The Monte Cetona is a mountain located in the southern

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

region of Italy.

Features

The mountain stands near the SE border of the

province of Siena The province of Siena (, ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena. It has 259,826 inhabitants. Geography The province is divided into seven historical areas: * Alta Val d'Elsa * Chian ...

, and closes the long, hilly ridge which divides

val d'Orcia The Val d'Orcia or Valdorcia () is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. Its gentle, cultivated hills are occasionally broken by gullies and by towns and villages such as Pienza (rebu ...

from

val di Chiana The Val di Chiana, Valdichiana, or Chiana Valley, formerly Clanis Valley, is a tectonic valley of central Italy, whose valley floor consists of important alluvial residues filled up since the 11th century, lying on the territories of the provinc ...

. It belongs to the

comuni A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

Cetona Cetona is a town and ''comune'' in the southern part province of Siena, Tuscany, in an area where Umbria and Lazio meet. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). The geographical elevation is between a ...

, San Casciano dei Bagni,

Radicofani Radicofani () is a ''comune'' in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany, located in the natural park of Val d'Orcia about southeast of Florence and about southeast of Siena. Radicofani borders the following municipalities: Abbadia ...

and

Sarteano Sarteano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southeast of Florence and about southeast of Siena. Sarteano is particularly important from the historical point of view. Located betwe ...

. On its SW slopes is located the spring of the river Orcia, while downstream of the mountain, South of the summit, stands the lago di San Casciano. Not far from the summit there are several transmission masts whose broadcasts, due to

prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

and isolation of the mountain, can reach the areas of

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

and

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

. The Monte Cetona belongs to a S.C.I. also named ''Monte Cetona'' (code IT5190012), which covers an area of 1604 ha.

Summit cross

On the mountain top stands a high

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

lic

summit cross A summit cross is a Christian cross on the summit of a mountain or hill that marks the top. Often there will be a summit register (''Gipfelbuch'') at the cross, either in a container or other weatherproof case. The practice originated in the Ge ...

, built in 1967. It was realised to replace smaller crosses settled there after the II World War. The realization of the project was promoted in 1965 by the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es of Diocese of Chiusi, after the return of the local bishop from Rome where he took part in the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. It was officially inaugurated on October the 1st of the same year by Brunetto Bucciarelli-Ducci, former president of the Italian Camera dei Deputati. The lighting system was turned on for the first time June 29, 1968 at 9 o'clock in the evening, via radio control, by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

. The cross is 10 metres wide, 15 metres high and its weight is 6.200

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

Geology

Both the slopes of Monte Cetona facing Val d'Orcia and Val di Chiana are covered by sands and clays up to about 800 metres of elevation. In the uppermost part of the mountain emerges the rocky substrate of a

Karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

ic origin. The summit is partially made of dolomite. North of it some

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s can be found. Among them are well known the ''Grotte del Belvedere'' (''Belvedere caves''), opened into the

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

and that were frequented by human beings during the

prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

Access to the summit

The summit of Monte Cetona can be reached following several

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

itineraries. Can be mentioned the one starting from Camporsevoli (a small village in the comune of

), which crosses the Valle Saccaia (''Sacciaia Valley'') and then climbs the Southern ridge up to the summit, and the one starting from Fonte Vetriana, on the W slopes of the mountain.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cetona Mountains of Tuscany One-thousanders of Italy