The origins of the village get lost in the legend even linked to the foundation of Rome. It seems that, at that time, Remo’ s sons, Senio and Aschio, escaped from the city just founded in Latium from their uncle Romolo, to avoid his persecutions, now that he had become the first king of Rome after murdering his brother. Senio camped on the banks of the Tressa river, while Aschio settled on the left bank of the Ombrone. From the consolidation if the two new villages, after long fights with the Etruscans, it would have been born Siena, founded by Senio, and “Ascani”, the city of Aschio. The first real news about Asciano, anyway, date back to the Medieval Age, at the beginning of the VIII century. At that time, there was a dispute among the bishops of Siena and Arezzo for the possession of some parishes, among which there is also that of Asciano. Later, in the IX century, the castle of “Assianum” becomes a property of the Counts Cacciaconti. At the end of the XII century, the fortress was acquired by the commune of Siena and becomes the seat of a vicarship. The new-born administrative centre is however stormed and devastated by the Florentines, who understand its economic value in 1234. During the battle of Montaperti in 1260, the village wins the appellative of “village of kindness” . Because of the great supply of inhabitants to the victorious sienese troops. The city passed under Tolomei’s control and only in the middle of the XIV century it belongs again to the properties of Siena. Of particular importance for the territory is the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, founded in 1313 from Bernardo Tolomei, which is immediately depicted not only as an important place of worship, but also as one of the most active economic and cultural places of the Tuscan Renaissance. Following the fate of the town, in 1554 Asciano was added to the properties of Medici, after a period of bloody and fights and the conquest of Tuscany, made by the Spanish and papal troops. Afterwards, Siena becomes a property of the Tuscan Grand Duchy of Lorena and Asciano, like other communes, lives the periods of the Napoleonic invasion, the Restoration and the Italian Risorgimento. Despite the development of numerous urbanistic plans, during the Fascism and in the post-war period, its historical centre has kept its originally Medieval structure. Inside the city of Asciano, you can admire the churches of San Francesco, Sant’ Agostino, and San Polito, Palazzo Tolomei and “Piazza del Grano”, besides two of the most interesting museums of the Sienese Museum Foundation; Casa Curboli, Archaeological Museum of sacred art of Amos Cassioli, a museum of the nineteenth-century sienese painting.

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