La Befa

Frazione in Tuscany, Italy

43°7′3″N 11°24′2″E / 43.11750°N 11.40056°E / 43.11750; 11.40056CountryItalyRegion

TuscanyProvinceSiena (SI)ComuneMurloElevation

151 m (495 ft)Population

(2011)

• Total34Time zoneUTC+1 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

La Befa is a hamlet in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Murlo, province of Siena. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 26.^[1]

History

The area of La Befa has been inhabited since ancient times, with archaeological finds including two Etruscan chamber tombs from the 6th century BC. Notably, a large Roman villa with thermal facilities, active in the 1st-2nd and 4th-5th centuries, was excavated from 1976 to 1977.^[2]^[3]^[4]

La Befa village dates to the early medieval period, documented in a 1084 record as belonging to the nuns of Sant'Ambrogio in Montecellese. Later, it became part of the lands under the Vallombrosan order of Badia Ardenga. Upon the monastery's suppression by Pope Pius II in 1462, it passed into ownership of the archiepiscopal table of Siena.^[5]

References

^ (in Italian) Popolazione residente - Siena (dettaglio loc. abitate) - Censimento 2001, Istat.
^ John J. Dobbins (1983). The Excavation of the Roman Villa at La Befa, Italy. Oxford: B.A.R. Publishing. ISBN 978-0-86054-206-3. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
^ Mario Torelli (1992). Atlante dei siti archeologici della Toscana. Vol. 2. Firenze: «L'Erma» di Bretschneider. pp. 309–310. ISBN 978-88-7062-785-5. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
^ Marco Valenti (1995). Carta archeologica della provincia di Siena. Murlo. Siena: Nuova Immagine. ISBN 978-88-7145-183-1. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
^ Emanuele Repetti, «Befa», in Dizionario geografico fisico storico della Toscana, voll. 1, 6S, Firenze, pp. 291, 25.