Villages in Tuscany — Our selection

The medieval villages of southern Tuscany are perhaps the region's most accessible yet least known treasure. Far from the overcrowding of San Gimignano or Montepulciano, the Maremma and Etruscan Tuscany are home to borghi perched on their tufa spurs, alive and inhabited, where daily life unfolds almost as it has for centuries.

Pitigliano, the «Little Jerusalem», rises from its tufa plateau like a fairy-tale vision. Sorano and Sovana complete the tufa trilogy in the Lente valley — three villages less than 15 kilometres from one another, each with its own personality, its own history and its restaurants where you can eat like a local. Scansano, on its wine-growing hills, has a different energy — more terroir, less picturesque, but infinitely more authentic.

Our village selection favours those that retain real neighbourhood life, with their grocery shops, cafés and artisans. We deliberately avoid museum villages entirely devoted to the tourist trade. Each entry lists local events, weekly markets and the best periods to visit for an authentic atmosphere.

Visiting Tuscan villages is best organised outside the July-August months, when even the most hidden villages see their population double under the summer influx. Spring (May-June) and autumn (September-October) offer ideal conditions: golden light, mild temperatures, seasonal local produce (truffles, grape harvest, mushrooms) and locals still relaxed in the face of visitors.

Combined with the Etruscan hiking routes (vie cave) which link several of these villages, our village guides form a multi-day itinerary in one of the most authentic areas of all central Italy.