Chiusi

Chiusi stands above the Val di Chiana in southern Tuscany. Ancient Clusium was one of the powerful cities of the Etruscan League before coming under Roman influence. In the Middle Ages it was ruled by its bishop and contested by Orvieto and Siena. Siena acquired the town in the thirteenth century, and Chiusi entered the Tuscan state in 1556. Malaria afflicted the surrounding lowlands until drainage works in the eighteenth century helped the district recover.