The land upon which the I Sorana bean is cultivated is rich in sand and ; gravel and covers several hectares along the Pescia river. The soil is known as "Ghiareto". It is a natural flood soil situated on the left hand bank of the river with some strips of ground where supports can be planted for it to climb up. The best area stretches from Ponte di Sorana to Ponte di Castelvecchio, but the bean is also cultivated along the other branch of the river up to the Stiappa windmill. Again in the Pescia area, in some cases it is also cultivated on the hill- tops or in "vineyards" as people use say in this corner of Tuscany. But the most exclusive cry. to use the French expression, is the area called Ortochiaro. Sowing takes place during the last moon of May and on the days of the week which do not contain the letter "r" (in Italian, Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Saturday), otherwise the beans are supposed to go black. They are harvested between August and September and the process is carried out completely by hand. The next phase is drying the beans, and they are left in the sun for three or four days. To complete the work, they are carefully selected and put into traditional packages with grains of pepper or valerian roots and sometimes laurel leaves to ward off weevil. You can find them both in bags and wax sealed bottles on a level with the most precious treasure. Today around 60 quintals a year are produced and there are roughly fifteen producers.