Today I want to tell you about Certaldo and Colle Val D’Elsa, two beautiful villages immersed in the Valdelsa and that I discovered during a holiday weekend spent in Tuscany in June 2017.
Let’s start from Certaldo, the city of Boccaccio, where I had already made a quick stop in 2015, for a blog tour. It was such a short visit that I decided to come back to visit Certaldo better and more calmly high, the old town, and be able to appreciate it more than I could do the previous time. From the lowest part of Certaldo, there is a funicular that allows you to get in a comfortable way to the upper town (and in summer I strongly recommend to use it). The ticket costs € 1.30 one way and € 1.50 the ticket a/r, there is a little train at regular intervals (every 15/20 minutes). You can see the next departure through a monitor at each station, and the available seats are about 26 per ride.
You don’t need too much time to get around the upper town, tiny as many historical Tuscan villages and I’m sure it will leave you in awe (if not, let me know why with a comment). Certaldo became famous in Europe thanks to the fact that, except for the renovation of the 15th century Palazzo Pretorio (which transformed the old donjon into the vicarial palace), it has maintained almost intact the medieval structure of the village. There are small streets and some small hidden squares where you will not expect them. The lack of a significant “central” square is a further confirmation of this urban aspect: we find only a long way slightly wider than the others, called via Boccaccio, which served as a public place and a meeting place for civic activities of the city.
However, there are two squares to remember during a visit to the city: Piazza della SS. Annunziata, created at the beginning of the nineteenth century from an area previously used for gardens and crops in general. The second square is Piazza SS. Jacopo and Filippo, in front of the homonymous church, which in the beginning was used as a cemetery of the convent and has maintained this function until 1633. The Church of Saints Jacopo and Filippo undoubtedly worth a visit: it was built in the thirteenth century in Romanesque style, it is important because here are buried the Blessed Giulia Della Rena and, above all, Boccaccio. If you arrive by car, remember that you will have to park outside the historic centre, as access is
allowed only to residents. Now we move to Colle Val D’Elsa, a village about halfway between Siena and Florence and with a historic centre perched on a hill. In ancient times the small town was divided into three parts, but today the question is much easier: we find only “Colle Alta” and “Colle Bassa”. Arnolfo di Cambio was born here in 1240 (Italian sculptor, architect and urban planner active between the end of the thirteenth century and the first of the following century and today the main square bears his name) and his house has been recently renovated. The tower-shaped houses, as the Arnolfo di Cambio one, characterise the profile of Colle Val D’Elsa from a distance. Besides rising in an area that has been inhabited by different populations, as evidenced by the Etruscan and Roman remains, this small village was also disputed between the cities of Siena and Florence, more or less equidistant from here, and we know that Colle Val D’elsa it came under the control of both.
Apart from the illustrious births, Colle Val D’Elsa is a very famous village for its crystal production: we even speak of the most critical centre in Italy! If you love landscapes, you can not fail to see the view from the Baluardo, the bastion located at the end of the old city, overlooking the valley that surrounds the town and the Chianti hills. I found some information about this small village before departure, on the website of Discover Tuscany (I always like to know something more about the places I’m going to visit)