Central Tuscany: Eight Tuscan Hill Towns

Updated 2020 / 2021 Edition

Visit the Valdichiana towns of Civitella, Arezzo, Monte San Savino, Castiglion Fiorentino, Foiano, Lucignano, Cortona, and Chiusi.

My books are for repeat visitors to Tuscany. After you have seen Pisa, Siena, and Florence where do you go? My bet is that you want to see the smaller, less crowded sites and travel slower to enjoy the culture-and gelato.

This volume of the Inside Tuscany: A Second Time Around series describes eight of the most beautiful hill towns in Tuscany and helps you enjoy the culture along the way:

• Set up a base up in Arezzo, neither too big nor too small, with excellent restaurants and a wealth of sites.
• Visit Civitella in Valdichiana to learn its tragic history during a World War II massacre.
• Shop at the daily market in Monte San Savino and visit the unique art and ceramic museum in its fortress tower.
• Go back in time at the Etruscan museum and excavation in tiny Castiglion Fiorentino.
• Meander through small Foiano della Chiana and discover its hidden art treasures.
• Explore the small medieval town of Lucignano with its intact medieval walls and fascinating Museo Civico.
• Spend a day at two at the best museums in Cortona, then sit in the Piazza Repubblica with a gelato and watch people go by.
• Study Etruscan artifacts at the superb Etruscan museum in Chiusi and then go underground to visit the old Roman labyrinth of tunnels and cisterns.

Information in the Text:

• cook with authentic recipes, some from my Italian cousins,
• find places to stay,
• eat at good restaurants and pizzerias,
• use GPS coordinates to navigate,
• eat at the best osteria near Arezzo, La Capannaccia,
• get an idea on the mobile accessibility of sites.

What is the Valdichiana?

The Valdichiana is a large flat valley stretching south from the Umbrian border at Lake Trasimeno near Cortona to the town of Civitella in the north. Originally a swamp, it is now the breadbasket of Italy with fruit and olive orchards, crops of grain and corn, vineyards, and grazing land for the famous chianina beef, the source of bistecca Fiorentina.

Praise from Readers for the "Second Time Around" Series

• I was delighted to find your book on the area on Amazon before our visit earlier this month.


• We went to Arezzo a few years ago, but this time, armed with guidebook we visited again. I wanted to let you know how helpful the book was. I had not noticed the bas-reliefs on the barrel vault of the main door of Pieve Santa Maria or visited the Museo Ivan Bruschi before, let alone the Telecommunications Museum which, like you, we stumbled on unexpectedly.


• I just finished your book and wanted to tell you I enjoyed it very much. I am planning to go to the Tuscany area next June for a wedding and it gave me a lot of usual information. Because of your book I plan on setting up shop in Arezzo for a few days.


• I have your guide books which have been very useful.

Book descriptions: www.stgbooks.com
Contact: scott.grabinger@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/scott.grabinger
Photo Galleries: www.stgimages.com

NOTE: Paperback versions have black and white pictures. If, after purchasing the book, you'd like a color pdf version email scott.grabinger@gmail.com.

My books feature less visited sites in southern Tuscany, recount my adventures and misadventures, and share authentic family recipes.

Why are my guidebooks unique?

Experience. My family and I have been traveling around Italy since 1992 learning the towns, sites, foods, language, and culture.

Slow travel. I focus on small towns and culture for the repeat visitor to Tuscany-places that most guidebooks cover in 30 words or less. To me, if you are returning to Tuscany you want to travel slower to engage more deeply in the culture rather than "collect" as many sites as possible.

Family makes the difference. My Italian cousins give me a unique perspective. They show me the real "Inside Tuscany," its hidden tiny hill towns, incredible panoramas, and restaurants and pizzerias known only to locals. I have visited sagre (festivals dedicated to a single food like steak, or porcini mushrooms) and antique fairs. They try to teach me how to "be Italian"-but it is still hard to eat dinner at 8:30.

I speak Italian. It's impossible to recall how often church caretakers or museum docents have opened up and taken me on private tours because I could understand them. Or the number of times I learned about specialties in a restaurant that aren't on the menu, or found the perfect Vino Nobile for the secondo piatto. Thanks to the the language I've learned to harvest grapes and olives to make wine and olive oil.

I live in Tuscany two months a year. My base is in Arezzo and from there I study Italian, branch out to discover new places and events, participate in festivals and daily markets, walk in the evening passeggiata, and make friends.

Now available, a book of true stories: Walking the Aqueduct: Tuscan Adventures and Culture. These are stories about my adventures and misadventures with insights into the culture along with smart travel hints. Available in both paperback and Kindle formats.

Contact: scott.grabinger@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/scott.grabinger
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scott-grabinger-3890b073
Photo Galleries: www.grabinger.com

Book descriptions: www.insidetuscanybooks.com
Tuscan itinerary ideas: www.insidetuscanytours.com