Next to Siena, to the east is the Chianti Valley and a little further on the Valley of Chiana (Arezzo, Cortona). To the north Florence, Pisa and Lucca. To the south, but very close to the extraordinary Orcia Valley, Grosseto, the Maremma and the coast with Elba.

Bern or Berne is the de facto capital of Switzerland, referred to by the Swiss as their (e.g. in German) Bundesstadt, or "federal city".[3][note 1] With a population of 142,656 (March 2018), Bern is the fourth-most populous city[citation needed] in Switzerland.[4] The Bern agglomeration, which includes 36 municipalities, had a population of 406,900 in 2014