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.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h from Florence
- Population
- 5,869
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.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J9°
- F12°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J32°
- A31°
- S25°
- O20°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Assunzione di Maria, second Sunday of September
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.
The Sunday letter
Loro Ciuffenna is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Loro Ciuffenna comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.
Read on
Loro Ciuffenna in our articles
The best hill towns in the province of Arezzo7 towns, Loro Ciuffenna among them.
The 9 best towns with a serious restaurant that eat well within 90 minutes of Firenze9 towns, Loro Ciuffenna among them.
The best hidden hill towns within 90 minutes of Firenze9 towns, Loro Ciuffenna among them.
The prettiest hidden villages with a serious restaurant in Toscana10 towns, Loro Ciuffenna among them.
How to get there
From Bologna (BLQ), about 2 hours by car.
Florence / Pisa (PSA) is about 2h 16m away.
By car from the centre of Florence 1 hour, Siena 1h 23m or Perugia 1h 47m.
Coming by train into Firenze Santa Maria Novella? Loro Ciuffenna is about 1h 8m away by road.
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.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Loro Ciuffenna fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
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.
Living here
- Population 5,869
- In-betweeni
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Nearest airport Bologna, 2 h 2 min drive
- Regional capital Firenze, 1 h 2 min drive
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?
- Bologna (BLQ), about 2 hours by car.
- How long is the drive from Florence to Loro Ciuffenna?
- About 1 hour 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.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Loro Ciuffenna?
- The town keeps its patron saint's day: Assunzione di Maria, second Sunday of September.
- Which other towns are like Loro Ciuffenna?
- Poppi, Chiusi and Lucignano.
- How many people live in Loro Ciuffenna?
- 5,869 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 330 m
- Population: 5,869
- 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.
Similar
Towns like Loro Ciuffenna
Poppi
Province: Arezzo
both inland, away from the coast · both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Chiusi
Province: Siena
both inland, away from the coast · both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Lucignano
Province: Arezzo
both inland, away from the coast · both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
San Gimignano
Province: Siena
both inland, away from the coast · both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Capranica
Province: Viterbo
both inland, away from the coast · both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Sutri
Province: Viterbo
both inland, away from the coast · both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
More Borghi più belli d'Italia towns in Tuscany
Anghiari
Province: Arezzo
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.
Barga
Province: Lucca
A medieval hilltop town at 410 meters in the Serchio valley, where Giovanni Pascoli wrote his last poems and the August festival serves fish and chips.
Buonconvento
Province: Siena
The walled brick borgo in the Crete Senesi where Emperor Henry VII died in 1313, on the Via Cassia at the confluence of the Arbia and Ombrone.
Campiglia Marittima
Province: Livorno
A walled hilltop borgo above the Val di Cornia, where the Rocca tower watches a mining landscape worked from the Etruscans to 1976.
Capalbio
Province: Grosseto
A walled hilltop borgo at 217 meters in the southern Maremma, donated to the Abbey of Tre Fontane by Charlemagne.