The best MTB trails around Monte Santa Maria Tiberina

wide-ranging gravel trail that runs along the ridge near the church of Sant'Agnese

The Museum of the Madonna del Parto, just outside the walls of the village of Monterchi, is a museum for a single work, the masterpiece by Piero della Francesca, probably created towards the mid-fifteenth century for the small church of Momentana, now a cemetery chapel. It depicts the Virgin in an evident state of pregnancy with her hand on her belly in a very natural gesture that blends with the royalty of the entire composition. The angels open the tent, the tabernaculum, which contains Mary, which in turn is the tabernacle of the body of Christ. The hypothesis that it was painted following the death of the painter's mother, originally from Monterchi, is suggestive but unlikely. The Museum also displays the Madonna del Latte, dating back to the 14th century, which was located under the fresco by Piero della Francesca. After the Council of Trent, the altar of the Madonna del Parto was no longer officiated, probably because the subject was no longer considered decorous, and the masterpiece was thus rediscovered only at the end of the nineteenth century. It was so venerated by the inhabitants of Monterchi that, for fear that someone might take it away, they chased away both the restorer Domenico Fiscali, in charge of restoring it after the 1917 earthquake, and the art historians Ugo Procacci and Mario Salmi, who intended to put it safe from the bombings of the Second World War. In addition to the Madonna del Parto Museum in Monterchi it is also possible to visit the Scale Museum. Open to the public since June 2012 and set up in the rooms of the sixteenth-century Palazzo Massi-Alberti, it was born from the private collection of Velio Ortolani, one of the most important of its kind in Europe. Inside this Museum it is possible to retrace over six centuries of the history of all types of scales, starting from the elegant steelyards and two-arm scales of the 15th century up to more modern instruments, such as laboratory scales and market scales. dating back to the last century.

Monterchi is an Italian municipality of 1,716 inhabitants in the province of Arezzo, in the upper Tiber Valley. From 1927 to 1939 it was part of the province of Perugia, in Umbria, before returning to Arezzo following protests from the population. The town is particularly known for the Madonna del Parto, the famous fresco by Piero della Francesca painted between 1455 and 1465 in honor of his mother, Romana di Perino da Monterchi, originally from the area. The fresco, originally intended for the Chapel of Santa Maria di Momentana, is currently preserved in the Museum of the Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca.

The structures of the Fattoria Autonoma Babacchi were built towards the end of the 1950s and were mainly used for drying the tropical tobacco produced in the Città del Castello area. Decommissioned at the beginning of the Seventies, they were assigned to Alberto Burri shortly afterwards to be used as a laboratory for the creation of large-format works. Over the years, other spaces were recovered and in 1990 the Burri Museum was inaugurated in its current structure.

Following the track of the Apennine Cycle Route which passes mostly on asphalt, I found myself on this beautiful stretch of dirt road of about 15 km. along the Tiber, beautiful beautiful.

Former tobacco dryers open from Tuesday to Friday, 10am-1pm and 3pm-6pm. Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm. For updates, consult the Web

Once a fishing lake now transformed into an oasis for the nesting of migratory birds

The small medieval village of Monte Santa Maria Tiberina occupies a panoramic position on a hill overlooking the plain of the Aggia stream, from where you can enjoy a splendid view of the Umbrian and Tuscan Valtiberina. Starting from the 11th century it was a fief of the Marquises Bourbon del Monte, descendants of those Marquises del Colle who came to Italy following the Franks and conquered a large part of the Upper Tiber Valley, building fortresses and castles in various strategic points. After the castle was destroyed (1198) due to disagreements with Pope Innocent III, the Marquises rebuilt it by linking their history to that of Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, they obtained concessions and privileges from popes and emperors, managing to remain independent. The marquisate was governed by the descendants of the family until 1815, when Duke Ferdinando of Tuscany took possession of it, interrupting the millenary dominion of the Bourbon del Monte. In 1859 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy.