transformations in the 1800s, with the construction of buildings just outside the walls, including the Teatro dei Risorti.

The circuit of strong defense walls, the architectural style of which recalls that of Siena, once enclosed the entire village.
It had no openings other than two gates with thick wooden doors with iron fittings: Porta Senese on the northern side, toward Siena, and Porta Romana on the south, destroyed in 1944 by the retreating Germans.
Inside the walls, the village is crossed from north to south by Via Soccini, the old family whose members included a couple of heretics, who contested a number of church doctrines in the 16th century.

Among the most important monuments to see in Buonconvento we point out here the Parrocchiale di San Pietro, the Oratorio di San Sebastiano, the Palazzo Ricci, hosting today the Holy Art Museum of the valley of Arbia.
Inside the walls, the village is crossed from north to south by Via Soccini, the most aristocratic street in Buonconvento, with several palazzi. Palazzo Podestarile, with the 14th-century rectangular civic tower and the two Gothic arches in the façade, the Palazzo Comunale, or Town Hall, with its attractive brick front, and the imposing Palazzo Taja, built entirely in brick, and across from it is Palazzo Borghesi, built in the 14th century, which belonged to an old Sienese family whose coat of arms can be seen on the splendid façade.
The important art works by Sienese artists such as Duccio di Boninsegna, Sano di Pietro, Andrea di Bartoio and Lucca di Tommè that were originally located in the Parrocchiale di San Pietro, are now in the Val d'Arbia Museum of Sacred Art, in the 19th-century Palazzo Ricci-Socini which is further down the Via Soccini.
The museum exhibits Senese paintings, liturgical gold-works and furnishings, sculptures and parchments ranging from the 14th- to the 19th century. A Madonna with Child and Two Angels by Matteo di Giovanni and a Madonna with Child by Duccio da Boninsegna are particularly noteworthy.


But Buonconvento also means Art Nouveau, a typically urban style which for some strange reason took root here as well, bringing the village to the attention of the art world. The Art Nouveau in Buonconvento was anything but provincial, and evolved into a calm, elegant style, that played on materials, colors and decorative effects, on both exteriors and in the decoration of interiors dominated by floral patterns, well represented in the frescoes, stained glass and wrought iron work. Beautiful examples of this style are the previously mentioned Palazzo Ricci-Socini, Palazzo Farnetani on Via Soccini 51, Palazzo Ricci on Via Roma 3, the Grisaldi del Taja nursery school on Via Dante, Palazzina Sensi and Palazzina Castellani Bettarini, on the same street.

Comune
Ufficio turistico comunale | via Soccini 18

Museo della Mezzadria Senese | www.museomezzadria.it

Weekly market | Local vendors assemble outside Buonconvento’s walls every Saturday (Piazza Antonio Gramsci 8:00 -13:00).
Nearby Montalcino has its market on Fridays.

  

Matteo di Giovanni, Madonna col Bambino e due Angeli, originally in the Chiesa di San Lorenzo a Percenna
 
   

Pieve di Sant'Innocenza

The parish of Saint Innocenza in Piana is a sacred building near Buonconvento. Mentioned since 1081, it is a fortified structure which still keeps the characteristic elements of the military sienese architecture of the XIII-XIV century; one of its sides is the church, which has been made in fired-brick, like most part of the complex, but with stone-lines in the simple front. It has only a nave with trusses in sight, but it already shows gothic elements in a quadrilateral chapel which ends it, covered with a barrel vault and pointed-arch monophores. On the inside there are traces of a fourteenth-century fresco with Saint Christopher and another fresco, always fragmentary, where there is again the figure of the Blessed Franco da Grotti.

    
The church of San Lorenzo is a sacred building in Percenna, near Buonconvento. The church is the most ancient place of the Christian devotion in Buonconvento, which has risen, according to the tradition, in the same place where it rose a pagan temple. After several interventions which have deeply changed the original structure, now it shows the internal division in the central nave and in the lateral niches, which is very damaged in the left part for a static subsidence. The architectonic design dates back to the restoration of 1830. On the main altar it is exposed the articulated eighteenth-century processional machine, in wood carved with volutes, gilded and painted with a light blue, which held the canvas by Matteo di Giovanni with the Madonna with Christ Child and the angels, today kept in the Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia. On the left side, in walling, there is the sepulchral grave by Andrea Minucci.    
     

