One of the important periods in cultural European history is of course the Italian Renaissance. In the 15th and 16th century under the rule of the Medici family Italy and especially Florence and surrounding areas came to great blossom.

The Medici originated from the Mugello district and many of their residences can be found here. Their roots seem to lie in Campiano, a hamlet in the Municipality of Barberino di Mugello. They left the Mugello with traces of their economic and political power, which is shown in many pieces of art, but also and maybe even more in the whole infrastructure of as well their Florence as their Mugello estates.

What you experience here is the result of an enlightened patronage so widespread that it is clearly visible in the geometrical division of the lands. Look at the canalization of the waters, the design of the farm houses, manors and churches and the harmonious distribution of the settlements. It is like a finely woven network, overlooking its lands and estates, which do not find any interruption in its continuity, no holes in its mesh and goes from a kind of personal contemplation, originating in many frescoes to the more common experiences of eating the food and walking the lands, which pertain to everyone and create an atmosphere where you are in the presence of God. You are invited to enter this world and travel the roads, which have been used since ancient times to discover the monuments and outstanding artistic works, left behind by this great civilization.

When you come from Florence and drive along the “Via Bolognese “to the Mugello, at a distance of 15 kilometres you find the town of Pratolino. Here you find the Villa Demidoff Park, an immense park, full of decorative buildings, including a repertory theatre. Nothing remains of the 16th-century Medicean villa built for Francesco I de Medici. The park came in the hands of the Demidoff family in 1872 and they decided to construct a villa, which has remained to this day. What you still can see of the estate, once famous for its wonderfully evocative scenery, are a few building works carried out by Bernardo Buontalenti, like the statue of the Mugnone and the hexagonal chapel with its lead-laminated cupola supported by 14 stone columns. Also from those days is the colossal statue-fountain by Giambologna with the nearby lake.

Going further on the “Via Bolognese” you reach San Piero a Sieve and by travelling up a wide country road you come in the hills, surrounding the Trebbio castle. The Medici family estates were concentrated mainly in the areas of San Piero a Sieve, Barberino and Scarperia. These areas, along with its rich natural environment, provided a strong communications link with other areas. For example the transapennine route helped keep commercial relations between the Florentine plains and the Bolognese ones, which flourished in medieval times, thus provide the family with large profits and privileges.

The Medici family invested a lot in these areas and the castles of Cafaggiolo and Trebbio are examples of their wealth and power. The presence of the Medici family also attracted many other important Florentine families whose fortunes were linked to theirs. In the course of the 15th century, the Giugni and Salviati families had set in motion a process of change in the Mugello landscape. The same craftsmen, who had worked to enhance their city dwellings, came to the Mugello and left their traces. If you follow our route, you will have a glimpse of the world of the Medici and the Florentine aristocracy.

The Trebbio Castle was built on the ruins of an earlier feudal fortress by Michelozzo Michelozzi at the request of Cosimo de Medici. This imposing structure stands at 500 metres above sea level on a hill dominating the entire Mugello territory and was the intersection of important communications routes. Nowadays it is surrounded by tall cypress trees and continues to hold a typical Italian garden on the west side, and spacious terraced kitchen-gardens to the south with a splendid 17th century pergola supported by red brick columns. Lorenzo the Magnificent loved to hunt there, the famous captain of fortune Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, his wife Maria Salviati and his son Cosimo I, the future Grand Duke of Tuscany, resided here. In 1476, the young Amerigo Vespucci, who was running from Florence and the plague, stayed here for a period of time. The Trebbio Castle belonged to the Medici family until, in 1644, Ferdinand II sold it to Giuliano Serragli.

From the Trebbio Castle, back onto the “Via Bolognese”, on our way to Barberino di Mugello, we reach Villa di Cafaggiolo : it stands backed against the hills in the centre of meadows and fields that fall away to the Sieve river.

