What is Chiusi known for?

One of the twelve cities of the Etruscan League, ruled at its sixth-century BC peak by Lars Porsenna who led the alliance against Rome around 508 BC. National Etruscan Museum since 1963, founded 1871, one of the most important repositories of Etruscan material in Italy, with painted tombs in the Poggio Renzo necropolis. Network of sixth and fifth-century BC tunnels under the town, originally drainage works, claimed by Pliny the Elder as part of the king's sepulchre.

When is the best time to visit Chiusi?

Apr–Oct. April through June and September into October are the working months on the Val di Chiana edge: mild days, evening light over the lake, the wine and olive cycles below town. The Frittellata of San Giuseppe in mid-March and the Festa di San Mustiola in early June fill the centro storico with traditional kitchens. July and August push past thirty degrees and the basin below town holds the heat; the museums and the Labirinto stay cool. November through March is quiet. The lake fog rises onto the hill on still mornings and the Duomo's Roman columns in low light read older than they are.

Chiusi is a comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany region of Italy, about 54 kilometers from Perugia.

How do I get to Chiusi?

From Perugia, Chiusi is roughly 54 km by road.

Tuscany · Siena

Chiusi

The Etruscan city of King Porsenna above the Val di Chiana, with one of Italy's major Etruscan museums and tunnels carved beneath the streets.

Known for

ETRUSCAN CAPITAL
One of the twelve cities of the Etruscan League, ruled at its sixth-century BC peak by Lars Porsenna who led the alliance against Rome around 508 BC.
MUSEO NAZIONALE
National Etruscan Museum since 1963, founded 1871, one of the most important repositories of Etruscan material in Italy, with painted tombs in the Poggio Renzo necropolis.
LABIRINTO DI PORSENNA
Network of sixth and fifth-century BC tunnels under the town, originally drainage works, claimed by Pliny the Elder as part of the king's sepulchre.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Santa Mustiola, 3 July

Why come

The hilltop stands above the Val di Chiana, the valley floor visible from the town at a height that made it defensible and gave it command of the surrounding farmland. The cathedral, the museums and the tunnel network are close enough to walk between within the old center, while the painted necropolis and the lake lie outside it, a few kilometers apart in different directions, one inland toward the tombs and the other north toward open water. The tunnels themselves connect the upper town to what lies beneath it: built as drainage, later folded into legend by Pliny the Elder, who took them for part of a king's tomb. The cathedral's own columns, lifted from earlier Roman buildings, make the same point in stone that the tombs make in paint and the museum makes in bucchero and alabaster: this is a town built repeatedly on top of itself, each layer reusing what the last one left behind.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Chiusi’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

What to see

Museo Nazionale Etrusco
Holds canopic urns, alabaster sarcophagi, bucchero pottery and grave goods pulled from the necropolises around the town.
Duomo di San Secondiano
Cathedral built around 560 AD over an earlier basilica, renovated in the thirteenth century, nave and two aisles on antique marble columns from Roman buildings.
Labirinto di Porsenna
Visited from the Museo della Cattedrale, the tunnels run beneath the streets at a scale that still reads as engineering rather than legend, whatever Pliny made of them.
Tomba della Scimmia
Painted Etruscan tomb in the Poggio Renzo necropolis dated 480-470 BC, found by Alessandro François in 1846, with funeral games and a monkey on the walls.
Museo della Cattedrale
Diocesan museum with Romanesque sculpture and illuminated choir books from Monte Oliveto Maggiore, with access to the tunnel network and bell tower.
Lago di Chiusi
Small natural lake five kilometers north of town, a reed-fringed basin used since Etruscan times, with traditional fishing in flat-bottomed barchini.

The slow-trip planner

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Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Tria Turris Medioevo e Palio delle Torri di Chiusihistorical re-enactment
usually held in June. Borghi Toscana - Eventi
Grape and Wine Festivalfood festival
usually held in September. sagritaly.com

Living here

Population 8,093
In-betweeni
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Bologna, 2 h 22 min drive
Regional capital Firenze, 1 h 23 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 398 m
Population: 8,093
Surface area: 58.15 km²

On the map

Google Maps Apple Maps Directions from Perugia

These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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