The Monte Cammarata, elevation 1,579 metres (5,180 ft) above sea level, part of the Monti Sicani chain, is nearby.

Cianciana borders the following municipalities: Alessandria della Rocca, Bivona, Cattolica Eraclea, Ribera, Sant'Angelo Muxaro.

The village is situated on the valley of the River Platani and is surrounded by the Sicani Mountains, and was originally inhabited the Cretans in the second millennium BC.

Archaeological excavations have found traces of Roman temples and other constructions, including a "castle" called Casaletto di Chincana, whence the name given to the area in the feudal era of the Kingdom of Sicily.

However, after the sulfur mine closed in the early 1960s, rapid emigration to England, France, Germany, the United States, Canada and other parts of the world reduced the population by more than half.