Asciano

The history

Archaeological excavations carried out in this area show abundant traces of the presence of Etruscans, at least from the 7th century B.C. In the Roman period the town developed around a patrician villa which has made us the gift of a beautiful mosaic floor.
In early medieval times, the feud of Asciano belonged to a family which took its name from it (the Scialenghi), and later to the Cacciaconti who had to steer a middle course between the ambitions of hegemony by Siena and the interested protection of Florence.

In any case, from the early years of the 12th century, Asciano came definitively under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Siena, and fought alongside Siena in the battle of Montaperti (1260), where Florence was heavily beaten. Halfway through the 14th century, new walls were built around Asciano and it grew in prosperity, as surviving pieces of architecture will bear out.

The history of this agricultural centre, where the land was mainly cultivated by sharecropping, little changed till it suffered a slight shock with the arrival of the railway in 1859.

Today, with its 6500 inhabitants, Asciano is the main centre of the Crete Senesi and a well known tourist spot.