What is Chiusi known for?

One of the twelve cities of the Etruscan League, ruled at its sixth-century BC peak by Lars Porsenna who led the alliance against Rome around 508 BC. National Etruscan Museum since 1963, founded 1871, one of the most important repositories of Etruscan material in Italy, with painted tombs in the Poggio Renzo necropolis. Network of sixth and fifth-century BC tunnels under the town, originally drainage works, claimed by Pliny the Elder as part of the king's sepulchre.

Chiusi is a comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany region of Italy, about 54 kilometers from Perugia.

Tuscany · Siena

Chiusi

The Etruscan city of King Porsennaabove the Val di Chiana, with one of Italy's major Etruscan museums and tunnels carved beneath the streets.

54 km / 34 mi

Nearest hub (Perugia)

8,093

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Chiusi sitson a hilltop above the Val di Chiana, one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan League and at its sixth-century BC peak ruled by Lars Porsenna, the king who led the brief siege of Rome around 508 BC. The Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Chiusi, founded in 1871 and made national in 1963, holds one of the most important collections of Etruscan material in Italy, with canopic urns, alabaster sarcophagi and bucchero pottery from the surrounding necropolises. The Duomo di San Secondiano, built around 560 AD over a pre-existing basilica and renovated in the thirteenth century, runs nave and two aisles on antique marble columns taken from earlier Roman buildings. The Labirinto di Porsenna, a network of sixth and fifth-century BC tunnels under the town, was probably built as a rainwater drainage system; Pliny the Elder claimed it was part of the king's sepulchre. The painted Etruscan tombs of Poggio Renzo, including the Tomba della Scimmia discovered in 1846, sit a few kilometers from town.

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Known for

Museo Nazionale Etrusco
National museum founded 1871 holding canopic urns, alabaster sarcophagi, bucchero pottery and grave goods from the Chiusi necropolises, made national in 1963.
Duomo di San Secondiano
Cathedral built around 560 AD over an earlier basilica, renovated in the thirteenth century, nave and two aisles on antique marble columns from Roman buildings.
Labirinto di Porsenna
Network of sixth and fifth-century BC tunnels beneath the town, probably built for rainwater drainage, visited from the Museo della Cattedrale.
Tomba della Scimmia
Painted Etruscan tomb in the Poggio Renzo necropolis dated 480-470 BC, discovered by Alessandro François in 1846, with funeral games and a monkey on the walls.
Museo della Cattedrale
Diocesan museum with Romanesque sculpture, illuminated choir books from Monte Oliveto Maggiore, and access to the Labirinto di Porsenna and bell tower.
Lago di Chiusi
Small natural lake five kilometers north of town, a reed-fringed basin used since Etruscan times, with traditional fishing in flat-bottomed barchini.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the working months on the Val di Chiana edge: mild days, evening light over the lake, the wine and olive cycles below town. The Frittellata of San Giuseppe in mid-March and the Festa di San Mustiola in early June fill the centro storico with traditional kitchens. July and August push past thirty degrees and the basin below town holds the heat; the museums and the Labirinto stay cool. November through March is quiet. The lake fog rises onto the hill on still mornings and the Duomo's Roman columns in low light read older than they are.