Montevarchi

Montevarchi is the most important town of the Upper Arno valley and it is built on a prehistoric lake basin near to the hills that divide Arno valley and Chianti.

Its strategic place at the border between the dioceses of Arezzo and Fiesole, on the paths that connected Arezzo, Florence and Siena during the Middle Ages was the reason for which a castle was built, on what is known today as the Cappuccini hill, by the Marquises Bourbon of the Monte Santa Maria, in order to protect the near Ginestra hill, on which there was a hospital for pilgrims built by the Bishop of Arezzo, Elemperto. In the same place there was, since the 7th century, the monastery of st. Angelo. Presently, instead of the ancient monastery there are the Church of the Holy Cross and Ginestra Fabbrica della Conoscenza, a polyfunctional cultural facility.

During the 12th century, Montevarchi fell under the rule of Counts Guidi, who promoted the development of a marketplace that was sold, together with the castle, to Florence. After being strengthened, the fortress thus became a Florentine outpost against Arezzo together with the so-called “Terre Nuove” (new lands), meaning some fortified cities built from scratch by Florence. Under the Florentine Republic before and later under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Montevarchi became a centre for the gathering and shipping of wheat, linen and hemp and, starting in the 18th century, the city was known for hat manufacturing and the leather industry.

In Varchi square, the two main buildings of the city are found: the Podestà palace, built in the 14th century, is the town hall and exhibition centre; the church of st. Lorenzo, built between the 13th and 14th century in Romanesque style, became a “collegiata” in 1561. Inside the former, between 1490 and 1499, the “Tempietto robbiano” was built; it is a chapel where there are some glazed terracottas made by Andrea della Robbia to keep the relic of the Holy Milk. The church was enlarged between 1706 and 1722 in a Baroque style and this “tempietto” was removed and placed in the nearby Museum of Sacred Art of the Collegiata, in which is still found today, together with sculptures, paintings, sacred furnishings and valuable pieces of jewellery.

Also the keep (called “Cassero“), which was part of the fortification built in the 13th century, has become a museum. The “Cassero for the italian sculpture of the 1800s and the 1900s” is an almost unique centre for the documentation on plastic arts.

Continuing on the museums, the Paleontology museum of Montevarchi was opened in 1829; in its rooms, the history of nature in the Upper Arno valley is presented by the extraordinary finds of the fauna that lived in the valley starting from three million years ago. It has been some time since the museum has opened a section of archaeology that keeps the Roman and Etruscan finds in the valley of the Arno.

The museum is inside the ex monastery of st. Ludovico, in Poggio Bracciolini street, that was suppressed in 1808 and the building was given to the Propositura of st. Andrea in Cennano. In 1889, a part of the building was separated and given, together with the beautiful cloister build in 1471, during the Renaissance, to the Accademia Valdarnese del Poggio that placed inside it its offices, library and palaeontology collection.

Out of town, there are two religious sites, both built during the 17th century in order to keep two frescoes detached from tabernacles for the fact that they were thought to be miraculous. The church of st. Mary in Giglio keeps “Our Lady of the Bridge” attributed to Luberto from Montevarchi whereas the church of Our Lady of the Graces (Santa Maria delle Grazie) has a “Sacred Family” painted according to the Florentine style. For the enthusiasts of the architecture of the 1900s, Villa Masini, finished in 1927, was built with a mixture of liberty, art-decò and eclectic styles. It was used as a set for the 1997 film “Life is Beautiful” by Roberto Benigni.

Around Montevarchi there are some localities that are divided between the municipalities of Montevarchi and Bucine such as Mercatale-Torre, with some remains of a mediaeval citadel, and the populated Levane, built on the right bank of the Ambra stream as a hamlet for the lost castle of Leona. Lastly, perched on the hills of Chianti lies the panoramic village of Moncioni.