To the southeast is found Mount Cetona, Radicofani, visible for miles around, its castle topping the solitary high plateau, the restored (privato) abbey of Spineto dating from 1016, Fonte Vetrianna, an isolated settlement with Etruscan and Medieval beginnings, and the mineral springs of Bagno Santo.

The town of Cetona developed on the hillside around the Rocca fortress, containing a square tower and an inner fortress wall. The walls once had three circuits, and today the Rivellino tower, built in the mid-16th century, is the most important remaining trace of the third circuit. The urban structure bears the mark of the wars in the Middle Ages, when Siena and Orvieto battled each other for control of Cetona. Churches in Cetona are the Chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo (1155) and the Chiesa la Collegiata della San Trinita (1475), as well as the Convento di San Francesco (1212) and Convento di Santa Maria a Belverde with frescoes by Cola Petruccioli of Orvieto.
The hub of Cetona is Piazza Garibaldi with some buildings of historical interest. To one side of the piazza is the 12th century church of San Michele Arcangelo. It contains a wooden statue of the Madonna delle Grazie dated 1300. In the centre of the piazza is the 16th century church of Santissima Annunziata which contains numerous 17th century paintings and is presently used by the local commune as an exhibition hall.

On the opposite side of the piazza stands the eminent 18th century Palazzo Vitelli. Further on, to one side, lies Villa La Vagnola or Palazzo Terrosi as it is otherwise called. The gardens are open to the public at specific times during the summer.

At the end of the piazza lies the 16th century Torre del Rivellino, the last remaining vestige of the third wall of defence.

The Chiesa la Collegiata della San Trinita was originally built in the 12th-13th century with a single nave in the Romanesque style, an aisle with a small outside portal was added on the left in 1571. The simple interior has some frescoes from the late 1400s, including an Assumption of the Virgin by the school of Pinturicchio (1454-1513).
Just outside Cetona are the Convento di San Francesco, begun in 1212 and today the seat of the Comunità di Mondo X, and the Convento di Santa Maria a Belverde, immersed in a woods of centuries-old ilexes and cypresses, under a cliff of travertine. Although it was probably founded sometime around the year 1000, the hermitage as it is today goes back to 1367 and has an original structure composed of three oratories set on two floors. Inside there are 14th-century frescoes by the Orvieto school.

Museum of Mount Cetona Prehistory
Opened in 1990 and arranged according to educational criteria, the museum collects archaeological finds from Belvedere and other prehistorical settlements in the Mount Cetona area. The material on display dates back to the Palaeolithic period and the Bronze Age and is provided with explanatory boards, relief models, and dioramas. The oldest finds consists of the Mousterian lithic production in the Caves of Gosto and St. Francis. The tour also includes a visit to the Caves of Belvedere.

Opening time: Sat. 16-18, Sat. 9.30-12.30, other days on request for groups only (from 16 Oct. to 31 March); Tues. to Sun. 9-13 and 17-19, closed Mon. (from 1 June to 15 Oct.)

Piazze, Belverde en Camporsevoli are frazioni of Cetona. Not far from the village of Cetona, in Belverde, you can visit the Parco Archeologico Naturalistico di Belverde, an archaeological and nature park.
Ancient traces of human presence have also been found here. The Belverde park hosts 25 prehistoric and Bronze Age caves, such as the San Francesco cave. Grotta di San Francesco, the largest cave on the site, is named after Saint Francis, who is said to have stayed here. You can go through three connected cavities on the path that leads to the Franciscan hermitage of Santa Maria: Antro della Noce, Antro del Poggetto and Tombetta della Strada.
Also linked to the park is the prehistory museum, the Museo Civico per la Preistoria del Monte Cetona, which documents the different phases of human settlements in the territory, from the Palaeolithic Age to the end of the Bronze Age, and caves of natural and prehistoric interest.

(Parco Archeologico, Naturalistico di Belverde, Strada della Montagna, Belverde - Cetona.

Opening time: July-September 30th: 9,30-12,30 and 16-19,30

On the way to Camporsevoli you find Piazze, a little village developed in the two last centuries. The Fighine castles has a wonderful wiew over the Valdichiana.
The Fighine Castle rises in an exceptional strategical position, on the watershed between the valleys of the Paglia and the Chiana streams. Fighine was mentioned for the first time in 1058 in relation to the Parish church of Santa Maria 'de Fighine'. The castle still has its quadrangular original structure topped by tree towers and it houses the Church of St. Michael the Archangel on the inside.
The Chiesa Di San Michele Arcangelo has the apse turned to east, according to the ancient tradition, rectangular plant, wooden roof, brickwork paving and two little lateral chapels. In origin it had five altars, today only three. It contains five paintings with images of saints of the Scuola Orvietana and Florentine. Behind the greater altar catch the eye the one of San Michele Archangel, painted by Bonichi of Lucignano in 1750.

Also worth a visit is Castiglioncello del Trinoro, a typical medieval village, a small collection of houses around a castle perched on a high ridge overlooking the Orcia Valley.

Close to Sarteano, on the hill of Pietraporciana, a protected beech-wood has proved to be of special interest to the Italian botanical society.

Comune di Cetona

Pietraporciana Nature Reserve covers the top, the northern side, and part of the southern side of the homonymous hillock (847 m), belonging to the ridge that, between Chianciano Terme and Sarteano, separates Val d’Orcia from Val di Chiana, linking up southwards with Mt. Cetona. An unusual low-altitude beech tree wood grows in the Reserve: it takes advantage of the coolness and humidity dominating the upper part of the northern slope of Poggio di Pietraporciana, at the shadow of the calcareous cliffs outcropping at the top.
One of the worthwhile places to see while in the reserve is the tiney hamlet of Castglioncello sul Trinoro, this tiny ‘borgo', which is perched atop a high hill, offers a breath taking panorama of the entire Val d'Orcia.

On the northern side of the reserve there is a beautiful woods of beech, a relic of the ice age, which is the host for two species of plant particularly rare in Italy, the Belldonna, with its poisonous blue fruit and the Fusaggine Maggiore (Spindle tree).

Riserva Naturale di Pietraporciana (it) (341 ha)

From the piazza of Sarteano you'll take the road in the direction of Chianciano and at the second junction you will turn left towards Castiglioncello del Trinoro. Conitnue on this road, almost completely paved, until Castiglioncello. The Porta Sense from the 1300's and the Romanic church of Sant'Andrea are well worth a visit. From here the dirt road continues downhill towards La Foce, from the gate in front of the villa a climb begins that will take you to pic-nic tables ect. La Crocette. From here, near a gate on your left, you can enter a beautiful centuries old beech grove as well as the Grotta del Bruco (though it's not easy to identify). Once back at the pic-nic area of La Crocette proceed on the main road towards Sarteano. After about 3 km. the dirt roads comes out onto the paved road that connects Sarteano with Castiglioncello del Trinoro which you already covered at the beginnging of the route. The loop ends where it began, in the piazza of Sarteano.

Castiglioncello del Trinoro is a magnificent hamlet, perched on a high ridge, overlooking the Orcia. Of the ancient fortifications and of the five churches remain the Porta Senese and the Romanesque church of Sant'Andrea.

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