Top 10 Amazing Facts about Crete Senesi

Crete senesi (Asciano) photo by Mongolo1984 – Wikimedia commons

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Crete Senesi

Whenever you think of Tuscany with its rolling grassy landscapes, exposed to ravines, traditional Tuscan farmhouses and long driveways lined by tall cypress trees all set under the Tuscany sunshine, it is quite possible you are thinking of the Crete Senesi region to the south of Siena.

The Crete Senesi is a fascinating and unusual area that lies just south of Siena. Famous for its distinctive dry clay hills, it is a place unlike any other in Tuscany. Its dramatic terrain draws visitors back for the mindblowing experience of touring the place year after year. Here are the top 10 amazing facts about Crete Senesi

1. Crete Senesi resulted from eroding sediment from the Pliocene sea

Crete Senesi – panorama photo by Louis-garden – Wikimedia commons

The Crete Senesi refers to an area of the Italian region of Tuscany immediately to the south of Siena. They border to the north with Chianti and to the South-west with Val d’ Orcia.

This amazing phenomenon is just the result of eroding sediment from the Pliocene sea between 2.5 and 4.5 million years ago.

2. Its name Crete is derived from clay

Crete senesi presso asciano photo by Sailko – Wikimedia commons

The name “Crete” derives from the clay that emerges from the ground, characterizing the landscape with its peculiar grey-blue colour. It is a lump of clay mixed with rock salt and chalk, the result of sediments of an ancient sea that covered the entire area three million years ago.

The centre has a very particular shape with white hills, badlands and cliffs which has led many to define it as a “lunar landscape”

3. Its described as the land lacking sweetness of the trees

Crete senesi (Asciano) photo by Mongolo1984 – Wikimedia commons

The great poet Mario Luzi, recently deceased described it as “the land without the sweetness of the trees. “And in fact, this is exactly what is fascinating about the vast area in the south.

It is an area full of history, art and natural beauties, crossed by the Via Lauretana running along the edges amid vast landscapes and wheat-cultivated hills.

4. Crete Senesi is renowned for the famous battle of 1260

Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash

Montaperti, located at the Crete Senesi is renowned for the famous battle of 1260 between Florence and Siena. Won by the latter. A memorial period is dedicated to the remembrance of Crete Senesi.

The battle is mentioned by Dante in the tenth chapter of the Divine Comedy’s “Hell’.

5. The area has a historic centre, Asciano at its heart

Crete senesi (Asciano) photo by Mongolo1984 – Wikimedia commons

Asciano preserves its historic centre in the ancient medieval structure. Its located in the heart of Crete Senesi. Its origin follows the myth of Romulus and Rome to escape hatred uncle founder of Rome Romulus, Senio refuging on the banks of the Tressa river and founding Asciano.

In reality, Asciano was founded under Siena’s control to which it remained always faithful, like in the Montaperti historic battle in 1260, when thanks to Asciano, Siena won against Florence.

6. Crete Senesi is home to Abby of Monte Oliveto Maggiore

Crete Senesi (Italy: Tuscany): Abbay of Monte Oliveto Maggiore photo by Gunther Tschuch – Wikimedia commons

The Abby of Monte Oliveto Maggiore is the highlight of the Crete Senesi. A Benedictine monastery, still active today, hosts some fascinating Renaissance frescoes by Luca Signorelli and Sodoma in the cloister.

The Abby of Monte Oliveto Maggiore was founded in 1313 by Bernado Tolomei and played an important role during the Renaissance not only as a religious centre but also as a place of economic and cultural exchange. It collects valuable manuscripts and Pergo restored by monks.

7. The area has several museums to explore

Crete Senesi near Asciano, tourists photo by Sailko – Wikimedia commons

There are several museums to explore in the area, each with an interest in some particular part of the history and events of the region. The civic museum of archaeology and sacred art in “Palazzo Corboli” in Asciano. Once owned by the noble Sienese “Bandinelli” family, the “Palazzo Corboli” is not so much a museum but a work of art itself.

The arms of the “Bandinelli” appear in almost every room, although small, this museum houses allegorical, sacred and secular works from the surrounding area and by numerous artists from the renaissance including works attributed to “Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Cristoforo di Benoccio, Meo di Pero and Bernadino Mei” amongst others.

Two floors are dedicated to archaeological artefacts from ancient tombs and necropoli, Etruscan, Roman pieces and found from a thermal bath.

8. Crete Senesi hosts a popular event called “Palio dei Ciuchi”

donkeys pallium photo by Tuscanycalling – Wikimedia commons

On the second Sunday in September every year, there is fun to be had watching the “Palio dei Ciuchi” where the town’s “Contrade”- quarters or parishes, have an equine race against each other, a sort of “mini- palio in the ‘Sienese’ style”, with donkeys instead of horses!

9. The area is a description of art in nature

First fogs and autumn colours on the Crete near Asciano. Tuscany photo by Repuli – Wikimedia commons

A top one of the rounded hills of “Le Crete Senesi” is a strange obelisk-like sculpture called “Site Transitoire” reminiscent of the stone monuments of northern Europe, like “stone homage”, by the French sculptor Jean-Paul Philipe (b.1944). It evokes a strange sense of timelessness in its setting within the landscape of “Le Crete Senesi.”

This masterpiece can be found about 2 kilometres from Leonina and has to be reached by foot, the artist has his studio in the town of “Asciano” which finds itself in almost the centre of “Le Crete Senesi”.

10. Crete Senesi is a common postcard panoramic picture

Crete senesi (Asciano) photo by Mongolo1984 – Wikimedia commons

The typical postcard panoramas with undulating roads that run between two rows of cypresses, on the crest of a hill, to reach an isolated cottage are a common image seen on several occasions. Many of the images come from the Crete Senesi.