 

    

San Giovanni d'Asso, Il Castello
 
   

 
San Giovanni d'Asso is located in the heart of the Crete Senesi, characterized by the imposing Medieval castle, home of the Truffle Museum.
Worth visiting are the Romanesque church of San Giovanni Battista and, lower down, the church of San Pietro in Villore (11th - 12th century). Over and above the fine stone of San Giovanni, another notable aspect is the environmental heritage of the localities around the Asso valley a decidedly superb landscape.
Don't miss the hamlet and castle of Monterongriffoli the rural districts of Vergelle , the poetry of Lucignano d'Asso, Montisi with its historic grange and the extraordinary white road of Pieve a Salti.
    

 

The road from Montalcino to Radicofani runs through San Giovanni d’Asso, a small hamlet nestled comfortably in the hills of this beautiful landscape.
The ancient romanesque church of San Giovanni Battista is near to the castle, while in the lower part of the village lies the most important church in the area, the beautiful San Pietro in Villore, built in the 11th and 12th centuries, and which is now surrounded by many cypresses.
Among the numerous celebrations periodically taking place in San Giovanni d'Asso we remind the Exhibit of the White Truffle held yearly on November, during which it is possible to admire the famous typical white truffles.

Il Bosco della Ragnaia on the outskirts of San Giovanni d’Asso, is a modern garden created by artist and philosopher Sheppard Craige that includes elements of formal spaces, modern art, and wooded areas (boschi).
Links | Images

Comune

 

  

San Giovanni d'Asso | Il Bosco della Ragnaia
Within the municipal territory of Buonconvento rises the picturesque village of Montisi, with its Chiesa dell'Annunziata, its historical grain tower and the extraordinary dirt road of Pieve a Salti. Here, every year, on the Sunday nearest the 5th of August (the festival of the Madonna delle Nevi, the patron saint of Montisi) the joust Giostra di Simone is held.

    
Montelifre Castle is also important, while at Pava the historical parish church is significant.
Montelifré, situated on the top of a gently sloping Sienese hill which is itself dominated by the ruins of a castle dating back to the year 1000, rises along the SS38 between Trequanda and Montisi. Montelifré can be reached from Sinalunga traveling throughout the SS38 toward S.Giovanni d' Asso/Torrenieri or from Siena throughout the scenographic route going along Asciano and San Giovanni d'Asso.
During the Medieval period Monteranfredi became a castle, although it was destroyed and rebuilt many times. The fortress was very similar to the fortress at Montalcino which can be seen in the distance.
The castle, a great construction in stone having a triangular shape equipped with high and thick walls, dates back to the 13th century. The entire estate was bought by the Tolomeis (a merchant family from Siena) in 1328. This family suffered great losses when their bank went under in 1348 and they sold the estate and all their belongings after the terrible black death to Betto di Martinozzo, a merchant from Montepulciano.
The castle’s history reflects that of the Martinozzo family who were first connected to the Medici and then to the Lorena family. The hamlet and its surrounding woods still belongs to the same family. They have turned it into an Azienda Agrituristica (an Agricultural Tourist Business) and it’s possible to visit the San Biagio Church, the fortress, a twelfth/thirteenth century tower and the villa,
On the opposite side developed the small village Montelifre, enclosed by town walls gifted with two gates. The whole complex, castle and village, is now a private property, and visible only from the road.

  

Montelifré
Pava in the Valley of the Asso is surely one of the oldest and most important transit places which pilgrims used in the Etruscan-Roman period. The Pieve di Santa Maria a Pava dates back to the 4th century. Over the centuries, it was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, due mostly to the fact that the Val d'Asso and the Val d'Orcia were part of the great struggle between Siena and Florence. From the original structure, there remains a remarkable piece of rock, which can be seen on the outside of the lateral wall of the church.
Behind the church, one can still see a more or less circular foundation of the apse of a later version of the church.
The portal is enriched with a fresco, from the early 14th century, representing the 'Madonna with holy child and two saints'.

