In Sinalunga, you can shape your stay around a variety of discoveries: a summer festival, underground passages or a route connected with Chianina. Festivals and architecture also add their own distinctive touches. When planning your trip, it is therefore helpful to decide first which experience you would like to make the focus of your visit.
Summer festival featuring art and street food
Every summer, L’Incantaborgo offers a festival featuring travelling street theatre, acrobatics, juggling, dance, visual installations and musical performances. The programme also includes craft markets, exhibitions and street food. Special openings of particularly noteworthy places in the historic centre round out the event.
The festival therefore brings together performing arts with markets and exhibitions. If you would like to plan your trip around it, check the dates for the relevant edition. This lets you schedule your festival visit as part of your stay, rather than assuming that its return each summer means it takes place on a fixed travel date.
Fiera alla Pieve: the history of the fair and what it offers today
In the past, Fiera alla Pieve took place during the second week of October on the grounds beside the church of Pieve ad Mensulas. Livestock, meat and goods were the main things sold at the time. Today’s Fiera alla Pieve preserves culinary traditions: its offerings include porchetta, celery, Croccante and cheeses of various types and stages of maturity. There are also market stalls and an amusement park.
The October week belongs to the fair’s history. If you would like to include today’s Fiera in your trip, check the current event dates. In culinary terms, the festival offers a different perspective on the fair from its former focus on livestock and trade in goods.
Underground passages and Cotto at Palazzo Pretorio
The underground passages of Fonte del Castagno are more than 200 metres long and were completed in 1265. Visits are organised by the Gruppo Archeologico Sinalunghese. Groups are limited to a maximum of ten people and can visit on Saturdays or Sundays after submitting a written request at least one week in advance to ufficio.turistico@comune.sinalunga.si.it. Confirm the specific date in advance.
Palazzo Pretorio offers another architectural detail: its façade and tower are made of Cotto, typical of Tuscany. This presents two different ways to explore the town’s history side by side: the underground passages, with their completion date, and the choice of material used in a local building.
Two routes with different focuses
The Via Lauretana crosses the Sinalunga area, starting from the hamlet of Scrofiano. Its landscape is characterised by oak forests, cultivated fields, vineyards and olive groves. The Percorso del Gigante Bianco has a different thematic focus: the Chianina cattle breed is the route’s central thread.
Sinalunga and Arezzo are two recommended starting points for the Percorso del Gigante Bianco circular route; Sinalunga is considered a central point along the route. Along the way, visitors can tour Chianina cattle farms and taste genuine IGP beef. The two routes can thus be distinguished by their stated focus: the Via Lauretana offers a varied landscape, while the Percorso del Gigante Bianco focuses on Chianina and its connection to cattle farming. These are two distinct thematic ways to explore the area, and do not form a single shared route.
Discover more destinations
Discover more destinations: Bettolle, Rigomagno, Farnetella, Bisciano, Poggibonsi, Megognano, Colombaio, Asciano.
Go to the main travel overview: Siena.
