250px, Valdelsa between Certaldo_and_ Certaldo_and_Castelfiorentino.">Castelfiorentino.html"_;"title="Certaldo_and_Castelfiorentino">Certaldo_and_Castelfiorentino. Valdelsa_or_Val_d'Elsa_is_the_valley_of_the_river_Elsa_(river).html" ;"title="Castelfiorentino..html" ;"title="Castelfiorentino.html" ;"title="Certaldo and Castelfiorentino">Certaldo and Castelfiorentino.">Castelfiorentino.html" ;"title="Certaldo and Castelfiorentino">Certaldo and Castelfiorentino. Valdelsa or Val d'Elsa is the valley of the river Elsa (river)">Elsa, in Tuscany, central Italy. The valley is divided into two traditional regions: Alta Valdelsa ("Upper Valdelsa"), in the province of Siena, Poggibonsi being the largest town in the area; and Bassa Valdelsa, in the

Metropolitan City of Florence The Metropolitan City of Florence ( it, Città Metropolitana di Firenze) is an administrative division called Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Tuscany region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Florence. It replaced the Provin ...

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

being the largest town (although technically the latter is in the

Valdarno The Valdarno is the valley of the river Arno, although this name does not apply to the entire river basin. Usage of the term generally excludes Casentino and the valleys formed by major tributaries. Some towns in the area: * Rignano sull'Arno * ...

). Other centers in the valley include Castelfiorentino,

Certaldo Certaldo is a town and ''comune'' of Tuscany, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Florence, in the middle of Valdelsa. It is about southwest of the Florence Duomo. It is 50 minutes by rail and 35 minutes by car southwest of Florence, and it is 40 m ...

Colle di Val d'Elsa Colle di Val d'Elsa or Colle Val d'Elsa is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. It has a population of c. 21,600 . Its name means "Hill of Elsa Valley", where Elsa is the name of the river which crosses it and ...

and

San Miniato San Miniato is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy. San Miniato sits at an historically strategic location atop three small hills where it dominates the lower Arno valley, between the valleys of Ego ...

. The economy is now mostly based on high quality, small-quantity agricultural productions, and tourism.

History

The Valdelsa was a center of the

Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roughl ...

, as shown by a wide range of findings in the area, including several

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

es. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, it was crossed by the

Via Francigena The Via Francigena () is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It w ...

, a pilgrimage road connecting

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and therefore saw an economic and religious development. There were numerous churches, convents and pleban churches, while its strategical role is testified by the presence of a series of towers and fortified boroughs, mostly from the 10th and 11th century, built by noble families such as the Alberti and the Cadolingi. The valley entered under the influence of the growing power of the

Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flo ...

in the 13th-14th centuries. Under the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

, the economic role of Valdelsa lost importance, since the rulers of Florence exploited it as a merely agricultural area. {{coord missing, Italy Elsa Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy Province of Siena Metropolitan City of Florence