The Pieve di Santa Maria a Pava was one of the nineteen parishes which were contended in the Middle Ages between the dioceses of Siena and Arezzo. The front to which we enter by means of a small stairway, leaned against the ancient parsonage is very simple, in travertine ashlars and bricks. The archivolt portal, without a plastic decoration is enriched with a fragmentary frescoed lunette maybe of the XIV century, representing the Madonna with Christ Child and two Saints. The lateral face of the building is in travertine ashlars. Recovered after decades of abandon, it is nowadays a private property.

  

Pieve di Santa Maria in Pava
Monterongriffoli is a semi-inhabited medieval hamlet a few kilometers down the road from San Giovanni d' Asso near Montalcino, hidden behind the church, with no signposts and only a small carved stone plaque to identify it.

   
 
   

Buonconvento

Monteroni d'Arbia is an agricultural center, crossed by the Via Francigena, 17 km southeast of Siena.
As an agricultural production centre of the ancient Republic of Siena, it preserves the sign of its most important monument in the imposing medieval fortified mill from the beginning of the fourteenth century, of which the original structure is nearly intact, with its brick keep and mill-pond.
In the days of the ancient Sienese Republic, Monteroni d’Arbia was a very important farm. Monteroni today still expresses the vitality of this land, thanks to considerable craft production and the traditional market. The 14th century fortified mill, whose great brick tower makes it easily visible, bears witness to the importance of this place in agricultural production.

The oratory of Barottoli is a sacred building in an anonymous place in Monteroni d’Arbia. It was built to keep an image with the Madonna with Christ Child of the XIV century, which was very venerated by the local people. The painting was on the wall of a ruined house; in 1615began the building of an oratory and the image was removed from the wall and collocated in 1617 on the main altar of the new building, completed in 1620. Today it is a private possessions and it presents a very decorated internal part, with a unique plant and four spans which end with cross vaults. On the two side-altars in stucco with white volutes, there are a copy of the canvas by Rutilio Manetti about “The Temptations of Saint Anthony” and an eighteenth-century painting which portraits Tobiolo and the Angel.


Comune

 

Monteroni d'Arbia

 

 

Grancia di Cuna

 

 
The Pieve di San Giovanni Battista, at Corsano, dates from before 1031. With a nave and two aisles, it is an example of Romanesque architecture with Pisan and Lombard influences. It houses two canvasses by Alessandro Casolari.

  
The church of Sts. James and Chrstopher, at Cuna, has remains of 14th century frescoes.
On the road linking Siena and Monteroni another important point for the traveller seeking the genius loci of the Crete is the monumental farm of Cuna, an extraordinary fortified grancia hat was part of Santa Maria della Scala .
The splendid massive structure of Grancia di Cuna is a beautiful example of a medieval fortified grain tower (13th century), originally belonging to the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala which used it as a massive container for grain.

The word grancia, or grange of French derivation, denotes a building with the functions of storehouse and granary. In the middle ages granges were rural buildings situated on the estate of an abbey for the storage of agricultural produce. Initially the Sienese granges had both of these features. They came under the Spedale di S. Maria della Scala of Siena and consisted of buildings for storing the harvests of an extensive property. But in Siena the granges had an additional specific element: they were equipped with considerable fortified structures. They were built, in a word, not only to preserve agricultural produce but also and above all to defend it against military threats. The defensive apparatus consisted of three basic elements, though they are not visible everywhere today: walls, towers and granaries. A wall, the main defensive element, surrounded and protected the buildings. The plan was essentially quadrilateral and adapted to the local morphology.

  
Taking the Cassia in the direction of Buonconvento you soon come to Lucignano d’Arbia, a fortified village where the Romanesque parish church of San Giovanni Battista frescoed in the 6th century by Arcangelo Salimbeni is well worth a visit. Setting out once more from the Cassia, the road leading to Radi follows another splendid stretch of the Crete and arrives at the magnificent Corsano parish church.

