Culture

Places that tell stories

In the Montagna Fiorentina, you can find numerous testimonies of a millenary history interwoven with the territory’s natural beauty.
Among the many medieval churches and parish churches, the Abbey of San Godenzo, one of Tuscany’s most important examples of Romanesque architecture, is significant and contains artistic treasures such as the wooden sculpture of Saint Sebastian by Baccio da Montelupo. Among the artistic personalities linked to these places is Andrea del Castagno, one of the protagonists of 15th-century Florentine painting, after whom the hamlet of Castagno d’Andrea, where he was born, is named. However, the most crucial figure is undoubtedly Dante, whose passage through these lands is commemorated with a special itinerary. It seems that the woods of these mountains inspired his famous Selva Oscura (the ‘Dark Wood’ at the beginning of the Divine Comedy).