Siena

Siena is the largest province in Tuscany by surface area and one of the least densely populated. Three thousand eight hundred square kilometres of hills, valleys, crete, woods and vineyards. A geography that has largely kept its farming physiognomy, and that for precisely this reason has become UNESCO heritage in three places — the historic centre of Siena, the centre of San Gimignano, the Val d'Orcia.

The province falls into three macro-areas with clear identities. The Sienese Chianti to the north, shared with the province of Firenze, where Sangiovese is a religion and the villages of Castellina, Radda and Gaiole are wine place names of worldwide reach. The Val d'Orcia and the Crete Senesi in the centre, one of the most recognisable agricultural landscapes in the world: Pienza, Montalcino, San Quirico, the white clays, the cypresses along the ridges. The southern Sienese with its hill Maremma, the Val di Chiana and Monte Amiata: an extinct volcano that dominates five provinces and holds one of the oldest thermal reserves in Italy.

The city of Siena is one of the medieval capitals of Europe. An independent republic until 1559, it has left a historic centre among the best preserved in the world, organised into seventeen contrade that still live their own identity with ritual intensity. The Palio, twice a year, is a social system in working order.

The provincial economy is strongly agricultural and touristic, but it has precise manufacturing nuclei. The ceramics of Asciano and Buonconvento, the working of Monte Amiata marble, the building of top-end wineries, violin making, artistic glass, the ceramics of Chianciano. The Monte dei Paschi di Siena, founded in 1472, is the oldest bank in the world still in business — another mark of the Sienese identity, which in finance as in craft does not stop existing.

The cooking of Siena is one of the most structured in Tuscany, with specialities that have crossed the centuries without significant adjustment.

Wine. Brunello di Montalcino DOCG: pure Sangiovese, a minimum of five years' ageing, two of them in wood. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG: Sangiovese (here called Prugnolo Gentile) with small additions of other grape varieties. Chianti Classico DOCG. Rosso di Montalcino DOC, Rosso di Montepulciano DOC, Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG (the only white DOCG in Tuscany). A wine geography that few territories in the world can match.

Pecorino di Pienza DOP. Sheep's milk from the Sardinian breed raised in the Val d'Orcia, matured from fresh to extra-aged. Pecorino di Pienza with a bran rind, with hay, with grape must, with ash is a speciality with four centuries of history.

Cinta senese DOP. The native pig breed, recognisable by the white belt across its black body, gives cured meats of exceptional quality: prosciutti, salami, capocollo, lardo. Almost extinct in the 1980s, the cinta senese is today protected by an active consortium.

Pici. Hand-rolled pasta, long and thick, dressed with meat ragù, with breadcrumbs (pici all'aglione), with porcini. A tradition of Siena and of the Val d'Orcia.

Sienese ribollita. The local version of the Tuscan bread soup, with cavolo nero, beans and winter vegetables, reboiled — ribollita — the next day to concentrate the flavours.

Panforte and ricciarelli. Medieval Sienese sweets still made to codified recipes. Panforte: honey, candied fruit, almonds, spices. Ricciarelli: almond paste, sugar, egg white. Sienese pastry-making is among the most recognisable in Italy.

The Sienese cantuccino and the cavallucci. Biscotti spiced with honey, aniseed and candied fruit. A history going back to the fourteenth century.

The olive oil of the Amiata and of the Crete. The Sienese hills produce Terre di Siena DOP extra virgin oils, vegetal in character, slightly peppery, of great finesse.