  
   
Castelnuovo Tancredi. The ancient castle is composed of a tower dating back to the eleventh century, and the later added Medicean style villa in the sixteenth century. Still later a church was constructed adjacent to the main villa, which was dedicated to the Saint Bartolomeo. On the main altar Lorenzetti dedicated a marvelous painting to the Madonna and her Child which can be admired today in the Buonconvento museum of Sacred Art. The estate has 8 hectares of specialized vineyards. [1]  
Castelnuovo Tancredi
   
Chiusure on the top of which survived the rearranged rests of an ancient castle which is part of Saint Angelo in Luco. It is situated on a high slope which, in the past, was covered with woods, where the Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore was erected, into the village of Chiusure, about 1 km far. The antiquity of this settlement is testified by the fact that its church of Saint Angelo in Luco, at the beginning of the VIII century, was the object of a dispute among the bishops of Siena and those of Arezzo. It is also mentioned in the approval bill of the Congregation of the Olivetans, and of their major monastery, where it is said that it was founded in the district of Saint Michele in Luco’s parish. From some ancient sienese memoirs, we know that Antonio di Meo Tolomei bought Chiusure in 1333. It seems superfluous to add that the founder of the Congregation of Monte Oliveto belonged to the same sienese family of Tolomei and that the hillock of Acona, where the first hermitage was erected, was wooded.  
   
The fortified settlement of Bibbiano, commanding from a hill the Ombrone Valley and the underlying town of Buonconvento, dates back to the year 850. Bibbiano castle is made up of two structures, the keep and the double walled enclosure surrounded by the ditch, running on three of the four sides. The unique gatehouse is finely framed with sandstone ashlars and protected by a great number of arrowslits and loopholes. Facing the inner curtain is still visible the wall walk. The complex is, mainly for its still intact medieval aspect, one of most remarkable of the whole Sienese countryside. Today is private property visible only from the outside.  
The fortified settlement of Bibbiano
   
The actual fortified village of Murlo, consisting of the imposing bishop's palace and its courtyard, has been expertly restored and is now centred on the magnificient Antiquarium, where the archaeological finds from the greatly significant site of Poggio Civitate are gathered. Palazzo Vescovile was erected on the site of an pre-existing Abbey first Benedettina then Camaldolese. The Duomo is dedicated to S. Giovanno Evangelista. Initially it was the Abbey Church, enlarged and modified from 1300 in the subsequent centuries until the radical intervention of 1936-1945. The interior has three naves on columns and of Roman structure with Gothic influences, and hosts exquisite works of art. Nearby are the ruins of Crevole Castle, whose cleft tower rises up blade-like from the dark green of the holm oaks to cut sharply into the sky.
Near Murlo, Poggio Civitate is the excavation site of an Etruscan patrician residence in the sixth and seventh centuries BC. Largely intact at the time of its unearthing, its architectural detailing illuminates elements of both the Etruscan Orientalizing Period and the Archaic.

Weekly market in Murlo (Casciano di Murlo) is on Thursday 8:00-13:00. 		 
   
Near Murlo is Vescovado Di Murlo, an important centre that was formed by joining the villages Andica and Tinoni which were still separate at the beginning of the 19th century. In Vescovado the parish church of San Fortunato retains the large altarpiece in the form of a triptych by Benvenuto di Giovanni signed and dated 1475 representing the Madonna enthroned with Child, musician angels and Saints Catherine, Archangel Michael, Blaise and Lucy and above the Benedictory Christ and the Saints Ansano and Lawrence. This is a work of great formal elegance in which the consideration of the new ideas about perspective, derived from Vecchietta is here quite evident.
In the same church there is also the only surviving panel of a missing polyptych by Andrea di Niccolò painted for the parish church of Carli, the Madonna and Child, central panel of a triptych whose side panels representing the Saints are in museums abroad.
In Ancaiano, Guidoccio Cozzarelli had painted an altarpiece with a similar subject (The Madonna and Child with the Saints Sebastian, Bernardino and two Angels), dated 1491.

Weekly market in Vescovado di Murlo is Fortnightly on Monday. 		 
 
The comune Trequanda comprises the three villages of Trequanda, Petroio and Castelmuzio. Petroio (13th century) is built on a curious circular plan and is one of the best brick castles in the region. A few kilometres to the northeast is the Abbadia a Sicile, a beautiful Italian old village. Trequanda, a slighter larger village also preserves a good section of its castle. The Romanesque parish Chiesa dei SS. Pietro e Andrea has a brown-and-white chequered stone facade. Inside is a fresco of the Trasfiguration by Sodoma and a triptych by Giovanni di Paolo with Madonna and Child.  

