Tuscany · Arezzo
Anghiari
A walled medieval town over the upper Tiber valley, where Florence beat Milan in 1440 and Leonardo started the fresco he never finished.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Anghiari is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Bandiera Arancione and Cittaslow.
The nearest town with a letter is Arezzo, No. 36, 38 min by car.
Subscribe and you get Anghiari's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 17 min from Perugia
- Population
- 5,411
- J8°
- F11°
- M13°
- A16°
- M21°
- J26°
- J31°
- A30°
- S24°
- O19°
- N13°
- D10°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Anghiari sits on a spur above the upper Tiber valley, the Valtiberina, between Arezzo and the Umbrian border. The walled centro storico is intact, the streets running steeply from the Porta Sant'Angelo up to the Castello. On 29 June 1440 the Florentine army defeated a Milanese force under Niccolò Piccinino in the plain below town, a battle that secured Florence's hold over central Italy and gave Leonardo da Vinci the commission for the Palazzo Vecchio fresco he started in 1505 and never finished.
The painting, the Lost Leonardo, is presumed still to be hidden behind a Vasari wall in Florence. Palazzo Taglieschi in the centro storico holds a polychrome wooden Madonna by Jacopo della Quercia and a working sixteenth-century table organ. The Mostra Mercato dell'Artigianato della Valtiberina has filled the streets with craft producers every spring since 1976, a working continuation of the textile and woodwork traditions that supported the town through the twentieth century.
How to get there
From Rimini (RMI), about 2 h 14 min by car.
Bologna (BLQ) is about 2 h 26 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 17 min, Florence 1 h 27 min or Siena 1 h 41 min.
Coming by train into Perugia? Anghiari is about 1 h 20 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Palazzo Taglieschi
Sixteenth-century palace in the centro storico, now the Museo Statale di Palazzo Taglieschi, with a wooden Madonna by Jacopo della Quercia and a working table organ.
Castello di Anghiari
Medieval fortified core at the top of the town, walls and gates still intact, the visual anchor of the silhouette from the valley below.
Campo della Battaglia
The plain at the foot of the walls where Florence defeated Milan on 29 June 1440, the battle that inspired Leonardo's lost Palazzo Vecchio fresco.
Museo della Battaglia
Civic museum in Palazzo del Marzocco dedicated to the 1440 battle and the Leonardo cartoon, with weapons, banners and contemporary documents.
Badia di San Bartolomeo
Eleventh-century Camaldolese abbey at the lower edge of the centro storico, with frescoes and a thirteenth-century crucifix attributed to the school of Cimabue.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Da AlighieroRistorante
Da Alighiero has a Michelin Bib Gourmand to its name.
Il Cappello di PagliaRistorante
A Slow Food snail, at Il Cappello di Paglia.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Anghiari meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 5,411 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Arezzo, a city of 96,479, is 38 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 5,411, down 4.7% since 2015
- Nearest city Arezzo, 38 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Sansepolcro, 9 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,050 to €1,450 per m² to buy, €3.40 to €4.60 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 99% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 1 h 8 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 1 h 27 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, the United Kingdom and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. 105 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. There are 300 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 31% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Arezzo province ranks 44th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Sansepolcro, 9 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Perugia, 53 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Siena, 65 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €10,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Tuscany spends about €2,410 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €770 a year for water, on the Tuscany average. In Arezzo, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.27, a meal in a pizzeria €12.27 and a man's haircut €24.12.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 2% in a high or medium one. 2% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
BATTAGLIA DEL 1440
Florentine victory over Milan on 29 June 1440 in the plain below town, commissioned as Leonardo's Palazzo Vecchio fresco in 1505 and never finished.
MOSTRA MERCATO
Spring craft fair filling the centro storico with Valtiberina artisans every year since 1976, the working continuation of the town's textile and woodwork traditions.
PALAZZO TAGLIESCHI
State museum holding Jacopo della Quercia's wooden Madonna, Della Robbian terracottas and a sixteenth-century table organ that still plays.
Common questions
- What is Anghiari known for?
- Anghiari is a walled medieval town at 430 meters over the upper Tiber valley, where Florence beat Milan in 1440 and Leonardo started the fresco he never finished.
- Where is Anghiari?
- Anghiari is a comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany.
- What is the nearest airport to Anghiari?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 1 h 8 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Anghiari?
- About 1 h 17 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Anghiari?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Anghiari?
- Citerna, Poppi and Fosdinovo.
- How many people live in Anghiari?
- 5,411 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Anghiari a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Anghiari is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Arezzo, is 38 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Sansepolcro, 9 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 99% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 430 m
- Population: 5,411
- Surface area: 130.92 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Anghiari appears in
- The best hill towns that live slowly within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiahill townwithin 90 minslow living6 towns · smallest 1,418 residents · closest 45 min away
- The best towns with a serious restaurant that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyserious restaurantslow living6 towns · smallest 2,898 residents
- The prettiest villages that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyprettiest villagesslow living6 towns · smallest 2,309 residents
- The best hill towns in the province of ArezzoArezzo provincehill town7 towns · smallest 3,442 residents
- The 9 best hill towns that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyhill townslow living9 towns · smallest 2,309 residents
- The best hidden towns that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyslow livinghidden9 towns · smallest 1,829 residents
Near here, with a letter
Similar
Towns like Anghiari
What all six share with Anghiari: between 3,000 and 10,000 people · hill towns
Citerna
Province: Perugia
both inland, away from the coast
Poppi
Province: Arezzo
both inland, away from the coast
- Written about. No. 8.
Fosdinovo
Province: Massa-Carrara
both inland, away from the coast
Loro Ciuffenna
Province: Arezzo
both inland, away from the coast
Chiusi
Province: Siena
both inland, away from the coast
Bagno di Romagna
Province: Forlì-Cesena
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 46 km away
Umbria: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Umbria guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: Two banks, no sea. 21 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.