Crete Senesi
The Crete Senesi (literally: the clay minerals of Siena ) are a central Italian landscape marked by erosion and located in an area of Tuscany south of Siena.
geography
The landscape of the Crete Senesi includes the areas of the four municipalities Asciano , Buonconvento , Monteroni d'Arbia and Rapolano Terme as well as San Giovanni d'Asso (district of Montalcino ), which are all in the province of Siena . Adjacent landscapes are the Chianti in the north, the Val di Chiana in the east and the Val d'Orcia in the south. The Accona Desert (Deserto di Accona in Italian), in which the Olivetan mother monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore has settled, lies within the Crete near the municipality of Asciano . The Accona Desert is one of the badlands and has very little rain with only 600 mm of precipitation per year.
As in all badlands, the weathering of the clay , which is called mattaione here, creates furrows on the southern slopes, the so-called calanchi . Typical of the Crete Senesi are the Biancane , white hills only a few meters high with narrow furrows and without any vegetation. The number of Biancane has decreased drastically, especially since the 1980s, due to the use of agricultural machinery.
photos
Agriculture through intensive irrigation 
Panorama over fields and reservoirs 
Monte Oliveto Maggiore monastery
literature
- Touring Club Italiano : Toscana. Milan 2003, ISBN 88-365-2767-1 , p. 622 f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ cretesenesi.com on the geography of the Crete Senesi, accessed on March 15, 2015 (Italian)
- ↑ The Crete Senesi and the Accona Desert , accessed on March 15, 2015 (English)
Coordinates: 43 ° 12 ′ 0 ″ N , 11 ° 34 ′ 0 ″ E