Petroio
 
Casa Santa Pia is a holiday house in southern Tuscany.
Buonconvento, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Monteroni d'Arbia, Rapolano Terme, San Giovanni d'Asso, Siena, Sinalunga and Trequanda are situated in the surroundings of Asciano and are within an hour's drive from Podere Santa Pia. The road which leads from Castiglioncello Bandini to Asciano and Buenconvento, passing first through Castello Porrona, Montalcino and the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, is breathtaking.
Arbia, Chiusure, Castelnuovo Scalo en Torre a Castello are frazioni of Asciano.
Distances from Podere Santa Pia | Buonconvento 46 km | San Giovanni d'Asso 51 km| Trequanda 62 km | Asciano 64 km | Montalcino 34 km
 
 
Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia  
Inaugurated in 1979 into another expositive context, the Museum has been moved into the Palace Ricci Solini, a delicious example of architecture and internal decoration in Liberty style. It was a parish priest from Buonconvento, don Crescenzio Massari, who, in 1926, collected all the works of art and created Museum of Sacred Art of Val d’Arbia, which is richer and more complete than the first one, but with the same purposes of the starting collection: to document the worship and the artistic expression of the valley’s devotion. The collection consists in sacred art-works(paintings, sculptures, textile goldsmitheries) of the territory of Val d’Arbia, to testify the sienese culture from the XIII to the XIX century, with its main protagonists: Duccio, Pietro Lorenzetti, Luca di Tommé, Andrea di Bortolo(XIV century); Sano di Pietro, Matteo di Giovanni, Girolamo di Benvenuto, Pietro di Domenico, Guidoccio Cozzarelli(XV century); the followers of Baccafumi, from Bartolomeo di David to the Brescianino and Riccio(XVI century); Rutilio Manetti, Francesco Vanni, Astolfo Petrazzi, Ventura e Simondio Salimbeni, Francesco Bartolini and Bernardino Mei(XVII century). Very interesting is also the presence of objects used by the laic companies, in particular the so called “stretchers” and the different tabernacles and the small temple created by the main artists of that time.

Arbia Valley Museum of Religious Art | Via Soccini, 17 | Opening time: Tues. to Sat. 10-12 and 15-17, Sun. 10-12 (winter). Tues. to Sat. 10-12 and 16-19, Sun. 10-12 (summer) • closed on Monday.		  
 

Wine in Tuscany Strada del Vino Orcia | Castelnuovo Tancredi

Strada del Vino Orcia | Castelnuovo Tancredi | Az.Ag. Castelnuovo Tancredi - 53021 Buonconvento - Siena
www.castelnuovotancredi.it
The Castelnuovo Tancredi farm estate is situated amongst the rolling hills of the Sienese countryside, confining the world renowned territories of Montalcino and Murlo, in the Val d'Orcia.
The ancient castle is composed of a tower dating back to the eleventh century, and the later added Medicean style villa in the sixteenth century. Still later a church was constructed adjacent to the main villa, which was dedicated to the Saint Bartolomeo. The Church of San Bartolomeo dates back to the XIII century and had a first restoration in 1336 and another one in 1655. On the altar there was a small oval painting which represents the martyrdom of S. Bartolomeo, which is considered the sketch of the canvas painted by Alessandro Casolani for the church of the Carmine in Siena, which is the late new elaboration of the same subject made by a painting of the half of the XVII century; the work is today exposed on the right wall. In the church there was a Madonna with Christ Child which constituted the central part of the polyptic which was ordered for the main altar after the restoration of 1336. It was rediscovered as a work of Pietro Lorenzetti, under the eighteenth-century repainting which had transformed it in a poor devotion work. The tablet is shown today in the Museum in Buenconvento.
The estate Castelnuovo Tancredi has 8 hectares of specialized vineyards which are made up of various grapes and clones such as Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Foglia Tonda, Colorino, Chardonnay and Trebbiano.
Wines: Orcia Rosso L'Assedio DOC, Castelnuovo Tancredi Orcia bianco DOC, L'Ambasciatore Rosso IGT. [read more]

Walking in Tuscany | Via Lauretana Antica

Val d'Arbia's trails | A well marked path system taking you through the unpolluted countryside of the Sienese Crete.

