Chiusi della Verna in Tuscany

The municipality of Chiusi della Verna is in the province of Arezzo, 960 metres above sea level and has about 2000 in habitants. Inside the town of Chiusi della Verna you can admire the Sanctuary of Verna.

The birth of the first inhabited places in the area of Chiusi della Verna dates back to the Etruscan-Roman age, when the first settlements were created. This is showed by the numerous tombs that have been found in several places on the municipal territory. The main town's name probably comes for the Latin word "Clau-Clusu", which meant the closure of the valley towards the neighbouring centres. The "via maior", which links up Arezzo with Romagna, crossed the territory.
In the Middle Ages the old Roman route became the Romea Way. Since this way joined the Brennero and crossed the Apennines, it was much used by the pilgrims that went to Rome coming from the North of Europe. On the occasion of the Jubilee, the Christian holiday established in 1300 by pope Bonifacio VIII, the route was particularly used by wayfarers coming form the most different Northern countries and form the Baltic areas. However, around the 10th –11th century villages and centres began to develop linked to the phenomenon of transhumance. Shepherds and woodcutters settled there, however also activities linked to these trades were developed as blacksmiths, horseshoers and joiners. The first date with a certain reference to Chiusi is the year 967, when the emperor Ottone I from Germany gave Goffredo di Ildebrando Catani the castle corresponding to the main town and the neighbouring feud.
In 1213 the name of the Catani was closely connected with the events in the life of Saint Francis, when the count Orlando Catani gave the saint the Verna mount, the place where he got the stigmata in 1224. In the 14^th century the chapel of St. Maria Maddalena was built in the place where Francis had lived after he had made a humble hut. Inside the chapel there is the stone where Jesus sat when he appeared to the saint. The story of Verna has been very tormented. It was occupied twice, in 1440 by the Milanese troops of Niccolò Piccinino, in 1498 by the Venetian Bartolomeo d'Alviano. The latter, supported by the Medici that were fighting against the Florentine Republic, sacked and completely ravaged the convent on the mountain.
In 1776, with the administrative reorganization promoted by Pietro Leopoldo, the municipality was joined together with thirteen other places in one administrative district. Then in 1838 it was transferred to the Census office of Bibbiena and took the name of Chiusi in Casentino. Only in 1922 the administration was brought back to Verna and the municipality got the present name. In the ‘70s the valley of Chiusi experienced an industrial boom with the flourishing of over sixty small handicraft and industrial enterprises.
October 4^th is the main festivity in the village, on the occasion of the anniversary of Saint Francis' death the donation of 1214 to the minor Franciscan friars is repeated with the offering of Bread and Wine. Another traditional celebration takes place the first Sunday in July with the pilgrimage to the Casella hermitage the day after Saint Francis' departure to Assisi.