Copyright © Municipality of Stia

Stia (ZIP code 52017) is 47,3 kilometers far from Arezzo, that is the Chief Town of the homonymous province to whom the municipality belongs.

Stia has a population of 3.008 inhabitants (Stiani) and a surface of 62,67 square kilometers thus showing a population density of 48,00 inhabitants per square kilometer. It rises 441 metres above the sea level.

The City Hall is located in Piazza G. Pertini 1, phone ++39 0575 - 58672, fax ++39 0575 - 504342: the E-Mail address is stia.comune@tin.it.

Population: The municipality of Stia had a popolation of 3.017 inhabitants accordingly to the results of the national census made in 1991. After the national census made in 2001 the population was 3.008 inhabitants, thus showing during the years 1991 - 2001 a percentual variation of -0,30% inhabitants.

Copyright © Municipality of Stia

The inhabitants are distributed in 1.276 families with an average of 2,36 people per family.

The place: The territory of the municipality lies between 424 and 1.658 metres above sea level.

The altimetric spawn is thus of 1.234 metres.

Work and workers:There are 65 industrial firms employing 229 people that are the 31,72% of the total of the workers. There are 74 service firms employing 150 people that are the 20,78% of the total of the workers. There are also 61 firms employing 190 people that are the 26,32% of the total of the workers. There are also 30 administrative offices emplying 153 workers that are the 21,19% of the total of the workers.

There is a total of 722 workers, that are the 24,00% of the inhabitants of the municipality.

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.

Copyright © Municipality of Stia

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.

Copyright © Municipality of Stia

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.