Montalcino

Montalcino stands on a commanding hill in southern Tuscany, where a fortified town overlooked farmland, vineyards, and routes through the Sienese countryside. Rural households supplied grain, wine, livestock products, and other resources, while craftsmen and merchants supported urban life. Walls and a fortress reflected the strategic importance of a settlement whose economy still depended on the productive land around it. Markets joined the needs of town residents with the labor of surrounding villages.

In the Middle Ages the town was known for tanning and leatherwork. After Siena surrendered in 1555, Sienese exiles maintained a republican government at fortified Montalcino. Their resistance ended in 1559, when the remaining territory passed to the Florentine state. Accounts differ on the exact date of the town's surrender.