Monsanto and Olena
-
Having passed the Oratory of San Giorgio on the provincial road, the road to Olena forks off to the right. It splits shortly after: on the right it leads to the town of Olena, on the left, it passes the small 17th century Chapel of San Rocco, then the Castle of La Paneretta, and the village of Monsanto, before going down to the valley.
Monsanto
Shortly after La Paneretta, the road goes down to Monsanto. The town, also known as “Monte Santo’, was recorded as one of the holdings of the Marquis Ugo in the 10th century. The church, dedicated to San Ruffignano, was probably originally proto-Romanesque. The building, with its three naves divided by arches on pilasters, has been greatly modified in the course of the centuries. The semicircular apse was turned into a square chapel, and both the portico on the facade and the belfry are later additions. The church houses two interesting works of art: a 15th century wooden Crucifix, modelled on Florentine Renaissance sculptures; and, on the right altar, in very bad condition, a Madonna and Child with Saints Ruffignano and Bartholomew of the 14th century Florentine School.
Olena
This small village carries traces of an Etruscan origin in its name, deriving from the Etruscan word Aulena. There has been a farmhouse documented at Olena since the 10th century and the village’s buildings still retain many Medieval features. The Church of San Pietro, however, shows no such antiquity: the simple facade is the work of 18th and 19th century renovations and the neo-Medieval crenelated bell-tower is even more recent. All the works of art once housed in the church are now exhibited in the Museo d’arte Sacra in San Pietro in Bossolo. Dino da Olena was born here in the 14th century. A physician, and friend of Petrarch, he inspired two of Francesco Sacchetti’s famous tales.
-
Return to Barberino Val d’Elsa