Tuscany · Siena
Piancastagnaio
A chestnut-belt borgo at 772 meters on the southern slope, where four contrade still race horses for the Palio every 18 August.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Piancastagnaio is on our list
It holds Città dell'Olio.
The nearest town with a letter is Radicofani, No. 45, 33 min by car.
Subscribe and you get Piancastagnaio's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 36 min from Perugia
- Population
- 3,849
- J7°
- F10°
- M11°
- A14°
- M19°
- J24°
- J29°
- A28°
- S22°
- O18°
- N12°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The name means plain of the chestnut, and the forest that still climbs the slope above the town is what fed it for most of its history: sweet chestnut, sessile oak, beech. The town itself sits at 772 meters, built around a twelfth-century keep that passed to Siena in the fourteenth century and to the Medici in 1559, and the palazzo the Bourbon del Monte marquises began in 1605 reads as the grand-ducal layer set directly against the Aldobrandeschi one. Contrade named Borgo, Castello, Coro and Voltaia divide the centro storico for the August race, while the mining museum keeps the record of an industry, cinnabar and mercury, that ran on the mountain from Etruscan times until it closed in 1982 and that has otherwise left the town to the chestnut trade. What Piancastagnaio adds up to is a place where a volcano's slope has supplied, in turn, timber and food, ore, and a festival calendar, and where the built town still carries each of those histories as a separate, legible layer rather than a single blended one.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 2 h 38 min by car.
Pisa (PSA) is about 3 h 5 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 36 min, Siena 1 h 44 min or Florence 2 h 14 min.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Rocca Aldobrandesca
Twelfth-century Aldobrandeschi keep at the heart of the centro storico, with a square tower and surviving curtain wall.
Palazzo Bourbon del Monte
Palazzo begun in 1605 by Marquis Giovanni Battista Bourbon del Monte, with a courtyard loggia and ceremonial hall.
Museo Minerario di Sant'Anna
Mining museum on the cinnabar and mercury extraction of Monte Amiata, active from the Etruscans until the mine closed in 1982.
Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta
Romanesque parish church in the centro storico, with a stone façade and later baroque interior.
Bosco del Monte Amiata
Sweet chestnut, sessile oak and beech forest on the southern slope of the volcano, with trails leading to the summit at 1,738 meters.
Living here
Could you live here?
Piancastagnaio is a village with a town close by.
- A village of 3,849, with Abbadia San Salvatore (6,105 people) 14 min away for the shopping and a meal out. Our rule is a town within 15 minutes.
- Grosseto, a city of 81,264, is 1 h 20 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
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 3,849, down 9.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Grosseto, 1 h 20 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Abbadia San Salvatore, 4 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €750 to €1,100 per m² to buy, €2.50 to €3.40 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 81% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 1 h 46 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 2 h 14 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
12% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Bangladesh and China, against 9% across Italy. There are 299 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. Siena province ranks 21st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Abbadia San Salvatore, 4 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Siena, 59 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Grosseto, 50 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 58 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.02% 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 0.6% 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 Siena, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.28, a meal in a pizzeria €17.81 and a man's haircut €25.49.
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. 1% 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
PALIO DELLE CONTRADE
Bareback horse race run every 18 August between the four contrade, revived in its current form in 1954 from horse races documented since the eighteenth century.
MARRONI
Sweet chestnut harvested across the Monte Amiata slopes, celebrated each All Saints weekend at the Crastatone festival.
MERCURY MINES
Cinnabar and mercury extraction active on Monte Amiata from the Etruscans until 1982, documented in the Sant'Anna museum.
Common questions
- What is Piancastagnaio known for?
- Piancastagnaio is a chestnut-belt borgo at 772 meters on the southern slope, where four contrade still race horses for the Palio every 18 August.
- Where is Piancastagnaio?
- Piancastagnaio is a comune in the province of Siena, in Tuscany.
- What is the nearest airport to Piancastagnaio?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 1 h 46 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to Piancastagnaio?
- About 1 h 36 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Piancastagnaio?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Piancastagnaio?
- Morano Calabro, Pinzolo and Agnone.
- How many people live in Piancastagnaio?
- 3,849 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Piancastagnaio a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Piancastagnaio is a village with a town of 5,000 people within 15 minutes (Abbadia San Salvatore, 14 min). The nearest city, Grosseto, is 1 h 20 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Abbadia San Salvatore, 4 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 81% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 772 m
- Population: 3,849
- Surface area: 69.63 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 Piancastagnaio appears in
- The best mountain towns in TuscanyTuscanymountain6 towns · smallest 1,701 residents
- The best small towns on a walking route in the province of SienaSiena provinceon a walking routesmall6 towns · smallest 1,044 residents
- The best small olive oil towns in the province of SienaSiena provinceolive oilsmall10 towns · smallest 1,137 residents
- The best towns on a walking route in the province of SienaSiena provinceon a walking route10 towns · smallest 1,044 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 45.
Radicofani
Province: Siena
The Val d'Orcia's basalt watchtower: a 1,044-resident UNESCO-inscribed borgo at 814m on a volcanic outcrop visible across half of southern Tuscany, crowned by an outlaw's fortress that Dante and Boccaccio both wrote into their pages.
33 min by car
- Written about. No. 74.
Allerona
Province: Terni
A stone borgo at 472 meters between the Paglia valley and the Valdichiana, an Orvieto outpost whose Monaldeschi castle fell to Charles V.
23 km away
- Written about. No. 46.
San Quirico d'Orcia
Province: Siena
A walled stop on the Via Francigena at 409 meters in the UNESCO Val d'Orcia, where a twelfth-century Collegiata, a Renaissance garden and the Bagno Vignoni thermal pool sit within fifteen kilometers of each other.
24 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 53 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.