Abbadia San Salvatore: An Abbey, a Mine, and Christmas Fires
The abbey town of Monte Amiata: a crypt of more than thirty carved columns, the story of an English Bible, a mercury mine you can ride into, and bonfires on Christmas Eve.
Campiglia d’Orcia: A Ring-Shaped Village on a Limestone Rock
A village on a limestone outcrop above the Val d’Orcia, with a street plan older than the year 1000, a turbulent family of viscounts, and a chestnut festival run by its three districts.
Vivo d’Orcia: Hermits, a 22-Day Pope, and Siena’s Water
A small mountain village on Monte Amiata where medieval hermits prayed by the springs, a cardinal who reigned as pope for 22 days built his villa, and Siena found its water.
Piancastagnaio: A Palio, a Rocca, and a Town Named for Chestnuts
A Siena-side town on Monte Amiata, where four contrade race bareback every 18 August and the Crastatone celebrates the chestnut around 1 November.
Santa Fiora: The Sforza Town Built Around a River’s Source
A former Sforza county seat on Monte Amiata’s Grosseto side, where the Fiora river rises and Andrea della Robbia’s glazed terracottas fill the parish church.
Arcidosso: A Castle Town and Its Two Prophets
A castle town on Monte Amiata’s Grosseto side, bound up with two religious visionaries a century apart: David Lazzaretti on Monte Labbro and the Tibetan master Namkhai Norbu.
Seggiano: Olive Country Under Monte Amiata
The lowest of our Amiata villages: olive country, with a Renaissance famine-vow sanctuary and an artist’s sculpture garden of about 16 hectares.
Castell’Azzara and Selvena: Dice, Cinnabar, and Karst Woods
The highest comune seat in the province of Grosseto, named for a medieval dice game, with the cinnabar-mining village of Selvena and the karst woods of Monte Penna next door.
Castel del Piano: Palio Town on Amiata’s Western Slope
A working town on the Grosseto side of Monte Amiata with a bareback Palio every 8 September, the road up to the Macinaie, and a place in the Montecucco wine zone.
Roccalbegna: Lorenzetti Panels Beneath Two Fortresses
A small fortified village in the upper Albegna valley, with three panels by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in its parish church and a fire rite every 24 November in the hamlet of Santa Caterina.