History | Castiglion Fiorentino | Terre degli Uffizi

Castiglion Fiorentino, strategically sited on a lone hill in the Valdichiana near Arezzo, was founded by the Etruscans and flourished under the Romans. The Museo Civico Archeologico in the Palazzo Pretorio has an extensive collection of finds testifying to this era.

The town gained its present, still largely unaltered, shape during the Middle Ages, and has been awarded a "Bandiera Arancione del Touring Club" in recognition of the fact.

One enters the town through the Porta Fiorentina to reach the Church of San Francesco, a Romanesque building with several Gothic additions. The Pinacoteca Comunale, situated in the former Church of Sant'Angelo, has examples of the goldsmith's art and paintings from the surrounding area, with work by Taddeo Gaddi, Bartolomeo della Gatta and Giorgio Vasari. Vasari also built the 16th century loggia by the town hall which overlooks the whole valley, offering visitors an absolutely breathtaking panorama.

North of the town, on the border between the upper valley of the Tiber and the Casentino, we find Chiusi della Verna, renowned chiefly for its Sanctuary of St. Francis on Monte Penna – also known as the Monte Sacro – where the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta has several masterpieces by Andrea Della Robbia, including a superb Annunciation. A tour around the mountain of sites associated with St. Francis includes the Sasso Spicco where the saint prayed, and the Chapel of the Stigmata where, as Dante put it, he received "the final seal".