Paciano is a picturesque village that was acclaimed as being one of the nicest Italian villages from the Middle Ages, and today listed among the borghi piu belli d'Italia (most beautiful villages) making it a sure winner. With just 963 residents, it is truly a hamlet, but a beautiful one! It bears three parallel streets with winding narrow lanes meandering among them. Paciano keeps the original gateways into the town - Porta Fiorentina, Porta Perugina, and Porta Rastrella.
The name may derive from Giano (Roman god Janus) and perhaps from "passus Iani" in reference to a temple dedicated to Giano along the road towards Chiusi. While the history goes back even farther to the Etruscan period, it really developed as a town in the Middle Ages. The first citation of it as a hamlet dates to 917. Paciano constituted an important medieval castle guarding the domain of Perugia in the territory of Chiugi. The older settlement located further upstream, is represented a tower called Tower of Orlando. You can't miss the castle that still stands at the Porta Rastrella, called Rocca Buitoni ,which is flanked by important buildings such as Palazzo Cennini, the imposing Palazzo Baldeschi with Renaissance galleries, with monumental staircase probably designed by Vignola. It is now a museum called TrasiMemo Banca della Memoria, with displays on the faces and reflections of the past people and ways here, the artisans, agricultural and enogastronomic heritage.
Surrounded by beautiful low rippling hills covered in olive groves, Paciano is also known as a "citta dell'olio" (city of olive oil), so taste some of the celebrated stuff. It is highly prized throughout the area, and heralded with a festa the first week of December.
Also notable to see is the Pinacoteca, or civic art gallery, that you enter through the Santissimo Sacramento, with works spanning a few millennia, from the Etruscans through the 18th century with frescoes, sacred items, paintings and statues. The Church of San Giuseppe and its parocchial museum, the church of San Sebastiano with its artworks from the school of il Perugino, and the main church dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta also warrant a visit.
Pacino is one of the stops on the itinerate Trasimeno Blues Festival. Enjoy the views that cast from the low hills to Lake Trasimeno to the north and Monte Pausillo to the south. It is a great location for visiting the lake, the beautiful towns in the area. Sited between Chiusi and Perugia, Umbria and southern Tuscany's well-known places are in reach - Citta' della Pieve with its spectacular Perugino works, Montepulciano, Pienza, Orvieto, and Assisi, to name a few.
