Crete Senesi Day Trip from Siena
Drive 20 km south of Siena and the landscape shifts into something almost lunar: the Crete Senesi, a vast expanse of pale clay hills, isolated cypress avenues, abandoned abbeys and the occasional lone farmhouse that looks like it has been placed there by a set designer. This is the Tuscany of postcards, and it is startlingly real.
The Classic Route
The most rewarding loop runs from Siena south on the SR2 Via Cassia to Monteroni d'Arbia, then east through Asciano and back via the SS438 — roughly 80 km of driving with stops. The B-roads between Asciano and Monte Oliveto Maggiore are the most photogenic, particularly the unpaved strade bianche lined with cypress trees.
Stop at the hilltop village of Asciano (pop. 7,000) for its Museo Civico Archeologico e d'Arte Sacra, which holds a surprising collection of Sienese primitives including works by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, all in a completely unhurried setting.
Monte Oliveto Maggiore
The Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, founded in 1313 and rising from a forested ridge of cypress and oak, is the spiritual and artistic centrepiece of the Crete. Its great cloister contains a 36-panel fresco cycle of the Life of St Benedict painted by Luca Signorelli and Il Sodoma between 1497 and 1508 — one of the great Renaissance fresco cycles and almost completely overlooked by mainstream tourism.
Benedictine monks still live and work here; the abbey shop sells their own honey, herbal liqueurs, olive oil and beeswax candles. Gregorian chant echoes from the church at Vespers (around 18:15) — if your timing is right, stay for it.
Best Time to Visit
Late April and May bring wild flowers — poppies, cornflowers and rape — that set the pale hills ablaze with colour, and the light is soft enough for photography all day. Avoid the dead heat of July and August when the clay turns grey and cracked.
Autumn (October–November) is equally beautiful: the hills turn amber and ochre, the air is cool and clear, and the strade bianche are quiet enough to walk or cycle without traffic.
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