The artistic and architectural patrimony offers many places of interest and masterpieces that are kept in the churches, as well as two museums of sacred art to be found in the territory. In the town centre of Reggello can be admired Piazza Potente, with its late 16th-c. open galleries, the Town Hall adorned with the coats of arms of the Podestas who succeeded each other over the years in governing the community, and the 16thc. Church of San Jacopo with its 17th-c. frescoes and paintings and an 18th-c. organ.
Two kilometres from Reggello is the Church of Santa Margherita a Cancelli. Its founding is ancient, and it has been restored several times. Inside, there is a fresco from the workshop of Paolo Schiavo.
At nearby Cascia it is possible to visit the Romanesque Parish Church of San Pietro, which conserves a 15th-c. wooden crucifi x and an Annunciation attributed to Mariotto di Cristofano (1420). At the church there is the Masaccio Museum of Sacred Art, which among its many masterpieces numbers the Triptych of San Giovenale, the first work painted by Masaccio, dated 1422. Also worthy of note are the Parish Church of Sant’Agata in Arfoli (1230) and that of Pitiana, which dates to 1039. The former conserves a fresco by Gerini (1451), a work by Raffaellino del Garbo (1497), and a precious organ of 1756. In the Parish Church of Pitiana can be admired precious works of art, among which are two panels by Ghirlandaio and an altarpiece by I. Hugford. Instead, works by Mino da Fiesole and Antonio Rossellino can be found in the Church of San Clemente a Sociana. In the locality of Sociana there is also the Church of Santa Maria, which dates back to 1299. An ancient suffragan chapel of the Parish Church of San Leonino at Rignano, the Romanesque-style church has a single nave, and was completely restored in 1929. Outside, the 18th-c. portico and ribbed bell tower with two alignments of bells, surmounted by a cusp bearing a metal cross, can be admired. The sandstone cornices are very fi ne. Inside, there are the baptismal font in neo-renaissance style and several valuable 17th-18th c. paintings of the Florentine and Tuscan schools. Above Reggello is the Oratory of Ponticelli (16th-17th c.), which rose as a spontaneous place of worship and devotion to Sant’Anna, the protector of women giving birth, and to the Virgin Mary. The people of the Valdarno, having escaped an epidemic of plague, used to go there to give thanks to Our Lady, bringing with them their own ex voto. In 1770, Pope Clement XIV with a bull recognised Ponticelli as a place of devotion, and conceded to the oratory a plenary indulgence. Ponticelli was also a hermitage and a place designated for accommodating pilgrims who used to travel along the roads that crossed the Valdarno and the Casentino. The edifi ce, which is built of sandstone, has a single nave and was restored in 1979. In the locality of I Piani, between Pietrapiana
and Vallombrosa, there also rose the Oratory, or Chapel, of I Piani, today a private building, and it too built as a place of popular devotion to the Madonna of the Snow. Lastly, the tourist locality of Vallombrosa, seat of the millenary Abbey and of the Museum of Sacred Art, inaugurated in 2006, abounds in artistic treasures. At Vallombrosa, it is possible to travel the Circuit of Chapels, among which is that of St Giovanni Gualberto. This is a pedestrian itinerary that winds through the forest, touching ten completely restored 17th- and 18th-c. chapels. They used to constitute an “outpost” of the Abbey that was linked to its history from the very beginning. In the vicinity of Vallombrosa in the direction of Consuma is the little village of San Miniato in Alpe (or al Poggio). During the 19th c., the village numbered 108 inhabitants. In the hamlet of Ciliegi can be admired the Torre del Castellano, a privatelyowned building that has a great visual impact, thanks to the white colour of the alberese. Built by the Counts Guidi over the site of a Lombard sighting tower, it was acquired during the 14th c. by the Castellani family of rich Florentine bankers, who gave it its name. In 1938, the Pegne family, who are the current owners, assigned its restoration to the architect Morozzi, and he brought the building back to its ancient architectural form. In the locality of Sant’Ellero is the castle of the same name, which was probably founded during the early Middle
Ages in defence of the Benedictine abbey of Sant’Ilario in Alfi ano. It was destroyed in 1267 by Charles d’Anjou and by the Florentine Guelphs. Of the fortifid settlement, which has been transformed into a villa, there remain the central tower, which has been partially rebuilt, and segments of the enclosing walls on which part of the houses leans. In the locality of Vallombrosa is the Castle of Acquabella, surrounded by an Italian garden. Built at the desire of the Resse family in 1881 to the design of the architect Corinti, in 1893 it was transformed by the new owners into the Grande Albergo Castello di Acquabella. Important villas are also to be found in the territory.
The well-restored Villa di Mandri, whose 16th-c. appearance has been reinstated, belonged to a younger branch of the Medici family. Its remarkable façade was redesigned in 1664 by Foggini and Silvani. The inside garden is interesting for its ancient irrigation system that exploits overflowing, realised with basins made of pietra serena. The “I Bonsi ” Villa, which is located amid olive trees, dates, instead, to the 15th c.. An ancient “richman’s house” belonging to the Florentine Bonsi della Ruota family, in the 17th c. was turned over to the monks of the Carmine in Florence who had it transformed into a convent. In the 19th c. theBudini Gattai family made it into a castle– villa, to the design by the architect and painter Raffaello Sorbi. The wine cellar, which dates to the Middle Ages, with its brick cross vaults is interesting, as is the (olive-oil) jar store, with its 19th-c. manufactures. Villa Pitiana, whose existence has been documented since 1309, is in the locality of “Pitiana Alta”, on the site in which a “rich man’s house” probably rose.Built of filaretto (rows of small open ashlars of pietraforte), the villa consists of a massive rectangular tower and two courtyards. The back wing, which has a three-order façade, the work of Alfonso Parigi, was added in 1610. After becoming the property of the Grottanelli amily, the Villa took on its current appearance at the end of the 19th c.
Another architectural finding in the territory is the ancient “Ponte di Annibale [Hannibal’s Bridge]”. In actual fact, this is a crossing that dates back to the late Middle Ages, and is made of the local stone by exploiting the rocks that rise out the water from the river bed. The crossing was connected with a mill, which was still well-conserved in the 1950s. Very low over the level of the river and lacking in parapets, it could not be used during times when the river fl ooded because it became submerged. Today, it is lacking the central arch, which was destroyed by the 1966 fl ood. Lastly, we can make mention, on Monte Secchieta, of a monument to those who fell during the battle of Secchieta: in the spring of 1944, eleven men belonging to the small garrison of Secchieta died during action with strong enemy troops.
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