Pievina

Vescona is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, in the comune of Asciano, province of Siena. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 47. Vescona is about 22 km from Siena and 9 km from Asciano.

San Bernardino is a Romanesque-style, former Roman Catholic church building, for some decades converted to museum, in the town of Asciano, Province of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy.

Asciano railway station is an Italian railway station on the Siena-Chiusi railway line in Southern Tuscany. It serves as a junction for the line to Monte Antico.

The Crete Senesi refers to an area of the Italian region of Tuscany immediately to the south of Siena. It consists of a range of hills and woods among villages and includes the comuni of Asciano, Buonconvento, Monteroni d'Arbia, Rapolano Terme and San Giovanni d'Asso, all within the province of Siena. They border to the north with the Chianti Senese area, to the east with Val di Chiana and to the south-west with Val d'Orcia. Nearby is also the semi-arid area known as the Accona Desert. Crete Senesi are literally the "clays of Siena": the distinctive grey colouration of the soil gives the landscape an appearance often described as lunar. This characteristic clay, known as mattaione, represents the sediments of the Pliocene sea which covered the area between 2.5 and 4.5 million years ago. The landscape is characterized by barren and gently undulating hills, solitary oaks and cypresses, isolated farms at the top of the heights, stretches of wood and ponds of rainwater (commonly referred as fontoni, literally "big springs") in the valleys. Badlands and biancane are typical conformations of the land. Perhaps the most notable edifice of this area is the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, located 10 km south of Asciano. The region is known for its production of white truffles, and hosts a festival and a museum dedicated to the rare fungus (genus Tuber).

The Accona Desert refers to a hilly area in the Siena province of Italy, within the municipality of Asciano [43°14'4.30"N; 11°33'37.48"E]. The term is often used to include the Biancana site of Le Fiorentine - Leonina [ 43°17'32.95”N; 11°26'54.07"E]. Despite its name, its climate is Mediterranean, with a hot, dry summer and almost 800 mm/y of rain (Csa Köppen climate classification). A real desert has never existed here. However, there have been temporarily severely eroded areas, more properly called "badlands". Two main types of badlands can be found in the area of the Crete Senesi, the Valdorcia, and the Volterra areas of Tuscany: Biancana (from Bianco, white, due to the light color of the clay and of the saline efflorescence) and calanco (local name for a type of gully or ravine). Both are linked to gully erosion processes, the former intermingled mainly with subsurface erosion and the latter with mass movements. Biancanas can also be found in Basilicata and in Calabria. The calanco landscape is common all along the Apennines and in many parts of the Alps. Both calancos and biancanas were used as grazing ground, with an almost annual burning of the vegetation to remove brush and favor herbaceous cover more palatable for sheep, goats, and cattle. Both practices were abandoned in the 1990s to favor measures to preserve biodiversity and geo forms under the EU Natura 2000 program. Conservation has almost stopped erosion in both types of badlands and vegetation now covers the majority of the area that was once bare slopes. As there is a strong interrelationship between vegetation biodiversity and erosion/deposition processes, biodiversity is also threatened and the biancana landscape is forecast to disappear entirely within 20-40 years as brush cover expands. Spots where the traditional forms can still be observed are scattered in the Crete Senesi and the Valdorcia, included within the quadrangle of vertices [43°16'10.58"N ; 11°15'59.30”E], [43°18'28.68”N; 11°39'4.92”E], [42°43'32.58”N; 11°42'22.98”E], [42°45'49.22”N; 11°58'41.90”E]. Leonina and Lucciola Bella [43° 2'4.85"N; 11°45'35.75"E] are two of the best sites for walking through the biancanas, while Chiusure - Monte Oliveto Maggiore (i.e., the ancient Accona) and Radicofani [42°55'8.14"N; 11°44'38.82"E] host the most impressive calancos.

The Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore is a large Benedictine monastery in the Italian region of Tuscany, 10 km south of Asciano. Its buildings, which are mostly of red brick, are conspicuous against the grey clayey and sandy soil—the Crete senesi which give this area of Tuscany its name. It is a territorial abbey whose abbot functions as the ordinary of the land within the abbey's possession, even though he is not consecrated as a bishop. It is the mother-house of the Olivetans and the monastery later took the name of Monte Oliveto Maggiore ("the greater") to distinguish it from successive foundations at Florence, San Gimignano, Naples and elsewhere.

Lucignano d'Arbia is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Monteroni d'Arbia, province of Siena. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 127.

San Fabiano Castle (Italian: Castello San Fabiano) is a 13th-century castle and wine producing farm estate in Monteroni d'Arbia, Siena, Italy, built by King Charles of Anjou. The church of San Fabiano on the estate dates from the year 867 and is dedicated to Pope Fabian, one of the first Christian martyrs killed in the Coliseum. It is adjacent to two rivers, the Arbia and the Biena, and surrounded by 1,800 acres (7 km2) of vineyards, oak forests, durum wheat fields, and corn fields. The estate's vineyard produces Bianco d'Arbia wine, a D.O.C. wine made with Trebbiano grapes, and a red wine made from Sangiovese grapes. In total some 1,000 bottles per year were currently produced. When Count Giuseppe and Countess Giovanna Fiorentini bought the San Fabiano farm estate, there were some 300 people farming the land, producing 180,000 liters of wine yearly, breeding Chianina cows, producing meat for the local specialty, the Fiorentina steak, pigs, pheasants, and chickens. In 1956, Fiorentini acquired better equipment and reduced the agricultural activities to a core business of crops. In 1963, the Italian government introduced drastic reforms of the agricultural regulations, requiring estate owners and landlords to hire the farmers working the land, and pay them a salary. The national reform ended the centennial rules of mezzadria, a system where landowners could have farmers (contadini) living in the farmhouses and working the land, splitting the output of their work 50/50 with the landlord instead of paying rent and receiving salaries. As a result of the reforms, the farmers were forced to leave the land, and twenty-five farmhouses around the castle were abandoned. The farmhouses remained unoccupied for some 30 years. Some of them have been restored by the Fiorentini brothers, and some have been sold. In the 1970s, a socialist Italian government eased restrictions on import of Cuban cigars, which forced the closure of the Kentucky Tuscan Cigars manufacturing plant on the castle grounds.

Chiusure is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Asciano, province of Siena. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 115.Chiusure is about 39 km from Siena and 10 km from Asciano.

The Battle of Montaperti was fought on 4 September 1260 between Florence and Siena in Tuscany as part of the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Florentines were routed. It was the bloodiest battle fought in Medieval Italy, with more than 10,000 fatalities. An act of treachery during the battle is recorded by Dante Alighieri in the Inferno section of the Divine Comedy.

Monteroni d'Arbia railway station is an Italian railway station on the Siena-Grosseto railway line in Southern Tuscany.

Quinciano is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Monteroni d'Arbia, province of Siena. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 17.Quinciano is about 20 km from Siena and 5 km from Monteroni d'Arbia.