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[[file:Valdelsa.jpg|thumb|250px|Valdelsa between [[Certaldo]] and [[Castelfiorentino]].]]
'''Valdelsa''' or '''Val d'Elsa''' is the valley of the river [[Elsa (river)|Elsa]], in [[Tuscany]], central [[Italy]]. The valley is divided into two traditional regions: '''Alta Valdelsa''' ("Upper Valdelsa"), in the [[province of Siena]], [[Poggibonsi]] being the largest town in the area; and '''Bassa Valdelsa''', in the [[Metropolitan City of Florence]], [[Empoli]] being the largest town (although technically the latter is in the [[Valdarno]]). Other centers in the valley include [[Castelfiorentino]], [[Certaldo]], [[Colle di Val d'Elsa]] and [[San Miniato]].

The economy is now mostly based on high quality, small-quantity agricultural productions, and tourism.

==History==
The Valdelsa was a center of the [[Etruscan civilization]], as shown by a wide range of findings in the area, including several [[necropolis]]es. 

In the [[Middle Ages]], it was crossed by the [[Via Francigena]], a pilgrimage road connecting [[France]] and [[Northern Europe]] to [[Rome]], and therefore saw an economic and religious development. There were numerous churches, convents and [[pieve|pleban churches]], while its strategical role is testified by the presence of a series of towers and fortified boroughs, mostly from the 10th and 11th century, built by noble families such as the Alberti and the Cadolingi. The valley entered under the influence of the growing power of the [[Republic of Florence]] in the 13th-14th centuries. Under the [[House of Medici|Medici]], the economic role of Valdelsa lost importance, since the rulers of Florence exploited it as a merely agricultural area.

== References ==
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[[Category:Valleys of Tuscany|Elsa]]
[[Category:Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy]]
[[Category:Province of Siena]]
[[Category:Metropolitan City of Florence]]