Val di Chiana
Val di Chiana, a land of great history and tradition
The Val di Chiana is a wide valley located in the south-east area of Tuscany and extends from Arezzo to the province of Orvieto in Umbria. It is a valley of alluvial origin once crossed by the Clanis river which was diverted already at the time of the Romans to limit the risks of flooding. Today, instead of this ancient river, there are two streams, the Canale Maestro della Chiana, which feeds Lake Chiusi and Montepulciano before reaching the Arno, and Chiani.
The region of the Tuscan Val di Chiana includes part of the provinces of Arezzo and Siena, in fact we speak of Val di Chiana Aretina and Val di Chiana Senese. This is a land that was inhabited by both the Etruscans and the Romans. Here are some of the most important Etruscan cities such as Chiusi and Cortona. Already at that time the valley had a very strong agricultural connotation even if it was not always such a lucky land. Many documents from the Middle Ages speak of the Val di Chiana as an unhealthy land full of swamps. Leonardo da Vinci also “talks” about these marshes describing them in a map he made around 1502. The time for reclamation came in the eighteenth century, first with the intervention of the Medici and then with the reclamation works ordered by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopold I of Lorraine.
Val di Chiana offers a valid assortment of things to see and do. In the Val di Chiana Aretina we find truly remarkable hamlets such as Castiglion Fiorentino, Civitella in Val di Chiana, Lucignano and Monte San Savino, the home of the porchetta. In the Val di Chiana Senese, however, there are the wonderful Montepulciano to visit, and here a glass of Nobile wine is a must, Cetona, Chianciano Terme, one of the main spa towns in the region, San Casciano dei Bagni and Sarteano, which has its own version of the Giostra del Saracino.