Via Lauretana Antica

In this area there are some farms about 4 kilometres from Asciano, along the Via Lauretana Antica, being in a raised position as regards to the surrounding valleys. Turning the eyes southwards, you can enjoy a splendid view over the village of Asciano.
Menchiari (Santa Caterina) is a resort made up of two farmhouses between Vescona and Mucigliani, along the Via Lauretana Antica, between Asciano and Siena. From here you can admire one of the most beautiful landscapes of the Crete and be amazed by the sight of the marriage of the light blue of the small lakes at the bottom of the valley and the green of the field in the springtime.

Mezzavia. The name of this ancient farmhouse in bricks comes from the fact that it rises on a hill exactly in the middle of the Via Lauretana.
Strada bianca di Medane is a country road which, a little after the village of Arbia, going towards Asciano along the Lauretana Antica until Medane. Proceedings on the tops of the hills, it is on a splendid position to admire the landscapes on the Crete and Siena. This road links to another one which is equally interesting for its landscapes and which leads from Monteroni to San Martino in Grancia and Vescona, in front of the castle of San Fabiano.

Strada bianca di Montauto da Lucignano d'Arbia ad Asciano starts a little before Cassia to reach the historic centre of Lucignano d’Arbia, coming from the south, linking the Val d’Arbia with the Ombrone valley and proceeding along the tops of the hills. The road climbs up among curves and slopes until Montauto, a small ancient medieval commune, now turned into a private villa, to then go down among calanques of great landscape-impact until the Valley of Ombrone, some kilometres from Asciano.

Strada del Pecorile. This road, which starts from the ex Porta Massini and leading southwards, along the public gardens, was really important in the past because it linked Asciano and Trequanda, Chiusure and San Giovanni d’ Asso. Its main characteristic is that, some kilometres from the village, it goes on a series of calcareous hills, which are the highest of the area and ,for this reason, they guarantee splendid panoramic foreshortenings.
Walking Tour of Buonconvento

Entering from Bibbiano, it is easiest to park at the Coop on the left or to continue on to the Piazza Garibaldi to the right. Other parking must be accessed from the Via Cassia, either immediately in front of the town walls on the Cassia, or turning west at the northwest corner of the walls and driving around the walls to the town’s spare parking lot.

A walking tour of town might begin at the Piazza Matteotti, the site of the now-missing porta Romana and entrance to the central, walled portion of town. Here, the Via Roma becomes the Via Soccini. Shortly on your right is an agenzia di viaggio (travel agent), where you can find a map of Buonconvento that marks its stores and sights. A second travel agency sits in the Piazza Matteotti.

The central part of town is small enough that it is difficult to lose one’s way. Stroll down the main drag in the form of the Via Soccini, passing two restaurants (Osteria da Duccio and da Mario), a cafe (Mimo), and several shops.

Ahead, the Palazzo Podestarile with its civic tower occupies the curved part of the block on your right. The Sienese government built the palazzo in 1385, just after fortifying the town. The facade is typical Sienese medieval and was most recently restored in 1921, boasting gothic arches and twenty four coats of arms of local gentry. The interior lacked space for the city’s growing civic needs and thus was sold to private hands, but the comune maintains the tower.

The actual Palazzo Comunale is just before the Podestarile, at no.32 Via Soccini. The comune bought it from private hands in 1839. Above the balcony is a Borghesi family coat of arms. Also a part of the facade is the date 1860, which commemorates the union of Tuscany with greater Italy under the Savoy monarchy.

Next on your right, at no.18 of the Via Soccini is the Palazzo Ricci Soccini and site of the Museo d’Arte Sacra della Val d’Arbia. One and a half centuries ago, owner Raffaello Ricci restored the eighteenth century palace in the new Liberty style under the guidance of architect Gino Chierici. The facade boasts many characteristic features of the Italian Art Nouveau, exemplified by the contrast in colors of stone, brick, and strips of ceramic tiles in floral motifs that divide the building into horizontal courses. The classical windows on the first floor are ornamented with highly decorative ironworking. The balustrade on the second floor terrace echoes that theme, before the third floor returns to its classical roots. Elements of the Liberty style continue inside on the first and second floors, the staircase, and the bathrooms, reason enough for admission to the museum.

