Etruria, Val di Chiana Æ Semuncia. 3rd century BC. Wheel of six spokes; pellet in field / Double axe-head; letter in field. ICC 171; HN Italy 60; EC II, 22 (forthcoming). 3.72g, 19mm. Collectors ticket included. The Etruscan settlement in Valdichiana is one of the most consistent

The area experienced a florid period thanks to agricultural techniques imported from the Etruscans. In addition, this ancient civilisation began the sale of food, artifacts along the river Clanis allowing a real economic development.

The splendor of the Etruscan civilization is testified by finds from Arezzo, Cortona and Chiusi.

The testimonies are thousands, as thousands are the tombs and the remains have been identified. Only in the territory of Chianciano Terme were discovered more than 1000 graves in "pit". While in the basement of Chiusi was found the "labyrinth of Porsenna": a system of tunnels that allow you to know the city in depth and arriving just below the Bell Tower of the Cathedral.

The finds have been carefully restored and are preserved in museums as the National Archaeological Museum of Chiusi, Cetona, Chianciano Terme Museum, the Museum of Sarteano.

Geography

View of the Siena section of the Val di Chiana from Montepulciano

The actual Val di Chiana is about 104 kilometres (65 mi) long, and covers about 2,300 square kilometres (890 sq mi) valley floor. It runs north to south between the plain of Arezzo and the plain of Orvieto and includes the watershed of the Canale Maestro della Chiana, its main watercourse, and the northern part of the watershed of the Chiana River. It is divided into two hydrographic basins: the "Val di Chiana Toscana" (tributary of the Arno) and the "Val di Chiana Romana" (tributary of the Tiber), being the watershed located (since 1780) in Chiusi Scalo. The main watercourse of the Tuscan Val di Chiana is the Canale Maestro della Chiana, which receives the waters of the Val di Tresa, while the main watercourse of the Roman Val di Chiana is the Chiani (in its stretch initial called Chianetta canal, then Chiani torrent, then Chiani river).

From the Pleistocene to the middle of the 11th century the Clanis river was suitable for boats from Arezzo to the connection with the Tevere river (110 km). After the flooding of the Clanis Valley caused by a gigantic dam in 1052-1055, built on the orders of the Holy Roman Emperor and the German Pope Leo IX in the Orvieto area (located near the castle of Carnaiola), in 1338 the Republic of Florence ordered the people of Arezzo (just subdued) to build an artificial canal to drain the waters of the large artificial lake (so-called Chiana) towards the Arno, dug into the rock. This canal was initially 400 meters long, but the Republic of Florence ordered its extension, so as to drain ever greater quantities of water, drainage which however was hindered by the milling industry of the powerful Arezzo Monastery of Ss. Flora and Lucilla, which hindered the outflow of water with a 12 meters high dam, placed in the 19 meters deep channel. There is a map drawn by Leonardo da Vinci about this lake (Map RCIN 912278 Royal Collection). The beauty of the valley (whose waters flowed naturally from Arezzo to the Tiber) and the excellent farming activity was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia (Book III, 52-54). Goethe a few centuries later wrote about Valdichiana in his Italian Journey:

"Fields of such beauty are impossible to find elsewhere; every lump of earth has been tilled to perfection, prepared for sowing. Wheat grows lushly on this soil, where it seems to find all the necessary conditions to thrive. Every other year they plant horsebean, because oat does not flourish here. They also plant lupines, now already green, which will ripen by the month of March. Flax too, is already sown; buried into the ground throughout the winter, it is toughened by the freezing cold."

To the northeast it is bounded by the Tuscan pre-Apennines crowned by the Alta Sant'Egidio at 1,057 metres (3,468 ft), monte Lignano at 837 metres (2,746 ft), and monte Corneta at 744 metres (2,441 ft). To the southeast, it reaches Lake Trasimeno and the valley of the Nestore River. To the west, it extends to the Val d'Orcia, where it reaches its highest elevation at 1,148 metres (3,766 ft) on (Monte Cetona).

The landscape is mostly hilly, with a plain around the Canale Maestro della Chiana. Its mean elevation is around 405 metres (1,329 ft).