Top 20 Castles in Florence

As a plant expert and botany enthusiast, Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes d’Aragona designed the large green area surrounding Sammezzano Castle, approximately 65 hectares, which constitutes the current Historic Park. Around the ancient "ragnaia" (woodland) formed by a high forest of holm oaks, Ferdinando decided to place numerous rare and exotic plants. Their purpose was to serve the dual purpose of beautifying the exterior and gradually introducing visitors and guests to the wonders of the "Moorish" style of the Villa-Castle of Sammezzano. Among the exotic species introduced by Ferdinando, the most well-known are undoubtedly the majestic sequoias (Sequoia sempervirens and Sequoia gigantea), which, as demonstrated by the remarkable size they reached in just 150 years, certainly found the geological, soil, and climatic conditions favorable to their growth. Among these, the so-called "twin sequoia" stands out, as its trunk forks into two enormous vertical branches a few meters from the base. It is almost 54 meters tall and, with a circumference of 837 centimeters, the tallest sequoia in Italy. It is not only one of Italy's monumental trees, but also one of the select group of "150 trees of exceptional environmental or monumental value."

Small ancient village

The small village of Malmantile has one of the best preserved examples of medieval city walls in Tuscany. Its origins are unknown, it was essentially a military center located along the ancient and very important road that connected Florence to Pisa and only later became an inhabited center. Legend has it that the episode that gave rise to its name dates back to the 4th century! St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, was traveling towards central Italy while St. Zanobi, bishop of Florence, was in the area. The two met where the commemorative tabernacle of the meeting stands and stayed for a few days to talk in a farmhouse. Upon leaving, St. Ambrose was so dissatisfied with the welcome he received from the locals that he cursed the place so much that the farmhouse sank into a crevasse. Once word of what had happened spread, the town was called 'Malmantile', which literally meant 'bad tablecloth' but in a broader sense 'bad reception'. The late Gothic walls of the town date back to 1424 and are one of the first examples of a wall equipped with a projecting device, the most used type in Tuscany for the entire following century. It seems that Brunelleschi also supervised their construction. The walls have a layout of 125x70 meters and form an almost perfect rectangle, oriented with the longer sides to the north-west and south-east and with the short ones, in the center of which are the two gates, joined by the single road axis, to the north-east and south-west. Although the entire perimeter of the loose stone wall is preserved, little remains of the projecting defensive device. This is made up of stone corbels of the type with four rounded projections to support the slightly pointed brick arches. Compared to the nearby circle of Lastra a Signa, here there are, in alternating arches, the machicolations for the plunging defense. The wall is completed by square towers placed at the four corners plus two other towers, without an internal front, placed at the center of the longer sides, the largest of which is the one on the north-west side, the one facing the external road and also the best preserved as it is completely free from overlapping of subsequent buildings. The two gates, both with round arches, are obtained by projecting a section of the walls themselves outwards and equipped with a series of slits on both sides. The one towards Florence is currently in need of restoration with the arch at risk of collapse. To the west of the gate facing Pisa (southwest) we find the only still intact section of the projecting apparatus, crowned by a parapet made of finer stone than that of the walls. Along the entire perimeter the escarpment joins the upper part plumb without a roundabout. To the south of the gate and along the walls they are in some places pierced by the windows of the houses leaning against them. The north-west side is internally free from buildings but partially covered by buildings built externally.

Village of Villages

A Renaissance palace located in the Oltrarno district, in the center of Florence and former residence of the banker Luca Pitti, Palazzo Pitti was for decades the main residence of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Today it houses important museums with works by artists such as Titian and Raphael.

Inserted among the most beautiful villages in Italy, this hamlet of Greve in Chianti reserves an atmosphere suspended in time, between stone houses and alleys and medieval fortifications.

Ideal stop for lunch.

Palazzo Pretorio, the most representative monument of Certaldo, was the ancient residence of the Alberti counts, built around the end of the 12th century on the ruins of the ancient houses of this family. The prisons, the audience hall, the archive, the chapel and the private quarters of the Vicars can still be visited today. On the facade and inside the palace there are numerous coats of arms, each of which represents the effigy of the family of each Vicar who governed and lived here. In the Palace you can admire frescoes and sinopias from the 15th and 16th centuries. For further information: https://www.comune.certaldo.fi.it/it/page/palazzo-pretorio