Province of Siena

The province of Siena (provincia di Siena, ) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena.

Geography
The province is divided into seven historical areas:
 * Alta Val d'Elsa
 * Chianti senese
 * The urban area of (Monteriggioni and Siena)
 * Val di Merse
 * Crete Senesi Val d'Arbia
 * Val di Chiana senese
 * Val d'Orcia and Monte Amiata

The area is a hilly one: in the north is Colline del Chianti; Monte Amiata is the highest point at 1738 m; and in the south is Monte Cetona. To the west are the Colline Metallifere (lit. 'Metalliferous Hills'), whilst the Valdichiana lies to east.

Historically, the province corresponds to the northeastern portion of the former Republic of Siena.

The chief occupations are agricultural (wheat, grapes and fruit) and silk culture. The wine known as Chianti is produced here as well as in other parts of Tuscany: the Chianti Colli Senesi, however, is limited to this province.

Apart from the city of Siena the principal towns are Poggibonsi, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Montepulciano, Chiusi, and San Gimignano.

Comuni
There are 35 comuni (: comune) in the province.

Here is a list of comuni (municipalities) by population, as of 2015:

This is the complete list of comuni in the province of Siena:


 * Abbadia San Salvatore
 * Asciano
 * Buonconvento
 * Casole d'Elsa
 * Castellina in Chianti
 * Castelnuovo Berardenga
 * Castiglione d'Orcia
 * Cetona
 * Chianciano Terme
 * Chiusdino
 * Chiusi
 * Colle di Val d'Elsa
 * Gaiole in Chianti
 * Montalcino
 * Montepulciano
 * Monteriggioni
 * Monteroni d'Arbia
 * Monticiano
 * Murlo
 * Piancastagnaio
 * Pienza
 * Poggibonsi
 * Radda in Chianti
 * Radicofani
 * Radicondoli
 * Rapolano Terme
 * San Casciano dei Bagni
 * San Gimignano
 * San Quirico d'Orcia
 * Sarteano
 * Siena
 * Sinalunga
 * Sovicille
 * Torrita di Siena
 * Trequanda

Government
The Province of Siena is an administrative body of intermediate level between a municipality (comune) and Lombardy region.

The three main functions devolved to the province of Siena are:
 * local planning and zoning;
 * provision of local police and fire services;
 * transportation regulation (car registration, maintenance of local roads, etc.).

As an administrative institution, the province of Siena has its own elected bodies. From 1945 to 1995 the President of the province of Siena was chosen by the members of the Provincial Council, elected every five years by citizens. From 1995 to 2014, under provisions of the 1993 local administration reform, the President of the Province was chosen by popular election, originally every four, then every five years.

On 3 April 2014, the Italian Chamber of Deputies gave its final approval to the Law n.56/2014 which involves the transformation of the Italian provinces into "institutional bodies of second level". According to the 2014 reform, each province is headed by a President (or Commissioner) assisted by a legislative body, the Provincial Council, and an executive body, the Provincial Executive. President (Commissioner) and members of Council are elected together by mayors and city councilors of each municipality of the province respectively every four and two years. The Executive is chaired by the President (Commissioner) who appoint others members, called assessori. Since 2015, the President (Commissioner) and other members of the Council do not receive a salary.

In each province, there is also a Prefect (prefetto), a representative of the central government who heads an agency called prefettura-ufficio territoriale del governo. The Questor (questore) is the head of State's Police (Polizia di Stato) in the province and his office is called questura. There is also a province's police force depending from local government, called provincial police (polizia provinciale).