About Florence

This vast region stretches between the cities of Florence and Siena, west of the Valdarno, and includes a number of municipalities which in administrative terms belong to the provincial territories of one or the other city.
Its Florentine part contains large numbers of farms where one of the most famous wines in the world is made. Villas, castles and farm houses are scattered throughout every hill and valley, as if they had been built to watch over an area known the world over for its artistic heritage, history and beauty.
The territory of the municipality of Greve lies in this region. The main town ex tends outward from the large square, which was originally designed as a market-place and is surrounded by porticoes all round. On one side of the square is a church (chiesa di Santa Croce), which houses a beautiful triptych by Bicci di Lorenzo.
In the chiesa di San Cristofano at Strada visitors can admire a fine 15th century wooden Crucifix, and not far away amidst the surrounding hills, the fortress of the Castello di Mugnana with its 12th century tower stands out against the horizon. The place called Verrazzano is wellknown both for its fortified house and as the birthplace of the famous navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano. The village of Montefioralle is dominated by the church dedicated to Saint Steven {chiesa di Santo Stefano) and decorated with magnificent paintings from the 13th -15th centuries. An ancient parish church {pieve di San Leolino) further south, near Panzano, is worth a visit.
The region extending westward, in the Pesa Valley, belongs to the municipality of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. In one of its hamlets, San Donato in Poggio, visitors can admire the Town Hall (Palazzo Pretoria) and a number of panel paintings which are preserved in the Santa Maria della Neve church. The centre of this hamlet is still surrounded by parts of its walls.

Further north the Badia a Passignano, an abbey of the Benedictine order of Vallombrosa, was founded by San Giovanni Gualberto in 1049. The church boasts paintings by Domenico Cresti, an artist called "II Passignano" because he had been bom here some time around 1559.

Closer to the main town, in an area known as Morrocco, lie the Carmelite convent and church consecrated to the Virgin Mary (convento di Santa Maria). The museum (Museo Vicariale di Tavamelle in Val di Pesa) built in what was once the rectory annexed to the nearby ancient parish church (pieve di San Pietro in Bossolo) is home to a wealth of masterly paintings and sculptures, goldware, miniature paintings and vestments. In the northern part of the Pesa Valley lies the municipality of San Casciano in Val di Pesa: large parts of the 14th century city walls and towers have survived to this day in the centre of this town. A large collegiate church in the upper part of the town dates from 1793.
The town's sacred arts museum (Museo di Arte Sacra) is just a short way from the chiesa di Santa Maria del Gesu (or chiesa del Suffragio) and houses a wealth of paintings, sculptures and magnificent gold-ware from several churches in the surrounding area.
Niccolo Machiavelli is known to have lived for some time in a house named L'Albergaccio at Sant'Andrea in Percussina, along the road to Florence.

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