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Inhabitants in 1991: 7.445
 The
municipal territory of Cianciano extends for 36,52 square kilometres on
the hilly rise of the Val di Chiana. Feudal centre then free municipality.
The first sure mention of Chianciano goes back to 1139. Between
the end of the XII century and the start of the XIII the Counts Manenti
di Sarteano were Lords of the castle, being favourable to Siena
who reclaimed the control and inserted it into their own county against
the expansionistic aims of Orvieto. The successful start of the
Siena forces, who in 1230 conquered Chanciano, was thwarted two years
later by the offensive of the Orvietini, allied with Firenze who obtained
the restitution of the castle; Chianciano was organised in municipality
with its own jurisdiction and statutes and already in this first drafting
in 1287, the organisation of the thermal baths of Sellena were referred
to. The caste remained annexed to the Orvieto territory until almost the
middle of the 1300s; but in 1347, coincidental with the declining Orvieto
politics, Chianciano made an act of submission to Siena; the disputes
were not however destined to finish because from this moment and for the
whole of the 1400s, Montepulciano also laid claim to it. Maintaining itself
anyway under the Siena Sovereignty though they fought for their own autonomy
even at the beginning of the 1500s, it became part of the Medico State
in 1556 at the end of the war of Siena during which it was razed and
ransacked.
Places to visit:
Fucoli Park, Sacred Water Park, in which there are thermal
fonts, with the relative structures, together with the Sorgente
Sant’Elena, they are all located in the thermal area.
Civic Museum, where the archaeological finds coming from the
neighbourhood are exhibited.
Collegiate Museum, hosted in the Palazzo dell’Arcipretura,
and composed of a small collection of works from the Siena and Fiorentina
schools.
S. Giovanni Battista, 1200 collegiate with its façade
in Travertino stone. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |
