THE SIENA AREA
Our holiday farmhouse is located in the heart of the sienese Montagnola, at about 15 km from Siena. The Montagnola is one of the main green area of the Siena county and its territory is divided between the municipalities of Sovicille, Casole d'Elsa, Monteriggioni and Siena. It's a SIC, that means "Place of EU interest", for its superior environmental quality, for the presence of many historical and artistic evidences and for the protected habitat that makes it a unique place for the visitors and the residents. From a landscape point of view, the sienese Montagnola is a massive limestone covered with large forest of holm oaks. Its name derives from its vague pre-alpine aspect. Since the Middle Age it's been a place where to excavate very fine marble that often became part of famous Reinassance monuments or palaces not only in Siena but also in Florence and Orvieto: in the abandonded quarries it's still possible to find little pieces of polished marble. Its mainly calcareous nature, created Karst caves. The waters infiltrate into the subsoil fueling a major spring in the Rosia valley, that provides the city of Siena with water. The holm oak forest can develop freely here, togethere with the durmasts and the maples while the rich underwood consists mainly in honeysuckles, arbutus, junipers, wild roses and hollies. In the most elevated areas, it's also possible to find many chestnut trees, planted by the men in the past.
The Montagnola has been also the cradle of a typical Sienese pig breed, the "Cinta senese" (cinta=belted, from the typical "white belt" around this kind of pig), a breed so rustical and wild that needs to be raised free in the oak forests rich with acorns. The Montangola is a sour territory, but it has always been inhabited because crossed by the hundred of roads nearby the famous Francigena path. For this reason, it's also rich with many medieval castles, villages and parishes (Ponte allo Spino and Abbadia a Isola are very famous ones!) Nearby our holiday farmhouse, we have the very famouse Castle of Celsa, surrounded by enourmous forests of holms and chestnuts, rich with wild flowers and ancient road walls. From here you can see the valley that lead to Siena, with the Mount Amiata and the Mount Cetona behind.
