Tuscany · Arezzo
Loro Ciuffenna
A Valdarno village straddling the Ciuffenna torrent, with the oldest working water mill in Tuscany and a Lombard pulpit two kilometers up the road.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Loro Ciuffenna is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
The nearest town with a letter is Arezzo, No. 36, 34 min by car.
Subscribe and you get Loro Ciuffenna's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 46 min from Florence
- Population
- 5,914
- J9°
- F12°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J32°
- A31°
- S25°
- O20°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Loro Ciuffenna sits on the western slopes of the Pratomagno, between the Arno valley and the Casentino. The torrent it is named for cuts through the centro storico under a hump-backed stone bridge of Roman origin, remodeled in the Middle Ages. A water mill on the bank is still in operation, the oldest active mill in Tuscany, dating to the 12th century and used until recently to grind chestnuts into flour.
The inhabitants of the castle of Loro were the first to submit to the Florentine Republic in 1306, and the village formed its own statutes as an autonomous comune in 1462. Two kilometers up the Setteponti road stands the Pieve di San Pietro a Gropina, one of the great Romanesque parish churches of Tuscany, built around the year 1000 over two earlier churches; its circular pulpit, supported by two knotted Lombard columns, is 8th century.
How to get there
From Bologna (BLQ), about 1 h 45 min by car.
Pisa (PSA) is about 1 h 59 min away.
By car from the center of Florence 46 min, Siena 1 h 7 min or Perugia 1 h 31 min.
Coming by train into Firenze Santa Maria Novella? Loro Ciuffenna is about 52 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Bologna airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Pieve di San Pietro a Gropina
Romanesque parish church 2 km south of the village, built around 1000 over a 5th-century church and an 8th-century Lombard one with a knotted-column pulpit.
Ponte sul Ciuffenna
Hump-backed stone bridge of Roman origin crossing the torrent in the centro storico, heavily remodeled in the medieval period.
Mulino di Loro Ciuffenna
12th-century water mill on the Ciuffenna, the oldest active mill in Tuscany, traditionally used to grind chestnut flour.
Pratomagno
Mountain ridge above the village, with the iron cross on its summit at 1,592 meters and pastures used since the Middle Ages for transhumance.
Museo Venturino Venturi
Museum dedicated to the Valdarno sculptor born nearby, with a collection of drawings, sculptures and paintings donated to the comune.
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.
Casa e CiliegieAgriturismo
Casa e Ciliegie has a Slow Food snail and a Gambero Rosso listing.
Osteria del BorroRistorante
Osteria del Borro carries two Gambero Rosso forks (83/100), plus a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Il Cipresso - Da CioniRistorante
Il Cipresso - Da Cioni holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.
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?
Loro Ciuffenna meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 5,914 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Arezzo, a city of 96,479, is 40 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 5,914, up 1.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Arezzo, 40 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Montevarchi, 12 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,200 to €1,550 per m² to buy, €3.80 to €5.10 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
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 87% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Florence airport (FLR), 58 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 46 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, India and Albania, against 9% across Italy. 47 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. There are 256 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 39% 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 Montevarchi, 12 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Florence, 38 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Florence, 38 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Florence, 35 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. 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. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 7% 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
PIEVE DI GROPINA
Romanesque parish church 2 km up the Setteponti, built around the year 1000 with an 8th-century Lombard pulpit preserved in the right aisle.
THE MILL
Twelfth-century water mill on the Ciuffenna, still in working order, traditionally used to grind chestnut flour from the Pratomagno slopes.
PRATOMAGNO
The mountain ridge above the village, 1,592 meters at the iron cross, separating the Valdarno from the Casentino since pre-Roman times.
Common questions
- What is Loro Ciuffenna known for?
- Loro Ciuffenna is a Valdarno village at 330 meters straddling the Ciuffenna torrent, with the oldest working water mill in Tuscany and a Lombard pulpit two kilometers up the road.
- Where is Loro Ciuffenna?
- Loro Ciuffenna is a comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany.
- What is the nearest airport to Loro Ciuffenna?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Florence (FLR), about 58 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Florence to Loro Ciuffenna?
- About 46 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Loro Ciuffenna?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Loro Ciuffenna?
- Poppi, Chiusi and Lucignano.
- How many people live in Loro Ciuffenna?
- 5,914 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Loro Ciuffenna a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Loro Ciuffenna is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Arezzo, is 40 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Montevarchi, 12 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 87% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 330 m
- Population: 5,914
- Surface area: 86.52 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 Loro Ciuffenna appears in
- The best hill towns in the province of ArezzoArezzo provincehill town7 towns · smallest 3,442 residents
- The best hidden hill towns within 90 minutes of FlorenceNear Florencehill townwithin 90 minhidden9 towns · smallest 2,605 residents · closest 24 min away
- The 10 best towns with a serious restaurant that eat well within 90 minutes of FlorenceNear Florencewithin 90 minserious restauranteats well10 towns · smallest 2,605 residents · closest 24 min away
- The best hill towns within an hour of FlorenceNear Florencehill townwithin 60 min10 towns · smallest 4,402 residents · closest 24 min away
- The best towns that eat well within an hour of FlorenceNear Florencewithin 60 mineats well10 towns · smallest 5,914 residents · closest 24 min away
- The prettiest hidden villages with a serious restaurant in TuscanyTuscanyserious restaurantprettiest villageshidden10 towns · smallest 1,421 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 36.
Arezzo
Province: Arezzo
Tuscany's other set-piece: a 96,000-resident Etruscan-Roman-medieval hilltop city 80 km southeast of Florence.
34 min by car
- Written about. No. 32.
Greve in Chianti
Province: Firenze
The market town on the Greve river, with a triangular piazza arcaded since the sixteenth century.
25 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 40 km away
Tuscan Mainland: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Tuscan Mainland guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The postcard country, and what is under it. 15 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.