A few words about the hamlets of Carmignano

• … and they used to rinse clothes in the Ombrone
• After September 8th 1943
• Between the twenties and thirties
• Corrado Capecchi, military internee
  • A medal (at last) for Corrado
  • The joke of the military internees
• Five places of Romanesque Carmignano
• Friar Bocci, at the beginning of the twentieth century
• From archaeologists to farmers
• Gino Balena
• Gino di Fico
• Historical shops in Carmignano
• In the name of Jesus and Saint Peter, may the sty go away
• Liberation day
• Matteucci, the ‘forgotten’ bishop
• Soldier in Greece
• Stories from a school notebook
• Stories of donkeys and jockeys
• Stories of mayors and town councils in Carmignano
• Stories of our home
• Stories of war and displaced persons
• The Battistina and other scary stories
• The colours of the rioni
• The Golden Roster
• The last sharecropper in Carmignano
• The siege in memory of the Princess
• The tree of liberty in Carmignano
• Ugo Contini Bonacossi
• Vittorio’s bicycles
• When the river Arno was fordable ..
• When they were digging pietra serena between Arno and Ombrone
• The colours of Carmignano, a small guide for tourists
  • Ancient churches and abbeys. Montalbano, a crossroads for pilgrims.
    • San Giusto al Pinone
    • San Jacopo in Capezzana
    • San Leonardo in Artimino
    • San Lorenzo in Montalbiolo
    • San Martino in Campo
    • San Michele amarcord
      • San Michele, the theater takes to the streets
• Itineraries for just a few days or more
  • Walking through history and nature
  • A Sunday devoted to the discovery of Artimino
  • A few words about the hamlets of Carmignano
  • The Fontina and Castagnati Lake
• Guides to download

a trip to learn a bit more about the many villages and hamlets of Carmignano, an interesting place on its own that you will find a lot of news about in the section “Treasures of Montalbano”. Our journey begins from Bacchereto.

Bacchereto
The village with its fortified bell tower situated on the eastern flank of Montalbano, Bacchereto was in the Middle Ages a dependent podesta of Carmignano. The life of a rural village, on which towered an ancient fort that had been converted into a church, was closely linked to that of the nearby Carmignano. And as well as Carmignano, took part in the scenes of bloody battles of the fight between Florence and Pistoia that lasted three centuries. In 1329, with the peace that marked the Florentine victory, it came under the jurisdiction of Florence (“on one condition – that Guelphs and Ghibellines could live there peacefully”) and in 1343 letters of surrender that sanctioned such a transition were established. The Romanesque church, once located close to San Biagio, was built in the Middle Ages on the ruins of the ancient fortress, as you can see until now from the plan of the church and the massive belfry, former watchtower of the defence structure of Bacchereto as well as part of the ancient walls still visible on the right wall. Bacchereto will also be remembered for being an important majolica production centre from the end of the fourteenth until the mid-sixteenth century. By the end of the fourteenth century there were about 150 fires in Bacchereto – a very high number for that time. The spread of such activities, in places far from traffic arteries and river essential to the development of ceramics (as evidenced by Montelupo and Capraia), appears to be quite outstanding and it is plausible to assume that the monks of the nearby Abbey of San Giusto, facilitated by the particularly suitable soil for it’s composition, directed local craftsmen to the art of ceramics. Bacchereto’s Majolica, a selection of which is in display at the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Artimino, came to light in the eighties during one fortuitous trenching of the ground, which released an old well where the scraps and pieces with some flaws had been thrown. The peak of this art was reached during the fifteenth century. But Bacchereto had to produce beautiful and exquisite objects right from the start if already at the beginning of the fourteenth century they provided majolica for the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and a little later also to that of the Innocenti: places where high-ranking officials were hospitalized. The decorations of Bacchereto’s ceramics, various and diverse depending on the styles and eras, are very similar to those of Florence or Montelupo. Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about the artists that created these refined works. However an old furnace outside of the village gates has been identified, that after careful restoration aimed at restoring the original appearance of the building, has returned to work.

Seano
The church of San Pietro on an old picture. Today it’s a modern village that has had a major development in recent years. Today it is the largest and most populated village of the municipality: well more than its administrative centre Carmignano. Its origins are ancient, however. In the centre of the village there’s the church of San Pietro: a medieval structure with a facade greatly remodelled in the early twentieth century. Near the centre, along the Furba creek and accessible through a pedestrian path the Park Museum “Quinto Martini”, dedicated to the famous sculptor born in Seano and passed away in the early nineties, has been established.

Verghereto
The tiny church of Verghereto is situated by the old road (today in part unpaved) which
headed from the current county road of Montalbano to Artimino (without passing Carmignano), Verghereto is a small village that dates back to the twelfth century. There is the church of San Pietro, built in 14th century, but rebuilt between the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

Comeana
The church of San Michele in Comeana. Two Etruscan tombs built on the downslopes towards the Ombrone Pistoiese (a creek) have been found on the way to the village. One of these is located in Boschetti, near the present cemetery of Comeana, not far along the road to Signa. It stands on an artificial mound covered by an oak grove, where until the early sixties the comeanesi went to have a snack or a picnic.