Citta di Castello, Umbria
Overview
Discover Citta di Castello: Private Tours, Experiences & Custom Travel
Città di Castello: The Art of Paying Attention
In the Upper Tiber Valley, where the beauty of the Renaissance meets the extraordinary vision of Alberto Burri.
There are many places in Italy where the sacred and the ordinary have lived together for so long that it becomes difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. Città di Castello is one of those places.
Set in the Upper Tiber Valley, in northern Umbria, where the landscape begins to lean toward Tuscany, this elegant old town remains wonderfully removed from the more hurried rhythms of mass tourism. Renaissance palaces stand beside neighbourhood cafés, bicycles pass beneath ancient porticoes, and beyond the historic walls, the Tiber winds through a countryside of cultivated fields, olive groves and wooded hills. There is something deeply appealing about a place that has never stopped belonging to the people who live there, where history is not simply preserved but continues to unfold through the ordinary rituals of everyday life.
A Renaissance Town with an Ancient Soul
The story of Città di Castello reaches back to Roman Tifernum Tiberinum, although much of its present character was shaped during the Renaissance under the influence of the powerful Vitelli family. Their legacy survives in the town's elegant palaces, churches and courtyards, most notably Palazzo Vitelli alla Cannoniera, now home to the Pinacoteca Comunale, where works by Raphael and Luca Signorelli share the splendour of frescoed rooms and Renaissance architecture. Beyond its remarkable façade, the gardens offer a quieter pleasure, a place to linger among the greenery and the changing light before returning to the streets of the old town.
Yet Città di Castello's beauty extends beyond its celebrated monuments. In the historic Grifani Donati printing workshop, founded in 1799, the traditions of typography endure, while the handwoven textiles of Tela Umbra recall generations of craftsmanship and the dignity of work patiently done. Throughout the historic centre, small churches, hidden gardens and centuries-old workshops speak of a town whose cultural inheritance belongs as much to ordinary hands as to extraordinary genius.
Alberto Burri: The Beauty of What Remains
And then, almost unexpectedly, Città di Castello reveals another dimension of its remarkable artistic identity.
Alberto Burri, born here in 1915, became one of the twentieth century's most original and influential artists, transforming burlap, wood, iron and plastic into works of extraordinary expressive power. Where others saw discarded materials, Burri discovered possibility. He tore, burned, stitched and transformed, allowing the fractures, textures and imperfections of matter to become part of a new artistic language. His work challenges our understanding of beauty, suggesting that transformation need not erase what came before, and that even the most humble materials may possess an unexpected dignity.
His legacy is preserved at Palazzo Albizzini, where his works inhabit the refined spaces of a Renaissance palace, and at the extraordinary Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco, vast former tobacco-drying warehouses transformed into monumental exhibition spaces. There is something wonderfully fitting about this second life. Buildings once devoted to the agricultural rhythms of the valley now hold works that explore the nature of matter itself. Within their immense interiors, art and architecture enter into a powerful dialogue, reminding us that creation often begins not with perfection, but with the possibilities hidden within what already exists.
The Upper Tiber Valley: A Landscape of Quiet Discoveries
Beyond Città di Castello, the Upper Tiber Valley unfolds into one of central Italy's most beautiful and surprisingly overlooked landscapes. Wooded hills, olive groves, cultivated fields and medieval villages form a countryside that seems to invite a slower, more attentive way of travelling. In this part of Umbria, not far from the places associated with St. Francis of Assisi, it is easy to understand his reverence for the natural world, his sense that wonder might be found as readily in the movement of water or the changing seasons as in the grandest works of human imagination.
Nearby, Citerna and Montone preserve the quiet beauty of medieval Umbria, while Monte Santa Maria Tiberina offers sweeping views across the valley. At San Giustino, the magnificent Castello Bufalini reveals another chapter of Renaissance history through its frescoed interiors and historic gardens. To the south, Umbertide follows the course of the Tiber beneath its imposing medieval fortress, while Pietralunga rests among the wooded hills of the Apennines.
Farther afield, Gubbio, with its dramatic medieval architecture, and Perugia, Umbria's historic capital, offer still more extraordinary encounters with the region's past. Across the nearby Tuscan border, Sansepolcro, birthplace of Piero della Francesca, and the beautifully preserved medieval town of Anghiari are equally rewarding discoveries. Together, these places form a landscape where art, history and everyday life remain inseparable, and where the roads between destinations are often as memorable as the places themselves.
Discovering Città di Castello
At Italy Vacation Specialists, we believe that the most meaningful journeys are not always those that cover the greatest distances, but those that allow us to see familiar things differently. Città di Castello and the Upper Tiber Valley offer wonderful opportunities to explore a quieter side of Italy, through privately guided visits and journeys through Umbria, Renaissance gardens, extraordinary art collections and the medieval villages scattered across the Umbrian and Tuscan countryside.
Perhaps what makes Città di Castello so memorable is the ease with which its many worlds coexist. Here, the Renaissance and the modern age do not compete for attention. An ancient palace holds the work of a revolutionary artist, an old tobacco warehouse becomes a place of extraordinary beauty, and beyond the town, the river continues its journey through fields and villages much as it has for centuries.
There is something of St. Francis in the quiet reverence for the natural world, something of the Renaissance in the search for harmony, and something profoundly moving in Burri's understanding that beauty may emerge from what has been altered, weathered or broken. Different centuries, different languages, yet perhaps all searching in their own way for meaning within the mysteries of existence.
The places that stay with us are not always the famous ones. Sometimes it is a garden we hadn't expected to find, a fresco above our heads, a bicycle passing through an ancient street, or an old tobacco warehouse filled with art that changes the way we see the world. Città di Castello is that kind of place. It doesn't demand our attention, but if we give it some, it gives a great deal back.
Our own photographs
Citta di Castello Through Our Eyes
Photographed during our own travels and research, these images follow the journey through Citta di Castello, from the first view of the landscape to the small details that give the place its character.
Map
Get your bearings before you go
Photo Gallery
Explore Towns and Cities in Umbria
Every town here has its own personality. We know them by name.
Our Featured Properties
Stays we picked one by one
Italy,Umbria
Villa Guardea - A Private Villa Option - Wonderful for Families and Friends in Umbria, Italy
Italy,Umbria,Todi
Italy,Umbria,Orvieto
Italy,Umbria,Perugia
Getting here
The Road to Citta di Castello
Most of our guests arrive by private car, with a driver who knows these roads and where it is worth stopping along the way. These are the journeys we arrange most often.
Starting somewhere else? Tell us where, and we will arrange the car.
Plan my transferQuick Enquiry Form
Tell us about your dream trip and we'll craft the perfect itinerary for you.
In their words
Stories that stay with you
What our guests write to us once they are home again
From the journal
IVS Magazine
Latest
27 October 2026
Italy Travel Alerts October 30 Strike, Rising Costs & What Travellers Need to Know
Read the piece
Plan it with us
For customized holidays and expert advice for travel in Italy and the Mediterranean, get in touch with your travel agent or contact us via our.
-
Direct In Italy: +39 375 823 5314
-
Toll Free: 1-866-779-2565