

Umbria · Perugia
Magione
A hill town east of Trasimeno built around a medieval Order's fortified base.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 20 min from Perugia
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 14,620
Known for
KNIGHTS OF MALTA
Twelfth-century Hospitaller maison still owned by the Order, the source of the town's name and its medieval economy.
CONSPIRACY OF 1502
Cesare Borgia's captains plotted his overthrow inside the castle; Machiavelli leaked the plan and the conspirators were liquidated.
OLIO TRASIMENO
Città dell'Olio member, olive groves on the hills between the lake's eastern shore and Perugia at 250-350 meters.
- J10°
- F12°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J28°
- J32°
- A31°
- S26°
- O21°
- N15°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Magione sits on a hill east of Lake Trasimeno, fifteen kilometers from Perugia. The name comes from the Knights Hospitaller, who built a hospital here in the mid-twelfth century dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and called their convent Maison in their own language. The original nucleus stood on the Perugia-Tuscany route and grew into the fortified base that still anchors the town today.
The lower town is organized around two medieval poles: the castle complex near the old route, and the quadrangular tower rising thirty meters over the settlement, built in the same period by the same Order. The vineyards on the surrounding hills lie between 250 and 350 meters above sea level, and the town's territory extends down to the lake's eastern shore. In October 1502, the castle hosted a plot against Cesare Borgia: his own captains and allies conspired against him inside its walls.
Niccolò Machiavelli, on diplomatic mission for Florence, learned the details and passed them to Borgia, who dismantled the conspirators within months. A hospital, a tower, and a plot against a Borgia: the town's history reads as a sequence of episodes gathered around the same fortified point on the road between Perugia and Tuscany.
How to get there
From Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 54 min by car.
Bologna (BLQ) is about 2 h 39 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 20 min, Siena 1 h 19 min or Florence 1 h 40 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming by train into Perugia? Magione is about 17 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Ancona airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.


What to see
Castello dei Cavalieri di Malta
The fortified complex built by the Knights Hospitaller stands as the town's anchor, its walls the setting where the Conspiracy of Magione was plotted against Cesare Borgia.
Torre dei Lambardi
Thirty-meter quadrangular tower built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by the Gerosolimitani Knights, three floors and a summit terrace.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
Parish church inside the castle complex, dedicated to the saint of the original Hospitaller foundation.
Lago Trasimeno
Magione's territory reaches the eastern shore, with Isola Polvese 4 km offshore reachable from San Feliciano frazione.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Magione fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer six questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
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.
Osteria Rosso di SeraTrattoria
Osteria Rosso di Sera carries two Gambero Rosso prawns.
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
- Population 14,620, down 1.3% since 2015
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Castiglione del Lago, 15 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Full fibre reaches 65% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Ancona airport, 1 h 54 min drive, the closest of the 15 airports we time
- Regional capital Perugia, 20 min drive
Could you live here?
Magione meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 14,620 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Perugia, a city of 161,748, is 20 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
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.
The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter
Common questions
- What is Magione known for?
- Magione is a hill town east of Trasimeno built around a medieval Order's fortified base.
- Where is Magione?
- Magione is a comune in the province of Perugia, in Umbria, at 299 meters above sea level.
- Which of the airports we measure is closest to Magione?
- Of the 15 airports we time the drive to, the closest is Ancona (AOI), about 1 h 54 min by car.
- Can you get to Magione without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Magione?
- About 20 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Magione?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and December the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Magione?
- Assisi, Monteprandone and Fiesole.
- How many people live in Magione?
- 14,620 at the 2023 count.
- Is Magione a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Magione is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Perugia, is 20 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Castiglione del Lago, 15 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 65% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 299 m
- Population: 14,620
- Surface area: 129.73 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 Magione
What all six share with Magione: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people · hill towns · have a railway station in the comune
The ranked lists
Lists Magione appears in
- The 6 best olive oil towns inside a nature park in UmbriaUmbriaolive oilinside a park6 towns · smallest 957 residents
- The best hidden towns inside a nature park that eat well in UmbriaUmbriainside a parkeats wellhidden6 towns · smallest 2,555 residents
- The best olive oil towns you can reach by train in the province of PerugiaPerugia provinceolive oilby train6 towns · smallest 2,314 residents
- The best hidden hill towns you can reach by train in the province of PerugiaPerugia provincehill townby trainhidden7 towns · smallest 2,314 residents
- The best hidden olive oil towns that eat well in UmbriaUmbriaolive oileats wellhidden7 towns · smallest 2,555 residents
- The best hidden towns you can reach by train that eat well within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiaby trainwithin 90 mineats wellhidden7 towns · smallest 5,072 residents · closest 23 min away
The letter
Magione got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter
