Cetona

Cetona is a beautifully preserved medieval village, and in recent years has become very fashionable as many VIPS - such as the designer Valentino and the Agnelli family - have bought country house nearby. Gynthew Paltrow has been a frequent guest here.

The town boasts of fine views of Monte Cetona, and is surrounded by pretty hills planted with cypresses and pine trees. It has a typically medieval, circular plan centred on the crest of a hill.

The village was originally part of the Chiusi territory and later was incorporated in the Sovana area into the Aldobrandeschi fiefdom when Ildebrando Aldobrandeschi of Sovana became Pope Gregory VII, in 1073.

A descendant placed it under Orvieto control in the early 13th century, where it remained until Perugia took it over in the middle of the 14th century. In 1428 it became part of the Siena Republic.

In 1556, Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, granted Cetona and the title of Marquis to Chiappino Vitelli, who made the medieval fortress, la Rocca, his residence. Vitelli then built the long, rectangular piazza, now called Piazza Garibaldi, which sets the stage for the medieval, fortified village above it.

On one side of  the large pleasant Piazza Garibaldi, designed in the 16C is the church of Sant'Angelo. In the chapel to the right of the high altar (light by the side door) is a highly venerated seated wood statue of the Madonna and Child, and on the second altar on the south side, a 16C painting of the Madonna and Child with two Saints.

At the other end of the piazza is a round tower, near which Via Roma goes up past the 16C ex-Palazzo Comunale with the Museo Civico per la Preistoria del Monte Cetona. There is a public library  in the Palazzo Communale.