Tuscany · Grosseto
Santa Fiora
An Aldobrandeschi and Sforza mountain borgo on Monte Amiata at 687 meters, holding one of the world's largest collections of Della Robbia terracotta.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Santa Fiora is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione.
The nearest town with a letter is Castiglione d'Orcia, No. 41, 20 km away.
Subscribe and you get Santa Fiora's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 30 min from Siena
- Population
- 2,490
- J8°
- 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
Santa Fiora sits on the wooded southern slope of Monte Amiata, forty kilometers east of Grosseto. The Aldobrandeschi held the hill from the eleventh century, walling the borgo around their castle; through the late Middle Ages and Renaissance the town passed to the Sforza branch that produced the Sforza-Cesarini, Counts of Santa Fiora. The upper part of the borgo keeps the castle and the old walled core, while the parish church and the spring-fed pool sit lower, closer to where the Fiora rises. The Sforza left their mark in both directions: religious patronage in the terracotta commissions for the church, and practical engineering in the walled fish pool built over the river's source, a chapel standing beside it.
The Fiora leaves the town under the counts' pool and runs the rest of its length down through Maremma to the sea. The place reads as a single family's imprint worked into stone, water and clay across five centuries, upper fortress and lower spring both answering to the same patrons.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 2 h 39 min by car.
Pisa (PSA) is about 2 h 51 min away.
By car from the center of Siena 1 h 30 min, Perugia 1 h 50 min or Florence 2 h 27 min.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Pieve delle Sante Flora e Lucilla
Parish church founded before the year 1000 and rebuilt in the thirteenth century. Inside, Andrea della Robbia's Baptism of Christ, Coronation of the Virgin and a pulpit relief of the Last Supper.
Peschiera Sforzesca
Clear water holding carp and trout inside the walled enclosure, the small Chapel of the Madonna delle Nevi standing alongside.
Castello Aldobrandesco
The original walled core of the borgo, begun in 1082, later serving as residence of the Sforza-Cesarini counts.
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità
Sixteenth-century church on the lower edge of the borgo, a simple stone façade over an interior holding a further terracotta relief.
Fiume Fiora
River rising at the pool below the castle, running 78 kilometers through Maremma to the Tyrrhenian at Montalto di Castro.
Living here
Could you live here?
Santa Fiora is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,490. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Abbadia San Salvatore, is 30 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Grosseto, a city of 81,264, is 1 h 7 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 2,490, down 5% since 2015
- Nearest city Grosseto, 1 h 7 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Abbadia San Salvatore, 10 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,050 to €1,250 per m² to buy, €3.20 to €4.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 97% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 2 h drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 2 h 27 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
14% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, North Macedonia and Morocco, against 9% across Italy. 23 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. There are 379 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 61% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Grosseto province ranks 59th 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, 10 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Siena, 58 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Grosseto, 41 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Siena, 61 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds between 0.55% and 0.8% to your income tax, depending on your income. 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 Grosseto, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.20.
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 medium for floods. 13% 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
DELLA ROBBIA
One of the world's largest collections of Andrea della Robbia glazed terracotta, commissioned by the Sforza counts between 1480 and 1495.
PESCHIERA SFORZESCA
Sixteenth-century walled pool at the source of the Fiora river, built by the Sforza counts as a private fish reserve under a hilltop chapel.
MONTE AMIATA
Extinct volcano of southern Tuscany, beech and chestnut forests on the slopes above Santa Fiora, source of the Fiora and Albegna rivers.
TOSCANO
The commune lies inside the Toscano IGP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Santa Fiora known for?
- Santa Fiora is an Aldobrandeschi and Sforza mountain borgo on Monte Amiata at 687 meters, holding one of the world's largest collections of Della Robbia terracotta.
- Where is Santa Fiora?
- Santa Fiora is a comune in the province of Grosseto, in Tuscany.
- What is the nearest airport to Santa Fiora?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 2 h by car.
- How long is the drive from Siena to Santa Fiora?
- About 1 h 30 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Santa Fiora?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Santa Fiora?
- Pennabilli, Gavoi and Cascia.
- How many people live in Santa Fiora?
- 2,490 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Santa Fiora a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Santa Fiora is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Abbadia San Salvatore, is 30 min away. The nearest city, Grosseto, is 1 h 7 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Abbadia San Salvatore, 10 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 97% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 687 m
- Population: 2,490
- Surface area: 63.45 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.
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 41.
Castiglione d'Orcia
Province: Siena
A stone borgo at 540 meters in the UNESCO Val d'Orcia, with two fortresses guarding the road from Amiata to the Via Francigena.
20 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.
26 km away
- Written about. No. 50.
Manciano
Province: Grosseto
A market town at 444 meters in the southern Maremma, with a Sienese fortress of 1424 and the thermal frazione of Saturnia in its territory.
27 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 58 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.