Discover Falcigiano: Watercourses, Fresco and Hiking Landscape

Falcigiano developed on gentle elevations in an area of alluvial terraces. This type of terrain represents a local area with a gently rising relief and deposited sediments. The mountains Monte Fungaia, Piano di Colcelle, Monte Todo Pulito and Poggio Vicuccio are located around Falcigiano. This creates a landscape in which the area where the village developed and several surrounding mountains belong together.

Water and Mill History

Along the Fiume Tevere, the area in question has a 150-metre-wide protected strip on the river embankment. Falcigiano also belongs to the localities of the Z.R.S. Tail Water Tevere. The Tevere is therefore connected with the village both through the protected strip and through Falcigiano’s affiliation with this designation.

Near Falcigiano, a canal was used to irrigate the fields and to drive the millstones of several watermills built along its course. The Mulino del Tevere was located near the canal’s mouth into the Tevere. The Mulino di Manano was also known by the name Mulino ai Calabresi. The water-related references thus range from irrigating the fields and driving the millstones to the location of the Mulino del Tevere near the river mouth.

Fresco and Regional Culture

The fresco “Madonna in trono col Bambino tra s. Antonio abate e s. Giovanni evangelista” was found in the 1930s in an old building in the Falcigiano hamlet of Santa Fiora, in the Sansepolcro area. More recent archival studies suggest that Antonio d’Anghiari, a 15th-century artist and Piero della Francesca’s first teacher, may have created the fresco. Its title, place of discovery and possible authorship connect the work with several layers of artistic and local history, without presenting the attribution as certain.

In the wider regional surroundings of Falcigiano are the Vitelli Palace in Saint Giacomo, the Museo Diocesano Di Citta' Di Castello, the Palazzo dei Priori and the Museo del Duomo.

Hiking and Historical Traces

For hikers, Stage 7 of the hike from Caprese Michelangelo to Sansepolcro is particularly clearly defined: it is rated difficult, is 26.2 km long and passes through Falcigiano. If you plan this stage, its difficulty and the full route length are important elements of your personal preparation. A hiking route to Sansepolcro also passes through inhabited places, including Falcigiano. The village is therefore part of a stage rated difficult and, at the same time, of a route that includes inhabited places.

At the eastern edge of the area in question, only one abutment of the associated bridge remains from the historic embankment of the former Arezzo–Sansepolcro railway line. For your travel planning, this creates a destination whose themes range from alluvial terraces and mountains to canals and mills, as well as frescos, museums, hiking trails and a former railway line.

Other Places

Strada, Oliveto, Montevarchi, Monte San Savino, Manzi, Padonchia, Pierle and Caprese Michelangelo

For the overarching travel overview: Arezzo.