Santa Fiora

Located on the southern slope of Monte Amiata, the hamlet is extended on a hill and is divided into three “terzieri” (neighborhoods) Castello, Borgo and Montecatino, decreasing in succession from the chestnut groves to the springs of the river Fiora. The Castello, the oldest terziere, has a medieval square dominated by the ruins of the fortifications from the sixteenth-century palace of the Sforza Cesarini counts, which is now site of the municipality. Among the frescoes of Cavalier d’Arpino’s school and the Museum of Monte Amiata mercury mines, you can clearly understand the peculiarities of the place where, in Piazza San Michele, you can find the sculpture of the saint that steps on the devil. After visiting the parish church of Saints Flora and Lucilla, which houses one of the largest collections in the world of the “robbiane”, glazed terracottas by Luca and Andrea Della Robbia, you will enter through the medieval Porticciola in the second terziere Borgo, and then in the Ghetto area where the synagogue once rose. From Porta San Michele you will finally arrive in the terziere of Montecatino, where the abundance of water in the past had favored the emerging of some factories. Here what captures the attention is an unexpected body of water: the splendid sixteenth-century Peschiera that, according to Cesare Brandi, looks unforgettable and that, alone, is worth the trip. Next to Peschiera you will notice a vast park or garden of the Sforza era and the seventeenth-century church of Madonna delle Neve which rises above the springs of river Fiora, that you can easily see under the glass floor.

Between the municipalities of the province of Grosseto, Santa Fiora is the one that maintained its customs and traditions the most among the others, and it also boasts a substantial amount of festivals during the year. Just to name a few: the Canti di Questua della Befana, an ancient recurring event related to the dicioccatori‘s return from the Maremma immediately after the picking of chestnuts; the Carnevale Morto, which is the only local representation that deals with the theme of death and macabre as self-liberation that has survived to this day in Maremma; the Spring festival and the celebration of the Saints Flora and Lucilla.