Arcille

Arcille is a small village in southern Tuscany, set on the Sant’Antonio plateau beside the Ombrone river. It lies close to the Trasubbie stream, which joins the Ombrone nearby and marks the boundary with Scansano. The surrounding countryside belongs to the Maremma region, where gentle slopes give way to wide plains. A planned settlement, it was built in the 1950s after the Maremma plain was reclaimed and land reform redistributed fields to farmers. Engineers Enzo Berti and Andrea Bianchini designed the village around a central square and broad staircase leading up to the church. The layout uses the natural slope to create terraces for houses and public buildings. The village is worth visiting for its modern yet orderly architecture, created as a service centre for scattered farms in the Trasubbie valley. The church of Our Lady of Lourdes was consecrated on 23 March 1958 by Bishop Paolo Galeazzi, marking the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes. The church contains a painting of the Supper at Emmaus by Arnaldo Mazzanti, finished in 2002. Nearby, the church of Saint Anne stands in the hamlet of Granaione, built in 1958 by the Piccolomini family. A short distance east, Sticcianese Farm preserves a historic estate with a 1938 chapel and a villa surrounded by outbuildings. Visitors find a quiet square framed by terraced buildings and a wide staircase that rises to the parish church. The church overlooks the village, its single nave lit by rows of small windows on either side. A brick bell tower stands beside the apse, and inside, the Mazzanti painting hangs above the altar. Beyond the village, country roads lead to the church of Saint Anne in Granaione and the chapel at Sticcianese Farm. The farm’s brick chapel has a round-arched doorway and a small rose window above, while the villa and its outbuildings sit among olive groves and fields.