 On the softly rolling hills of the countryside between the valleys of the Arbia, the Elsa and the Merse lies Siena. This city with its medieval imprint can be seen in all its sober austere beauty as it unravels through alleys, small streets, closed-in suburbs, airy squares. It is truly one of the finest examples of a medieval city. Various sporadic finds testify that the area now occupied by the city was already inhabited in the bronze age. An Etrus-can settlement also seems to have been established on the site of the current town.
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Already famous in Etruscan times, Cortona became an ally of Rome in the 4th century B.C. In the 13th century it became a free commune but at the end of the century it was occupied by Arezzo. After alternating political vicissitudes the city became a signoria of the Casali fa-mily. In 1411 it entered the Florentine sphere of in-fluence and then followed the destiny of the Gran Duchy of Tuscany.
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