Street of Castiglioni

The historical-naturalistic path along the Via di Castiglioni is like an open-air history lesson, this hilly area was the site of settlements from the Roman era and in its 2 km of dirt road you can easily recognize the churches, oratories, castles and villas of the first late medieval and renaissance colonization. Closer to the present day we can observe the transformations that have changed a very fragmented and polycultural territory into one that is more uniform and governed above all by the vineyard.

1 – The walk starts from the castle-villa of Montegufoni. It was transformed into a noble residence by the Acciaioli family during the fourteenth century.

3 – Podere Paterno is the classic Tuscan sharecropping farm from the end of the 18th century: farmhouse, cottages, farmyard. Along the way there are other farms: Pino (early ‘700), Giuncheto (early’ 800) .2 – Take the easy ‘Via di Castiglioni’, first paved, then dirt, with sweeping views over the Val di Pesa (a right) and the Virginio valley (left).

4 – The church of San Michele, on top of a hillock, was in the year 1000 a rectory run by clerics.

5 – Villa Frescobaldi belonged to a noble Florentine family, which had owned extensive properties as early as the 14th century. The building dates back to the 18th century and was the administrative nucleus of a large estate divided into 10 farms.

6 – The walk ends at the chapel, in the middle of a thick cypress forest. Return to Montegufoni following the same route as the outward journey.

To know more:
Municipality of Montespertoli, La Via di Castiglioni: an itinerary in the landscape, Archeoprogetti, 2001
Published on Bell’Italia in July 2007 – © Albano Marcarini 2018.