Petrognano
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The small village of Petrognano is all that is left of Semifonte, the legendary fortress of the Alberti Counts in the Elsa valley, destroyed after a brief flourishing. In 1181 Count Alberto degli Alberti, supported by Henry the IV of Swabia, began the construction of a fortress on these hills, meant to become one of the strongholds of Imperial policy of control over Tuscany. Despite the opposition of the Florentine Republic, who dismantled the first buildings in 1184, three years later the fortress was almost completed. It rose on a flat stretch of land, by a spring which named the town: first “Summons Fons“, then Semifonte. Semifonte was naturally defended on three sides by steep rock ravines, and could only be accessed from the Barberino road, where an outpost was built just outside the town walls: today’s Petrognano. According to ancient chronicles, Semifonte grew very rapidly, soon becoming one of the wealthiest cities of the area and a menace even to Florence. As the popular Florentine rhyme puts “Fiorenza Fatti in la/Semifon divien città” Florence stand aside/Semifonte is becoming a city. The death of the Emperor Henry IV spelt the end of Semifonte. In 1197 Florence managed to force its bordering towns into obedience, made the Alberti swear allegiance to the Republic and besieged the city. The city’s natural defenses and the bravery of its townsmen were such that Semifonte resisted for five years, until 1202, when a peace treaty was signed. Florence demanded the complete destruction of the city, the dispersal of its population, and forbade any building on the site of Semifonte. Petrognano was saved; the square tower, which today gives the village its character, must have belonged to one of its defensive structures. The small Church of San Pietro is huddled in a group of farmhouses at the bottom of a short downhill road. It is a tiny Romanesque building with a small bell-gable. A wooden Crucifix sculpted by an unknown 13th century artist, today in the Museo d’ Arte Sacra in Certaldo, was once kept here. According to popular saying, the Crucifix originally hung in one of Semifonte’s churches, but in fact, it seems to date to the mid 13th century. A beautiful 16th century villa stands in the center of town.
From 1560, it was owned by Giovan Battista Capponi. In 1588, the Capponi canon, a man of great culture, renowned for his religious fervor, asked Grand duke Ferdinand I to repeal the law which prohibited construction on the site of Semifonte, in order to erect the little votive chapel just past Petrognano. The chapel, completed in 1597, was built to commemorate the destroyed city and was dedicated to Saint Michael, patron of one of the churches in Semifonte. The architect and painter Santi di Tito was commissioned for the project. He designed an octagonal building, covered by a small dome, which duplicates in a scale of 1:5 thedome of the Florence’s Cathedral by Filippo Brunelleschi. The austere doorway with a pediment made of pietra serena stone is decorated with the Capponi coat-of-arms.
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