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HOLY SITES
TThe whole Valdisieve can be considered an open-air museum,
to be visited without hurrying, adapting the visit to the slow pace
of the countryside plotted with fortresses, castles and churches.
A particularly interesting itinerary is the one that visit the main
churches in the Valdisieve. At Dicomano, on a hill over the modern
town, you find the Pieve di Santa Maria which has preserved
its original Romanesque structure.
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The
church lies on the remains of an old castle. Probably the bell-tower
is a part of that ancient castle. Inside there are Florentine paintings
from the 16th and 17th century, a bas-relief and a tondo by della
Robbia. Leaving the village of Rufina you take the tortuous winding
road with beautiful views to Castiglioni, where you should visit the
Pieve di Santo Stefano, a typical example of Romanesque architecture
in the Florentine countryside from the XII century.
Continuing the same road, after the village of Rimaggio you
enter Pomino, with the Pieve di S. Bartolomeo, going back to
the XII-XIII century. Inside the big and solemn church you find a
precious glazed terracotta by Luca della Robbia and a painting from
the 15th century representing the Madonna with Child and Saints attributed
to the Maestro di San Miniato. Leaving Pomino you go towards Borselli
and a little bit before the village you reach the Chiesa di S.
Maria a Tosina which the was protected by the hermitage of Camaldoli.
Next to the sober façade of the church, you find a portal with
an epigraph from 1465 which leads you to the old convent. Inside there
are a pipe-organ with a wooden choir stall from the beginning of the
10th century and terracotta artworks by the workshop of della Robbia.
At Pelago you should visit the Chiesa di S. Clemente, rebuilt
in 1782 by the Vallombrosa Abbey on an ancient Romanesque chapel.
Inside there are an old font, a very decorated altar in scagliola
and a small Raccolta di Arte Sacra.
The itinerary continues towards Vallombrosa, in the
municipality of Reggello, where the farmed sweet hills leave their
way to a marvellous forest which has been taken care of by the monks,
and was declared a Natural Reserve in 1973. In the heart of the forest
you find the Abbey of Vallombrosa, which was founded by a noble Florentine,
Giovanni Gualberto, who left the monastery of San Miniato in Florence
in 1008 together with another monk in order to search for a more isolated
site. After having met San Romualdo who had founded the Hermitage
di Caldoli, Gulaberto began to build wooden cells for other monks
around an already existing hermitage in Vallombrosa.
In 1015 Gualberto was elected their superior monk, and a new congregation
of Vallombrosian monks was founded, following the rule of St. Benedict.
The building of the walls of the cells and the oratory started in
1036. The most important enlargement with the new sacristy and the
premises for new monks was carried out around 1450, and the abbey
was ready as it can be seen today in the 15th century. The tower was
raised to defend the abbey in 1529, after the sack of Charles V, while
the wall which encloses the square and the basin, used for breeding
fishes and the making of ice, date back to the 17th century. The monastery,
closed during the period of Napoleon, reopened in 1817 by the Grand
Duke Ferdinando. In 1866 the young Kingdom of Italy decided that the
monks could no longer stay here and the monastery became the Headquarter
for the Protection of the Forest. The Benedict monks could only return
in 1949. Inside the Abbey there are many artworks preserved, among
which a Robbia bas-relief in the hall next to the refectory, the 15
paintings by Ignazio Hugford in the refectory, the wooden choir stall
decorated with etches and intarsia by Francesco da Poggibonsiin the
church. The surrounding forest features many chapels and tabernacles
built between the XVI and the XVII century.
A few kilometres from Donnini you find thea Pieve a Pitiana,
dedicated to San Pietro and which origins goes back to year 1000.
The church has a nice Romanesque bell-tower and a portal from the
16th century. Inside, which holds a Annunciation by the Ghirlandaio
school, was restructured in the 19th century, but you can still see
the remains of the old church. The Pieve di Pitiana is also worth
a visit for its beautiful location over the valley. Going towards
Reggello, you get to the village of Pietrapiana,where you have
to see the Sant'Agata in Àrfoli. The origins of the
church date back to 1230 and the façade, restructured in the
20th century, was recently changed to itsRomanesque origin. Inside
you can see some artworks from the Early Middle Ages, a nice pipe-organ
from the middle of the 18th century and a stone font, perhaps from
the 11th century. Next top the church you find a cloister from the
13th century, with four columns added during the Renaissance. Some
kilometres from Reggello you find the Pieve di San Pietro at Cascia,
commissioned by Matilde di Canossa around the XII century. The church
of Cascia is a pearl of the Romanesque architecture and is perfectly
preserved, featuring the famous polyptych of San Giovenale, the first
known work by Masaccio, representing the Madonna sitting on a throne
with the Child, the Angels and the Saints. It also features a Madonna
with Child and Saints attributed to Domenico Ghirlandaio and an Annunciation
by Mariotto Cristofano.
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