What is Pomarance known for?

Larderello produces around a quarter of Tuscany's electricity, the first commercial geothermal field in the world since 1904. Niccolò Circignani and Cristoforo Roncalli, the late-Mannerist painters known by the town's name, both born here in the sixteenth century. Pentagonal Pisan-Florentine fortress on the next ridge, the medieval anchor of the valley before industrial steam arrived.

Pomarance is a comune in the province of Pisa, Tuscany region of Italy, about 96 kilometers from Livorno.

Tuscany · Pisa

Pomarance

The capital of the Tuscan geothermal field, where industrial steam plumes rise from the same hills that produced two Renaissance painters.

96 km / 60 mi

Nearest hub (Livorno)

5,299

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Bandiera Arancione

Why come

Pomarance sitsabove the upper Cecina valley, the administrative center of the Tuscan geothermal field. The frazione of Larderello, four kilometers down the road, is where Francesco Larderel began industrial harvesting of natural steam in 1818, building the first geothermal power station in the world here in 1904. The Museo della Geotermia documents the technology that now produces around a quarter of Tuscany's electricity. Two of the late-Mannerist painters known as the Pomarancio, Niccolò Circignani and his student Cristoforo Roncalli, were born in the town and worked in Rome under Pope Clement VIII. The centro storico keeps a row of seventeenth-century palazzi along Corso Matteotti, including Palazzo Bicocchi, now a museum of bourgeois Tuscan interiors. The Rocca Sillana, the pentagonal Pisan-Florentine fortress, rises on the next ridge over, surveying the entire steam-and-stone landscape.

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Gallery

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Known for

Museo della Geotermia
Industrial-history museum in Larderello on the world's first geothermal power station, opened on the site in 1904.
Palazzo Bicocchi
Seventeenth-century townhouse on Corso Matteotti, preserved as a museum of bourgeois Tuscan interiors from the nineteenth century.
Rocca Sillana
Pentagonal Pisan-Florentine fortress on the next ridge, surveying the geothermal valley below.
Larderello geothermal field
Industrial steam plumes and cooling towers across the frazione of Larderello, the first commercial geothermal site in the world.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
Medieval parish church in the centro storico, with later additions including frescoes attributed to the Pomarancio school.
Centro storico
Corso Matteotti runs the length of the old town, lined with seventeenth-century palazzi between two parish churches.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June is dry and green, with the hills still cool and the geothermal plumes visible against the morning air. September and October are the second window, with the smaller sagre across the comune. July and August are hot in the valley; the centro storico empties in the afternoon and the temperature drops sharply once the sun goes off the ridge. November through March is quiet. The plumes from Larderello show more in cold air, the Rocca Sillana stays open by booking, and the trattorie on Corso Matteotti run the long winter stews built around chestnuts and wild boar.