San Pancrazio
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The Parish Church of San Pancrazio lies between the Pesa valley and that of its tributary the Virginio and is known to have existed from at least the 10th century. In the 13th century the abbey of Badia a Passignano owned vast properties around the church. Its abbots aspired to the church’s wealth and often interfered in the business of San Pancrazio and of its Chapter, until 1301, when the parish priest Buondelmonte signed an agreement with his uncle Ruggeri de’ Buondelmonti, then Abbot of Passignano. The Romanesque church was restored by the architect Pietro Berti in 1903. All that remains of the original Romanesque structure are the three semicircular apses decorated with suspended arches in Lombard style and a bell-tower. In front of the facade is a 16th century portico. The shield of the Cavalcanti, patrons of the church, is visible on the columns on the doorway. The interior has three naves, and retains its original 16th century plastering; a false women’s gallery was opened up during the course of 20th century restorations. Almost all the altars, dating between the late 16th and the early 17th century, belonged to the Cavalcanti and bear their coat-of-arms. The exceptions are the first on the right, belonging to the Compagnia dei Bianchi, with a 14th century panel, and that to the left, dated 1748, belonging to the del Pugliese family, with a 1590 Crucifixion by Santi di Tito. The rectory’s entrance is on the side of the church and bears the Cavalcanti coat-of-arms and the date 1589. On the ground floor is the small study that the parish priest Niccolò Cavalcanti built in the 1590s. Following the suggestion of the cultured clergyman, the Florentine painter Cosimo Gheri, frescoed its walls with majestic figures, allegories of the Liberal Arts Above them, the artist depicted poets and writers, including the 13th century poet Guido Cavalcanti, an ancestor of the parish priest. The rich decoration, more suited to an urban palace than to a country residence, was discovered under a coat of paint in 1940 and restored in 1995.
From San Pancrazio, travelling in the direction of Montespertoli, the road crosses the villages of Lucignano and Brugnano reaching the entrance of Villa Guicciardini. In the direction of San Casciano, the road goes down towards Ponterotto and reaches Fattoria di Castelvecchio. The name recalls the old castle built on a spur of the hill, mentioned in a document of 1189; it was the residence of a branch of the Pitti family who abandoned Semifonte at the beginning of the 13th century and stayed on in the Val di Pesa. The ruins of the castle lie near the stately home and the 12th century Church of San Lorenzo. The road continues all the way down to the Pesa river and then back up the hill to San Casciano. It passes Villa Borromeo, originally called Palazzo della Costa, a property which once belonged to the Florentine branch of the Milanese family. Further along on the right is a heavily restored building; its facade bears the marble relief coat-of-arms of the Niccolini and the date 1691. This was the site of a pilgrims’ hospital dedicated to Saint Francis, founded in the 13th century by Lucchese dei Sirigatti da Passignano. The Niccolini derived from this family and were the patrons of the hospital up to the 19th century.
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