Old Towns
Chiusi
CHIUSI
Chiusi is considered by Latin sources one of the most ancient Etruscan cities. The historian Servio says that it was founded by the hero Cluso, son of the Lydian prince Tirreno, who, according to Erodoto, guided the migration which originated the Etruscan nation, or by Telemachus, Ulisse’s son. Chiusi became one of the main cities of the Etruscan “dodecapoli” in the VI century B.C., thanks to the first contacts with Rome. At the end of the VI century B.C. there was the deed of the lucumon of Chiusi, Porsenna, who besieged Rome and probably conquered it. The richness of Chiusi was linked most of all to the fertility of the alluvial soil and to its strategic position along a very important artery of commerce : going up the Tiber, through the Chiana, which was navigable at that time and flew into the Tiber, you entered the Val d’Arno. Through the valleys of Astrone, Orcia and Ombrone, Chiusi was linked to the centres of the coast, in particular with Roselle, which is according to some scholars, its access to the sea. In the III century B.C. the city was progressively absorbed into the Roman hegemony. During the II century it was deeply involved in the social question, which mixed up the whole central –northern Etruria; having a considerable rule in the freeing of slaves. After the occupation of the Goths in 540 A.D, Chiusi became the siege of a Lombard duchy, documented until 776. Starting from the XI century, the power of the city remained firmly in the hands of its bishop, but already in the following century, it had to submit to the influences of Orvieto and Siena. In that period there was the consolidation of the Commune of Chiusi and it became part of the State of Siena, of which, excepted sporadic parenthesis, it followed the fate.Chiusi is considered by Latin sources one of the most ancient Etruscan cities. The historian Servio says that it was founded by the hero Cluso, son of the Lydian prince Tirreno, who, according to Erodoto, guided the migration which originated the Etruscan nation, or by Telemachus, Ulisse’s son. Chiusi became one of the main cities of the Etruscan “dodecapoli” in the VI century B.C., thanks to the first contacts with Rome. At the end of the VI century B.C. there was the deed of the lucumon of Chiusi, Porsenna, who besieged Rome and probably conquered it. The richness of Chiusi was linked most of all to the fertility of the alluvial soil and to its strategic position along a very important artery of commerce : going up the Tiber, through the Chiana, which was navigable at that time and flew into the Tiber, you entered the Val d’Arno. Through the valleys of Astrone, Orcia and Ombrone, Chiusi was linked to the centres of the coast, in particular with Roselle, which is according to some scholars, its access to the sea. In the III century B.C. the city was progressively absorbed into the Roman hegemony. During the II century it was deeply involved in the social question, which mixed up the whole central –northern Etruria; having a considerable rule in the freeing of slaves. After the occupation of the Goths in 540 A.D, Chiusi became the siege of a Lombard duchy, documented until 776. Starting from the XI century, the power of the city remained firmly in the hands of its bishop, but already in the following century, it had to submit to the influences of Orvieto and Siena. In that period there was the consolidation of the Commune of Chiusi and it became part of the State of Siena, of which, excepted sporadic parenthesis, it followed the fate.