Stia, a charming village surrounded by the Nature

Stia rises at the bottom of the Falterona mount, nearby the confluence of the Stagia torrent in the Arno river, in Casentino area.

The local economy is mainly based on the industrial activities in the textile field and in the furniture one. Numerous industries carry out the paper and the clothing making and the manufacture of the leather. Remarkable is also the tourist activity during summer.

The place name was testified in 1053 for the first time as "Staia". The name Stia comes from the Latin word "Staius" with reference to the close Staggia torrent.

During the Middle Ages Stia belonged to the Guidi's Counts of Porciano, who built in the territory their proper residence, called "of Palagio", along the bank of the Staggia torrent.

The village of Stia formed around the Guidi's residence. In the XIV-th century the inhabitants developed a flourishing textile manufacture that produced woollen clothes.

Here the famous "Casentino cloth" was born.

Stia was under the Guidi's jurisdiction until 1402, when the Florentine Republic besieged and conquered the whole territory.

Under the Florentine domination the village took the name of Florentine Palagio. From then the history of Stia is joined to the Florentine one.

The village of Stia was first under the domination of the Grand Dukes of Medici, who built the Saint Mary of the Graces Church, that is a typical example of the Florentine architecture, and then it was under the domination of the Lorena's Dukes.

The Lorena's Dukes started a great work for the reclamation of the territory that promoted the development of the agriculture and consequently the population and economic increase.

 At the beginning of the XIX-th century the activity of the woolen mills was well developed: among the woolen factories, the Rossi one was the most famous. At that same time the vine production was diffused too.

In 1861 Stia was annexed to the Reign of Italy by the King Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoia.

Among the most important monuments to see in Stia we point out here the Chiesa della Madonna del Ponte (Our Lady of the Bridge Church), the Parrocchiale di Santa Maria Assunta (Saint Mary's Assumption Parish) and the Castello di Palagio (Castle of the Palagio) that today is seat of the "Museum of Contemporary Art" and the "Carlo Beni Ornithological Museum".

Among the numerous celebrations periodically taking place in Stia we remind here the traditional "Saint Christine's Fair" held yearly on July and on the same day the "Festival of the Tortello". During the celebration is also possible to taste typical courses of the Casentino, like the "Tortello", a typical potatoes-made course.