 The town of
Cerreto Guidi lies between two areas of great naturalistic
interest, Montalbano to the East and the Padule (Westlands)
of Fucecchio to the West, and is predominantly an agricultural
hill area.
The inhabitants of the countryside are
widespread and the rural landscape has kept its own balance,
being still rich in traditional vineyards and olive groves.
Well-kept and preserved countryside where you can discover
homesteads farms villas and churches typical of
tuscan hillside scenery.
Cerreto Guidi extends
for 49 square kilometres in Valdarno Florence.
Feudal land, then Podesta Office , it became Seat
of the community in 1774 and reached its
present day size in the first half of the XIX century ,
when a part of its territory was detached and annexed to
that of Vinci. Cerreto
Guidi History
The oldest document goes
back to the year 780 : in this the
Abbey of San Savino near Pisa had a donation of certain
assets in the Cerreto territory. Cerreto tied, as is
testified in the town name, to the Guidi Counts -
is from 1086 the oldest testimony of the tie between
the feudal family and the town - but quite soon, in 1273,
the Guidi overloaded with incurred debts, ceded
it for 8,000 florins to the Fiorentina republic .
From that moment on the history of the town, and the
surrounding territory saw continual passage from hand
to hand and revolts: in 1315 Cerreto rebelled
against Firenze profiting
by the defeat of the Guelfo army by Uguccione della Faggiola;
in 1326 it was the turn of Castruccio Castracani ,
who took over Cerreto ; in 1332 Giovanni
di Boemia occupied it with the military, as
did Mastino della Scala in 1336. It
was exactly to put an end to this endemic weakness of
a township that by now, for importance and population,
had assumed a notable size, that in the year of the last
undertaking in 1336 the Firenze municipal
decided that the village of Cerreto should be "remade
and walled" . For two centuries the tranquillity
seemed to have returned even if in 1538 Spanish troops
were billeted in the town without however causing damage
of any kind. During the last war the town suffered damage
to person and possessions: Twenty or so inhabitants were
shot by the Nazis in the slaughter recorded
as the slaughter of the Padule di Fucecchio.
What to see in Cerreto Guidi Florence
Palio del Cerro' at Cerreto Guidi
Since the end of the Sixties these
competitions have been held among the four 'contrade' of
the town of Cerreto Guidi.
Among the tests there is tug-o-war,
crossbow, the amusing but extremely difficult chair race and the race with wooden
blocks tied underfoot!
Together with the competitions there are historic processions in 16th century
costumes.
The Medici villa - the Medicean Complex
In Cerreto Guidi there is the magnificent Medici villa, built
in the 16th century, the church of San Leonardo with a baptismal font by Andrea
della Robbia, and frescoes by the Giotto school in the Santa Liberata oratory.
The Medicean Complex, which bears witness
to the rule of the family over the village, stands in a
central position. It is made up of the Museo Villa Medicea
and the farm which is separated from the manor house by
the Parish church of San Leonardo, and the four stone staircases
leading to the square in front of the villa, known as the
ponti medicei (Medicean bridges).
The area was obviously so dear to Cosimo
dei Medici that he wanted to build a splendid residence
on the peak of one of the hills where a then-derelict Guidi
castle bore witness to their previous dominion. In 1564
the Grand duke wrote a letter giving consent for work to
be started, and in a document of 1575 it is shown that
the Medici architect Bernardo Buontalenti, presumably the
villa's designer, was in the area.
The brickwork and stone facade of the Villa is austere, but is balanced by the
stone staircases leading to the square, the so-called bridges, thus giving a
strong chromatic contrast.
The villa's interior is extremely rigorous and embellished with pictorial decorations
dating back to the 19th century.
The villa is the seat of the Museo Villa Medicea, and now houses a collection
of Medicean iconography.
Inside the church, the baptismal font is of artistic note, made of glazed polychrome
terracotta from the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia. |
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