Tuscany · Siena
Buonconvento
The walled brick borgo in the Crete Senesi where Emperor Henry VII died in 1313, on the Via Cassia at the confluence of the Arbia and Ombrone.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Buonconvento is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
The nearest town with a letter is Montalcino, No. 42, 24 min by car.
Subscribe and you get Buonconvento's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 44 min from Siena
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 2,964
- J11°
- F13°
- M15°
- A18°
- M24°
- J29°
- J34°
- A33°
- S27°
- O22°
- N15°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Buonconvento sits on the plain of the Via Cassia, where the Arbia meets the Ombrone, twenty-five kilometers south of Siena and the main town of the Crete Senesi. The name comes from bonus conventus, happy meeting place, recorded for the first time in 1100. In August 1313 Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg died here on campaign against Naples, a death the Ghibellines blamed on poisoning.
The Sienese walled the borgo in 1379: brick curtain walls with hanging arches, two gates called Porta Senese and Porta Romana. Porta Romana was destroyed in 1944 by the retreating Germans, the same year the Allies came up the Via Cassia. The Palazzo Pretorio, fourteenth century, has twenty-five podestà coats of arms on its façade and a tower that echoes Siena's Torre del Mangia. The Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia holds a Madonna by Duccio di Buoninsegna from the 1290s.
How to get there
From Bologna (BLQ), about 2 h 38 min by car.
Pisa (PSA) is about 2 h 38 min away.
By car from the center of Siena 44 min, Perugia 1 h 36 min or Florence 1 h 45 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Florence?
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Palazzo Pretorio
Fourteenth-century brick palace with twenty-five podestà coats of arms on its façade and a slender tower modeled on Siena's Torre del Mangia.
Mura di Buonconvento
Brick curtain walls with hanging arches built by Siena in 1379, with Porta Senese to the north (Porta Romana lost in 1944).
Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia
Sacred art collection in Palazzo Ricci Socini covering the Sienese school from the 13th to 19th centuries, including a Duccio Madonna.
Museo della Mezzadria Senese
Sharecropping museum documenting the rural Sienese economy that ended in the mid-twentieth century, with farming tools and oral histories.
Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo
Parish church reworked in the early twentieth century in neo-Gothic style, on the main street inside the walls.
Living here
Could you live here?
Buonconvento is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,964. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Monteroni d'Arbia, is 23 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Siena, a city of 52,990, is 44 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 2,964, down 9.2% since 2015
- Nearest city Siena, 44 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Siena, 22 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €950 to €1,400 per m² to buy, €3.30 to €4.80 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 92% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 1 h 46 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 1 h 45 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Kosovo and Albania, against 9% across Italy. 27 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany. There are 236 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 27% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Siena province ranks 21st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Siena, 22 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. The nearest IB school is International School of Siena, 25 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Tuscany spends about €2,410 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €770 a year for water, on the Tuscany average. In Siena, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.28, a meal in a pizzeria €17.81 and a man's haircut €25.49.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 3% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 16% in a high or medium one. 2% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
ENRICO VII
Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg died in Buonconvento on 24 August 1313 on campaign against Naples, a death long blamed on poisoning.
BRICK WALLS
Late fourteenth-century walls built by Siena in 1379, with hanging arches and a rectangular plan that still defines the centro storico.
CRETE SENESI
Main town of the clay-blue hills south of Siena, the bare lunar landscape that gives the area its name from the chiare crete.
Common questions
- What is Buonconvento known for?
- Buonconvento is the walled brick borgo in the Crete Senesi where Emperor Henry VII died in 1313, on the Via Cassia at the confluence of the Arbia and Ombrone.
- Where is Buonconvento?
- Buonconvento is a comune in the province of Siena, in Tuscany, at 147 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Buonconvento?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 1 h 46 min by car.
- Can you get to Buonconvento without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Siena to Buonconvento?
- About 44 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Buonconvento?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 34 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Buonconvento?
- Murlo, Campo Ligure and Genga.
- How many people live in Buonconvento?
- 2,964 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Buonconvento a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Buonconvento is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Monteroni d'Arbia, is 23 min away. The nearest city, Siena, is 44 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Siena, 22 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 92% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 147 m
- Population: 2,964
- Surface area: 64.84 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Buonconvento appears in
- The best small towns on a walking route in the province of SienaSiena provinceon a walking routesmall6 towns · smallest 1,044 residents
- The best small towns you can reach by train in ToscanaTuscanyby trainsmall6 towns · smallest 2,479 residents
- The best towns you can reach by train in the province of SienaSiena provinceby train7 towns · smallest 2,479 residents
- The prettiest villages you can reach by train in TuscanyTuscanyby trainprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 2,964 residents
- The 8 best hidden hill towns on a walking route in TuscanyTuscanyhill townon a walking routehidden8 towns · smallest 1,044 residents
- The 10 best small hill towns in the province of SienaSiena provincehill townsmall10 towns · smallest 1,044 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 42.
Montalcino
Province: Siena
A walled hill town at 564 meters above the Val d'Orcia, the last fortress to hold out for the Sienese Republic and the birthplace of Brunello.
24 min by car
- Written about. No. 46.
San Quirico d'Orcia
Province: Siena
A walled stop on the Via Francigena at 409 meters in the UNESCO Val d'Orcia, where a twelfth-century Collegiata, a Renaissance garden and the Bagno Vignoni thermal pool sit within fifteen kilometers of each other.
25 min by car
- Written about. No. 44.
Pienza
Province: Siena
The first Renaissance ideal city, built from 1459 on the Val d'Orcia ridge.
18 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 22 km away
Tuscan Mainland: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Tuscan Mainland guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The postcard country, and what is under it. 15 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.