Spicciano

spiccianoOn the road between the Church of San Romolo and Villa di Spicciano is a small 17th century chapel dedicated to the Our Lady of Consolation. It has a simple facade with a pietra serena door, decorated with the coat-of-arms of the Palmerini family. Further on is the majestic turreted villa, a property which since the 13th century belonged to the Del Nero, a family prominent in Florence’s political life. The crenellated tower probably dates back to the 15th century, while the rest of the villa was rebuilt between 1780 and 1791. During this period the chapel was added and the farm modernized according to the directives of the Hapsburg-Lorraine’s new agricultural policies. In 1825 the Del Nero family died out, and the villa passed on to the Torrigiani. In the mid 19th century the park at the back of the villa was created, as was the Italian garden, which altered the course of the road to Tignano. Anna Fry, the wife of the Marquis Carlo Torrigiani, who died in 1917, is buried in the villa’s chapel.

Casaglia

After the Torrigiani villa a road winds to the right through fields, passing Podere San Filippo, and finally reaching the Oratory of San Michele a Casaglia. The tiny church, no longer in use, was one of the many oratories built by noble families in Medieval times to spread the faith and promote religious practice among the rural population. San Michele was probably founded by the Ardinghelli and in its early days the Del Nero were its patrons. A 1299 document records it as a parish. Inside the oratory there was a rare 13th century panel, the Madonna and Child by Meliore di Jacopo, today exhibited in the Museo d’ Aarte Sacra in San Pietro in Bossolo.

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