Chiusi has 8000 inhabitants and it is in the province of Siena at an altitude of 385 m. asl. It is one of the most important Italian archaeological centres regarding the Etruscan civilization. Little by little, a long period of excavations contributed to the organization of a rich National Archaeological Museum and also to the discovery of the Pellegrina's and the Lion's Etruscan tombs.

Besides, Chiusi houses the most ancient church in Tuscany. It is St. Secondiano's Cathedral built in the V century A.D. and having a wonderful bell tower. Inside the church, the Museum of the Cathedral can be visited, too.
Among the other artistic beauties that enrich the city there are St. Mustiola's and St. Catherine's catacombs and King Porsenna's Labyrinth, which is a tunnel developing under the city and leading to an ancient tank.
Originally, Chiusi was the most powerful among the twelve cities that constituted the Etruscan League. Between the VII and the V century B.C., Chiusi politically dominated the League, also thanks to the memories of King Porsenna's deeds. With the arrival of the Romans, the city laid down an alliance with them that led it to obtain the status of a town and, later, to become one of Sulla's colonies.
The prestige of the city was not at all undermined by the decadence of the Etruscan-Roman civilization. In the IV century B.C., Chiusi, which was perfectly inserted in the social dynamics of the late Imperial Roman period, was an Episcopal see, already. In 540 approximately, the city underwent the invasion by Totila's Goths and, later, the invasion by the Longobards who created a duchy which lasted until 776 A.D. In that year, the Franks substituted the Longobards, who transformed the city in a county chief town. Some of the noble dynasties that made the history of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio flourished in Chiusi in this period.
After the year 1000, the political hegemony of the city started to weaken, menaced by the growing communes of Siena and Orvieto. In the XII century, the latter formalized the submission of Chiusi even if Siena opposed it vainly throughout following century. On the contrary, it was Perugia that took the city away from Orvieto in 1332, but five years later the inhabitants of Chiusi rebelled to the Umbrian chief town and crated a free commune, also taking advantage of the relentless decadence of Orvieto.
In the mid-XIV century, Siena eventually succeeded in occupying and annexing Chiusi and its territory, driving it away from the aims of the Republic of Florence and the communes of Peruse and Montepulciano.
The battles among these cities alternated until 1554 when the Sienese obtained the last important victory on Ascanio della Cornia's Medicean troops. Nevertheless, two years later, the city-state of Chiusi and the whole territory of Siena were definitively annexed by the Tuscan Grand Duchy.