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Manciano is located in the center of an area of great archaeological importance, about 60 km from Grosseto, 18 km south-west of Pitigliano and 40 km north-east of Orbetello. The town, located on the top of a hill at an altitude of 444 metres, is dominated by the Rocca Aldobrandesca, today the seat of the municipality.
The village of Manciano was born as an important fortress of the Aldobrandeschi between the 12th and 13th centuries, it was successively under the Republic of Siena from 1416, in 1455 it became a possession of the Orsini, counts of Pitigliano. In the municipality of Manciano there are the famous thermal center of Saturnia and the ancient walled village of Montemerano.
THE ROCCA ALDOBRANDESCA
The Rocca Aldobrandesca is the symbolic building of Manciano, the current structure was built in the 15th century by the Republic of Siena, in the place where the Aldorandeschi had built their castle in the 12th century. In the center of the square below the Rocca there is a monumental fountain, the work of Vincenzo Rosignoli, which was built in 1913 to celebrate the construction of the Fiora aqueduct.
Among the other interesting buildings in Manciano we find: the church of San Leonardo dating back to the 15th century but renovated in 1932, the Casa Battiloro formed by two buildings dating back to the end of the 16th century and the 17th century, the Casa Piazai dating back to the end of the 16th century , the more recent Palazzo Aldi built in the 19th century where the painter Pietro Aldi was born and lived. In Palazzo Nardelli located near the fortress is the Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory of the Fiora Valley, which exhibits finds ranging from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age.
INTERESTING ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREAS
In the surroundings of Manciano there are important archaeological areas such as those of Poggio Buco-Le Sparne where an Etruscan settlement dating back to the period between the eighth century B.C. and the 6th century BC with numerous chamber tombs and some Etruscan cave ways. Other Etruscan tombs are found in the necropolis of Marsiliana, but they are difficult to locate. Ruins of medieval buildings are visible in the locality of Stachilagi where the remains of the castle of Stachilagi and the Benedictine monastery of San Benedetto alla Selva are found. Other ruins of medieval castles in the Manciano area are those of Castellaccio del Pelagone or Scarceta and Roccaccia di Montauto.
The medieval village of Montemerano and the thermal center of Saturnia with its archaeological remains are among the most important tourist destinations in the area.
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