This imposing structure of Villa di Cafaggiolo was loved by Lorenzo the Magnificent and one of his favourite residences. Michelozzo Michelozzi built it in 1451 for the Medici family at the request of “Cosimo il Vecchio”. He converted the former manor house into an innovative estate-type residence. The existing version of the structure is the result of numerous 19th century renovations, but it is still fairly easy to identify the parts designed by Michelozzo. The estate provided the nobles and merchants, captains and intellectuals, artists and cardinals, popes and princes, who gathered here for hunting expeditions, symposiums and peasant feasts, a welcome shelter and was also the summer and winter residence of the Medici family. In one of the rooms on the second floor, Eleonora of Toledo was stabbed by her husband Piero de Medici in 1576. At the height of its splendour, between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, Cafaggiolo was also the home of a famous majolica factory. A vast, dense wild wood surrounded by walls, which had been the hunting grounds of the Medici family, stretches behind the estate. In the near vicinity of Villa di Cafaggiolo stands the Bosco ai Frati Convent is just a few kilometres off, along the road that goes to Panna-Galliano.

The Bosco ai frati Convent was founded by a Ubaldini prior in the 11th century. This convent is considered one of the most ancient in Tuscany. The church and convent, designed by Michelozzo Michelozzi, were rebuilt at the request of Cosimo de' Medici. As with Cafaggiolo and the Trebbio Castle, this architectural structure again unites the characteristics of the innovative Renaissance experience with those of the medieval one. Early members of the Medici family left the convent many precious gifts, among others you can find here the precious wooden crucifix attributed to Donatello. Today it is preserved in the small sacred art museum near the convent.

Driving back to Scarperia you will find Il Palazzo dei Vicari, the 15th century Vicar's residence. It housed the offices, which administered Civil Service and Justice for the Florentine Republic in this part of Mugello. The Medici family, whose policy was to maintain progressive control of the Republican Magistrature, was particularly interested in holding the office and appointing a member of a loyal family as Vicar.

Members of these families took turns running the office throughout the 15th century. The façade, which is decorated with the coats of arms of these different families, bears witness to the power of the Medici. It is nowadays the home of a precious historical archive and the Museum of Cutting Blades; a centuries old production and trade in Scarperia. On the same square that holds the Palazzo dei Vicari we find the “Oratorio della Madonna di Piazza” where the Vicar, with great ceremony, took office and the Propositura dei SS. Jacopo and Filippo where you can admire a rich marble font of the Madonna and child attributed to Benedetto da Maiano. Nearby you find the newly restored Torrino, an ancient donjon situated at the southwest corner of the original town walls and worth a visit.

Museums in Mugello

BORGO SAN LORENZO

• Museo della Manifattura Chini (Museum of the Chini Manufactures).
• Villa Pecori Giraldi.
• Museo della civiltà contadina di Casa d'Erci (Casa d'Erci Museum of peasant civilisation).
• Grezzano Museum The museum houses a particular permanent exhibition of objects and environments connected with the rural life in the last century.

FIRENZUOLA

• Museo del paesaggio storico dell'Appennino (Museum of the historical landscape of the Appenines).
• Abbey of Moscheta.
• Museo della Pietra Serena (Museum of the “Pietra Serena").
• The Rocca in Firenzuola, is the seat of the municipal administration and it houses this museum, maintaining a exhibition about the historical importance of this material for the town.

PALAZZUOLO SUL SENIO

• Mostra archeologica permanente; Archaeological museum.
• Palazzo dei Capitani.
• Museo delle genti di montagna; Museum of the mountain folk.

SCARPERIA

• Sant'Agata artigiana e contadina di Leprino (Crafts and Farming in S. Agata by Leprino).
• Polyvalent Center– Sant’Agata. In this place you will find an exact reproduction of Saint Agata's world.
• Centro documentazione archeologica di Sant'Agata (Sant'Agata centre of archaelogical documentation). Pieve of Sant'Agata's cloister. The archaelogical exposition from the palaeolithic to the modern period.
• Il museo dei ferri taglienti (The Museum of cutting knives).
• Palazzo dei Vicari. In this museum there is a collection of knives, supplied with documents, to give visitors an historical excursion of its production.

VICCHIO

• Museo di arte sacra e religiosità popolare (Museum of Sacred Art and Popular Devoutness Beato Angelico. This museum exhibits sacred objects collected in the churches of this area.
• Casa natale di Giotto (Giotto's Birthplace - Vespignano). Giotto, the great artist, was born in Vicchio. He is celebrated by a permanent exhibition of his works by matter of reproductions, maintained in the same place where he was born.

For more information visit

• Comune Barberino di Mugello