Destinations

Hill-top town

Poggibonsi – Poggio Imperiale – Rocca di Staggia

POGGIO IMPERIALE is a hill at 200 m. altitude above the sea level, extending for 12 hectares, located at the west end above the modern Poggibonsi. It is characterized by being enclosed by the fortifications dating 1500, designed by Giuliano da Sangallo committed by Lorenzo de ‘Medici. The settlement origin in the hill began at least seven centuries before, from Late-Antiquity to the wellknown and frequented medieval village. Between 1155 and 1270, there stood the castle, then turned into urban core of Podium Bonizi and in 1313 the Emperor Henry VII tried the foundation of the new town of Monte (or Poggio) Imperiale. Since 1992, the hill has been focus of  a Medieval Archaeology project bythe University of Siena. In September 2003 the Archaeological Park and Technology was inaugurated.

Further downhill, LA FONTE DELLE FATE (Fountain of fairies) is the greatest witness of the ancient village Poggibonizio. It was built around the second half of the 13th century and traditionally attributed to Balugano from Crema. The fountain stood below the village in a place called “flat valley”. In 1484 it was intered with earthy material during the construction of the Medici fortress of Poggio Imperiale. It was digged out in 1803 as a result of a major work of adjustment to achieve a vineyard.

In 2000 the artist Mimmo Paladino placed his Sleepers in the “Fount”. The work was donated to the town of Poggibonsi and represents crocodiles and men in fetal position, witness of human existence and a  vital ancestral state. It consists of 25 sculptures in bronze, originally colored, placed inside the water, to remind how all life draws its origin from the water. The figures are placed on plates and seem immersed in a deep sleep which recalls the image of the unconscious and dreams.

Near Poggibonsi stands LA ROCCA STAGGIA, like a written book tells, through its stones, five centuries of history. The rough and square shapes of the Lombard castle, is contaminate by the elegant and refined remains of the palace of the Franzesi, and  softened by  the donjon, an extraordinary architectural example of the ‘300, influenced by the Crusades. The walls of the fortress, joins the “hamlet” of Staggia, built by the Florentines in 400. The walkway, still partially viable, allowed a time to pass through the castle and the village, without setting foot on land.

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