The Museo d’Arte Sacra della Val d’Arbia inside is well worth a visit as it is among the better small art museums in Tuscany, but delightfully free of crowds, an opportunity to view the art unencumbered and in the local context where it was produced. The museum boasts a series of masterpieces by artists of the Sienese school, collected from small churches all around the Val d’Arbia. Among the most precious are a Madonna and Child by Duccio da Buoninsegna and another by Pietro Lorenzetti. One room is dedicated to works of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, representing artists including Bartoleomeo di David and Francesco Vanni. Many works highlight the greatness of the Sienese school in the 1500s, with artists Rutilio Manetti and Bernardino Mei among others.
Open Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday from 10-12, Saturday from 2-4, and Sunday from 9-1.

Further on your right sits somber facade of the eighteenth century Palazzo del Traja at number 8, whose iron balcony rings the corner it makes with the Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo (church.) The 1103 on the church’s facade might refer to the date of its founding. As a church on the important Via Francigena pilgrimage route, it received many a great work of art, including oeuvres by Duccio and Sano di Pietro. These have all been moved to the nearby art museum for safekeeping. What rests is a fifteenth century table decorated in tempera by Matteo di Giovanni, another by Pietro di Francesco Orioli, and a fresco by Sano di Pietro showing the coronation of the Virgin. The facade as we see it today was restored in a classical style from 1702 to 1705, and decorated in travertine in 1723. The bell tower was restored in the early 1800s.

Across from the Palazzo dei Traja sits the Palazzo Borghesi which dates to the fourteenth century. Legend had it that Emperor Henry VII died here, although subsequent research confirms he breathed his last in the church across the way. Occupying space in the ground floor of he Palazzo is the Oratorio of Saint Sebastian belonging to the historic order, the Contrafraternity of the Misericordia, whose roots in Buonconvento date to 1595, although they officially joined the order in devotion to emergency assistance in 1865. Entrance to their museum at this site, which offers a glimpse into the organizations private space, art collection, and antique emergency response equipment, is free but must be booked in advance: 348/7072500 The Oratorio’s fourteenth century style was restored at the turn of the nineteenth century. Its exceptional acoustics make it host to musical events planned by the Accademia Chigiana.

Continue a few more steps and you reach the porta Senese, the doorway to Siena, and a part of the walls provided by Siena in 1379. One coat of arms represents Siena, the other, Buonconvento. The wooden fittings of the gothic arch are original, untouched until their restoration in 1998. The battlements are in the Geulf style.

Just outside the door is a public garden and fountain, and to the right, the entrance to the Teatro dell’Accademia dei Risorti, which had been a horseshoe shaped theater with two rows of balconies in the classical style of eighteenth century Italy, when it was lost to bombardment in World War II. The newly restored theater was completed in 1976 and hosts special theatrical events and movies. The facing garden, the Monumento al Bersagliere is for soldiers in every war. The sculpture is the work of Sienese artist, Plinio Tammaro.

To continue right, circling the walls from the outside takes you to the doors of the Museo della Mezzadria Senese.

The Museo Etnografico della mezzadria is a quite exceptional museum offering a look at the old tenant farming system of the area. This becomes especially apt when you remember that Borgo Finocchieto refers to a village (borgo) based around the production of fennel (finocchio) whose roots are a staple vegetable to the Italian diet, and whose seeds stud the local salami. The mezzadria system operated based on a contract whereby the proprietor owned fifty percent of the production by peasant farmers living on the land. The system lasted well into the 1950s, when mechanization replaced many a job and droves of people abandoned farms for industrial jobs. The museum offers a video explaining the system, in Italian, but worth watching nonetheless, and various interactive features downstairs, where life size statues of farmers and proprietors tell you about life from their personal points of view. Displays highlight various aspects of the sharecropping life, from the harvest to special feasts and festivals. Upstairs, displays demonstrate the common living quarters of such farmers. This is a unique opportunity to witness what the very inside of Finocchieto might have looked like as few as fifty years ago. Open Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday from 10 to 6.

Back inside the Porta Senese, turn left onto the Via del Sole to continue a tour of town. This road used to be called the Via degli Orti (of gardens) for its spaces devoted to grain, wine, and animals. Ahead is a carefully tended public garden with a well dating to 1857. To the left is the Piazza Arrigo VII (Henry VII), where the comune hosts various musical events and during the sagra, dancing.
 
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