The town of Civitella Val di Chiana is in the province of Arezzo at 280 m. a.s.l. of altitude and has a population of about 8,000 inhabitants. By visiting this interesting centre one can admire the Fortress, the XIV-century palazzo Pretorio and the church of Santa Maria dating to the XII century.

Some archaeological finds have shown the Etruscan origin of the first settlement in Civitella and the following arrival of the Romans in the area. The Early Medieval Lombard fortifications in the Val di Chiana probably rose in these original nucleuses. Among them, there is the Fortress of Civitella, set on a hilly relief that allows controlling the area below and some passes that functioned as connections with other fortified villages.
Between the IX and the XI centuries, the territory of Civitella became rich in parishes, monasteries and accommodation facilities by benefiting from its intermediate position between valleys and old and new tracks. Thus, the castle became more and more important thanks to its geographically dominating position and the Bishopric of Arezzo started to control it after the year 1000. The feud of Civitella soon became the chief town of the Viscountcy of Val d'Ambra, the part of territory under the direct control of the curia of Arezzo.
In the XII century, the battles between Guelfs and Ghibellines followed one another for the possession of the fortress that was also razed to the ground. Guglielmino degli Ubertini ordered its reconstruction in 1272. Civitella fell in the hands of the Florentines after they won in the battle of Campaldino in 1289. In 1311, the bishopric of Arezzo could take it back through the drawing up of a peace treaty with the emperor Henry IV and avoided the town to be at the centre of the bloody fights between factions that raged across Tuscany.
Civitella definitively entered the dominions of the Florentine Republic in 1348 becoming a town hall. Around the half of the XVI century, the town succeeded into defending itself from the assault of the Sienese headed by Pietro Strozzi. The help of the Medicean troops led by Paolo Castello was decisive. In the Grand Ducal time, more precisely in 1774, the town hall Civitella acquired the status of an autonomous "comunitas" in the frame of the territorial reforms established by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena.
In 1860 the town became part of the Kingdom of Italy with which it shared the terrible experience of the two world wars and of dictatorship. The period of the Nazi-Fascist occupation was particularly cruel because during it Civitella, Cornia and San Pa ìncrazio were victims of the appalling massacre carried out by Herman Göering 's militias. Only In the chief town, 115 civilians were killed on 29 June 1944.