What is Santa Fiora known for?

One of the world's largest collections of Andrea della Robbia glazed terracotta, commissioned by the Sforza counts between 1480 and 1495. Sixteenth-century walled pool at the source of the Fiora river, built by the Sforza counts as a private fish reserve under a hilltop chapel. Extinct volcano of southern Tuscany, beech and chestnut forests on the slopes above Santa Fiora, source of the Fiora and Albegna rivers.

Where is Santa Fiora?

Santa Fiora is a comune in the province of Grosseto, Tuscany region of Italy, about 101 kilometers from Perugia.

Tuscany · Grosseto

Santa Fiora

An Aldobrandeschi and Sforza mountain borgo on Monte Amiata at 687 meters, holding one of the world's largest collections of Della Robbia terracotta.

687m

Elevation

101 km / 63 mi

Nearest hub (Perugia)

2,490

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Santa Fiora sits on the wooded southern slope of Monte Amiata at 687 meters, forty kilometers east of Grosseto. The Aldobrandeschi held the hill from the eleventh century, walling the borgo and starting the Castello Aldobrandesco in 1082; through the late Middle Ages and Renaissance it passed to the Sforza branch that produced the Sforza-Cesarini, Counts of Santa Fiora. Inside the Pieve delle Sante Flora e Lucilla, founded before the year 1000 and rebuilt in the thirteenth century, the family commissioned a series of glazed terracotta works from the Andrea della Robbia workshop between 1480 and 1495, including the Baptism of Christ, the Coronation of the Virgin and the pulpit Last Supper. The Peschiera, the walled pool the Sforza created in the sixteenth century from the spring of the Fiora river, holds carp and trout in clear water under a small chapel with another della Robbia inside. The Fiora river leaves Santa Fiora and runs all the way down to the Tyrrhenian.

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Gallery

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Known for

Pieve delle Sante Flora e Lucilla
Twelfth-century parish church with one of the world's largest collections of glazed terracotta by Andrea della Robbia, commissioned 1480-1495.
Peschiera Sforzesca
Walled pool built by the Sforza in the sixteenth century at the source of the Fiora river, with the small Chapel of the Madonna delle Nevi alongside.
Castello Aldobrandesco
Aldobrandeschi castle started in 1082, the original walled core of the borgo, later residence of the Sforza-Cesarini counts.
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità
Sixteenth-century church on the lower edge of the borgo, with simple stone façade and an interior holding a further della Robbia relief.
Fiume Fiora
River that takes its name from the borgo and rises at the Peschiera, running 78 kilometers down through Maremma to the Tyrrhenian at Montalto di Castro.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the season at 687 meters: the woods on Monte Amiata in full leaf, the Peschiera water cold and clear, evenings cool. June and July are the busiest months with weekenders from Grosseto and Rome. August touches the high twenties on the lower slopes but never the inland Maremma heat. September and October bring chestnut harvest in the Amiata woods, the same chestnuts that feed the autumn sagre. November through April is quiet, often snowed above 1,000 meters from December, with most agriturismi closed and limited bus service into the borgo.