Discover Chianti

La Collina

San Colombano is the second church on via di Bibbione. It sits on the hilltop of Montaguto, which has been a ritual site since Etruscan times. In 1155 after the destruction of the nearby Castle of Bibbione, Bishop Ambrogio was given this hill on which to build a new fortification. The church appears in mid 13th century documents, but the only traces of the Romanesque structure are the doorway and the semicircular apse. On the right, after the church, lies an imposing building, Villa La Pila. lts hhedieval structures once were part of a fortress belonging to a branch of the Buondelmonti family, the della Pila.

Tomba dell’Arcere

Following the signs from the Church of San Colombano, a short walk through the fields leads to an Etruscan tomb. The tomb was discovered by chance during farm work in 1978. It is a chamber tomb preceded by a short corridor, or “dromos” and has a West facing entrance. The dry stone walls were built of slabs and blocks of alberese. The same stone was used for the pseudo-dome covering supported by a pillar measuring almost 4 meters. A fragment of the stele which marked the tomb’s position in the countryside is now in the San Casciano Library garden. It depicts an archer and is datable to the third quarter of the 7th century BC. The tomb, already looted in Roman times, was later used as a shelter for men and animals and as a shed for farm tools. A Medicean coin from the second half of the 16th century was found inside the tomb. This suggests that the vault collapsed at some point after the end of the 16th century but its memory survived in the name of this site, known to this day as “la cupola”, the dome.

Sant’Angelo

The Church of Sant’Angelo faces a quiet little piazza, further along via di Bibbione. The 13th century church lost its Medieval appearance at the beginning of the 17th when it was restored by the prior Sebastiano Luti, whose coat-of-arms decorates the plain gabled facade. In front of Sant’Angelo, the road on the right leads to Villa Mocale, an old property of the Buondelmonti. Part of the estate was donated to the Medici by Rinaldo di Ballerino de’ Buondelmonti. In 1757 it passed on to the Gondi family, who restructured the villa and gave it its present appearance.

Castello di Bibbione

The last stretch of the road before the valley is dominated by the imposing Castle of Bibbione. The place-name Bibbione derives from the holding’s name in Roman times, Vibianus, belonging to Vibius. The Counts Cadolingi built a fortress here, mentioned as “Castrum Bibionis” in a 10th century document. By 1142 it had already been partly dismantled, but was rebuilt by the new owners, the Buondelmonti, because of its strategic importance for defending the valley. In the 16th century, it was sold to Niccolò di Alessandro Machiavelli, a relative of a the famous statesman. The facade of the majestic fortress, whose masonry is a combination of bricks and stone, was renovated in the Renaissance. The pietra serena ashlar doorway and the beautiful corbelled windows were added. Traces of the Medieval openings are still visible between the first floor windows while, under the roof, the original crenellations were transformed into a row of oculi windows. The internal spaces are laid out around the courtyard. On its walls a display of decorative elements, some possibly from the castle itself is arranged in a typical late 19th century antiquarian fashion.The Church of Santa Maria was built by the Buondelmonti between the 12th and 13th centuries. It is a plain Romanesque hall, with a semicircular apse and a small bell-gable. Inside is a fragment of a painted panel, possibly from the 15th century, depicting a pilgrim saint.

-

Return to Mercatale Val di Pesa