Barberino Tavarnelle

“Se la gente ch’al mondo più traligna non fosse stata a Cesare noverca, ma come madre a suo figlio benigna, tal fatto è fiorentino e cambia e merca, che si sarebbe vòlto a Simifonti, là dove andava l’avolo a la cerca; sariesi Montemurlo ancor de’ Conti; sarieno i Cerchi nel piovier d’Acone, e forse in Valdigrieve i Buondelmonti”.

Barberino Val d’Elsa and Tavarnelle, only two kilometers apart from each other, are today united in a single, vast municipality whose territory ranges from Chianti to the Val d’Elsa and Val di Pesa. It is a unicum of beauty formed by vineyards, olive trees and green woods. The ancient towns like San Donato in Poggio, the numerous parish churches, the castles and farms make Barberino Tavarnelle a typical Tuscan territory, situated between Florence and Siena. Barberino and San Donato in Poggio still display intact medieval walls, still equipped with entrance doors and watch towers. In the case of San Donato in Poggio, a renaissance imprint is very much present thanks to its Palazzo Malaspina. Badia a Passignano constitutes the best known pearl between religious structures, but the Pieve di Sant’Appiano, the most ancient in Chianti, the Chiesa di San Bartolomeo a Barberino and the churches of Tavarnelle like Santa Lucia al Borghetto, Santa Maria del Carmine and the romanic San Pietro in Bossolo are also of great interest. The visit at the Cappella di San Michele Arcangelo is unmissable, the church built in the place where the prideful and legendary city of Semifronte rose, now destroyed by the Republic of Florence. In a territory of great peasant traditions, a place to remember the work of its people could not miss, and that is the “Museo Emilio Ferrari of peasant culture” of San Donato in Poggio. Great wines, fine oil, cold cuts and cheeses make it a safe and pleasant place to stop.