Tuscany · Grosseto
Manciano
A market townin the southern Maremma, with a Sienese fortress of 1424 and the thermal frazione of Saturnia in its territory.
123 km / 76 mi
Nearest hub (Terni)
7,052
Population
Apr–Oct
Best time to visit
Why come
Manciano sitson a hill in the southern Maremma grossetana, with a 360-degree view that runs from Monte Amiata north to the Tyrrhenian coast. The Aldobrandeschi held the original stronghold from the twelfth century. Siena occupied the town between 1419 and 1455 and built the Rocca that still dominates the centro storico, a square keep with battlements on a shoe-base. After 1455 it returned to local rule and passed eventually to the Medici Grand Duchy. The comune is large by Toscana standards and includes some of the best-known places of the southern Maremma: Saturnia, the Etruscan town built around its sulphurous hot springs, and Montemerano, a small walled borgo on the road to the Lago di Bolsena. The Albegna and Fiora valleys, which the town once served as a regional market, still meet at its foot. Wine, olive oil and wild boar work the territory in roughly the order they sit on a Maremmano menu.
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Gallery
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Known for
Rocca Aldobrandesca
Sienese fortress of 1424 on Aldobrandeschi foundations, square keep, walls with battlements and a solid shoe-base, dominating the centro storico.
Saturnia
Etruscan town and frazione south of Manciano, with medieval walls, remains of a Roman road and the sulphurous hot springs used since antiquity.
Montemerano
Small walled borgo east of Manciano, three concentric circles of streets and a fifteenth-century Madonna della Gattaiola in the parish church.
Chiesa di San Leonardo
Romanesque parish church inside the walls, rebuilt in the seventeenth century, with a fifteenth-century baptismal font in travertine.
Museo di Preistoria e Protostoria
Prehistory museum on the Albegna and Fiora valleys, with finds from Paleolithic through Etruscan occupation across the comune territory.
When to visit
Best months · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
April through June and September into October are the months Manciano shows the southern Maremma at its best, the territory dry but green, the Saturnia pools warm against cool mornings. The Sagra dell'Anatra runs in mid-August. July and August are hot at 444 meters but easier than the coast; afternoons in the centro storico empty between two and six. November through March is quiet, the Maremma roads almost deserted, and Saturnia in winter steam against a cold sky is the photograph everyone wants. The Cascate del Mulino run free year-round and are at their most striking under frost.
How to get there
From Terni, Manciano is roughly 123 km by road. Allow about 105–148 minutes depending on traffic and route choice (autostrada vs scenic).
Drive time to the nearest gateway airports
- Rome2h 23m
- Florence / Pisa3h 1m
- Ancona / Pescara4h 0m
Elevation 444 m
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Close by
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