16 km south west of Lake Trasimeno. The Clusium of Lars Porsena the Etruscan king in Macaulay’s poem about Horatio, it ‘closes’ (occludere) the long thin valley of Chiana, once swampland, now irrigated and fertile. Chiusi at first glance is merely a railway junction. You have to hunt among rocks and scrub for the Etruscan tombs, whose contents are displayed in the town museum (www.prolocochiusi.it/en/museo-nazionale-etrusco-e-tombe/).

Detour – Citta della Pieve

8 km south of Chiusi. A hill town at a junction of routes, birthplace of Perugino. Some of his paintings, distinguished by his luminous ‘Perugino blue’ of which the composition remained a secret, are in the Duomo and the oratory of Santa Maria dei Bianchi (for more info, see www.cittadellapieve.org).