Montemignaio

Built on the ruins of a castle from the 13th century, Montemignaio is one of the quaintest hamlets on the side of the Casentino valley of the Pratomagno, reachable from the Consuma pass or going from Strada, in the municipality of Castel San Niccolò.

The landscape is characterised by spruce, pine, beech and chestnut forests interrupted by pastures, cultivated land and picturesque built up areas on the border between the territories of the provinces of Arezzo and Florence. A typical crop is spruce so that Montemignaio is sometimes called “The hamlet of the Christmas tree”.

In this area between Secchieta mountain, one of the tallest of the Pratomagno range, and the Consuma pass, during the early Middle Ages arrived the Langobards and, afterwards, the Counts Guidi built a fortress, called Castel Leone, an outpost against Florence of which nowadays only remain some parts of the walls and its peculiar tower. Inside the small historical centre of Montemignaio, the oratory of st. Agata was built in the first part of the 14th century. On the lunette of its gate there is the coat of arms of the Arte della Lana (the wool guild) of Florence, which had business with the breeders of Montemignaio.

The most important religious site of Montemignaio is the parish church of Our Lady of Assumption (pieve di Santa Maria Assunta) one of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in the Casentino valley; it was built between the 11th and 12th centuries but it was restored at different points in time, maintaining its charm.

Inside it there are some frescoes from the end of the 13th century done in Florentine style. Among the other works, there are also a table probably painted by Antonio del Ceraiolo in the first part of the 16th century with a “Madonna with child and saints”, a glazed terracotta made by the studio of Benedetto Buglioni in the first part of the 16th century that depicts a “Madonna with child, st. Anthony the Great and st. Sebastiano”, that was transferred here from the tabernacle of Docciolino, and another table that depicts a “Madonna of the Calle” attributed to Giovanni di Francesco Toscani painted in the first part of the 15th century. This last masterpiece comes from the oratory of Our Lady of Calle (Oratorio di Santa Maria delle Calle), located 2 km out of Montemignaio, that has an archway made up by three arcs built thanks to the offerings of the pilgrims that came here to worship the picture of Mary, mother of Jesus, which was thought to be miraculous. This is located along a mule track that led from Casentino and Montemignaio to the Consuma pass. Nowadays, right over the altar, which was made in the 17th century, there is a copy of this table.