|  | | | | The jewels of the Valdichiana | | Monte San Savino - Gargonza - Lucignano
The itinerary is an invitation to
discover the Valdichiana, South of Arezzo through the villages of San Savino, Gargonza, Lucignano.
Monte San Savino, on a hill to guard the plain, was inhabited by the Etruscans. In the Middle Ages, because of its geographical location, it was contested by the inhabitants of Arezzo, Siena and Perugia.Then, as a large part of Tuscany, it came under the authority of the Granducato of the Medici. It was the birthplace of Pope Giulio II and of the sculptor Andrea Contucci called Sansovino.
The little town has a circle of walls with two gates, Porta Fiorentina and Porta Romana. A medieval echo can be traced in the architecture of the Cassero and its imposing tower (XIV cent.) which, completely restored, houses the Museum of Ceramics. Corso Sangallo, the main street, is lined with several fine palaces: the Renaissance Loggia Dei Mercanti by Sansovino (XVI cent.), the Palazzo Comunale with a cloister and a hanging garden, the Palazzo Pretorio (XIV) decorated with coats of
arms, the Tower which offers a breathtaking view of the valley, and the Romanesque Pieve, dedicated to St. Egidio and Savino, built in the XII cent.and often remodelled in Rococo style.
A little farther on is the church of Sant’Agostino, built in the XIV cent but enlarged several times, which contains cycles of frescoes by Spinello Aretino and followers (XV cent.) and a painting of the Assunzione by Giorgio Vasari. Next to the church the baptistry of San Giovanni with a portal by
Sansovino.
Have a brief stop at Gargonza, a few kilometres on the way to Siena. The stone houses, which have been restored and turned into flats and a residence, luckily have not affected the urbanistic and architectural plan of its fortified core and a small Romanesque church.
In 1304 Dante Alighieri was probably one of the important guests of the Castle when the Ghibellines from Florence and Arezzo gathered here.
From the Castle of Gargonza proceed towards Monte San
Savino along SP to Lucignano.
On the edge of the provinces of Siena and Arezzo the little village at 400 m. looks over the valley. Some Etruscan and Roman finds point out the importance of Lucignano as a strategic link between the two cities. Its elliptical shape with concentric circles is rather unique in the territory.
Enter the historical centre through the gate Porta San Giusto and start your visit either from the left, along the “via povera”, via Roma, lined with simple
medieval buildings, or from the right, along the “via ricca”, via Marconi, lined with fine Sienese small Renaissance palaces.
In via Roma, on the left,is the Cassero with a high tower (XIV cent.), built on design by Bartolo di Bartolo, in front of it a Renaissance arcade but built only in the XVIII cent, on design by Andrea Pozzo. From here a gentle slope leads to the Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo (late XVI cent., containing fine XVI cent. fine works) by Orazio Porta, with
an elliptical staircase which closes the village plan.
Farther on is the Piazza del Tribunale with the Palazzo del Tribunale later Palazzo Comunale (XIII-XV cent.). From here
you reach the Museo Civico which houses an interesting collection of XIII-XVI cent paintings ( Bartolo di Fredi, Lippo Vanni, Luca Signorelli) and a grand golden-silver and golden copper reliquary, tree shaped, called the Golden Tree of Lucignano, by Sienese goldsmiths, Sienese and Florentine miniaturists and Gabriello d’Antonio (XIV-XV cent.).
Next to the Palazzo Comunale is the Romanesque church of San Francesco (XIII cent.), with a Gothic portal and a rose-window on the façade
and frescoes by Taddeo di Bartolo and Bartolo di Fredi ( Storie di San Francesco, the Trionfo della Morte, XV cent.) in the interior.
Then visit the Torre delle Monache (XI-XII cent.), the characteristic lanes, the bricked up gate (reopened after a long restoration) and, outside the historic centre, the Medici Fortress, which Cosimo I commissioned but which remained unfinished, the Renaissance Santuario della Madonna della Querce by Giorgio Vasari, and the countryside which is
the spectacular frame of the walled town.
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