Piazza Matteotti, hub of the ancient market place, is famous for its asymmetrical shape, terraced porticoes, historic shops, and small restaurants.We begin our visit from the Church of Santa Croce, which was bulk in the 19th century over the ruins of an ancient oratory: inside, there are a Madonna and Saints by Maestro di Greve and a triptych depicting the Annunciation by Bicd di Lorenzo. In the centre of the square stands tie severe bronze statue of Giovanni da Verrazzano, the famous navigator who was in the service of Francesco I. It was he who discovered the bay of New York and the Hudson river, in 1524.

Verrazzano was born in Greve, in the castle that belonged to his family, in 1485. To realise this statue, in 1919 Italo Stecchi, the youngest cavaliere d`ltalia, had the idea of organising a village horse race. He had the horses run at full gallop from Sant`Anna to the church, exciting the souls of the betters.The money collected in this way paid for the artist, Romeo Pazzini, to forge the statue. But the square commemorates, with a memorial plaque and a family coat of arms, the feats of another personage from Greve: Monsignor Giovanni Batista del Ciampoli da Greve. According to the historian Carlo Baldini, Mons. Ciampoli was a poet, composer of dithyrambs, and secretary of Papal brief secrets to Popes Gregory XV and Urban VIII. The favourite pupil of Galileo Galilei, he prepared the dialogue on the "Law of the Chief World Systems" with which, fatally, he forfeited his friendship with the Pope. ln fact he was charged with having misinterpreted, by mistaking them for an authorisation, "the Pope`s indications for the corrections to be made to Galileo`s work, above all on the incoming and outgoing tidal movements, with which the scientist intended to prove the movement of the Earth". As is well-known, "Urban VIII hurled abuse at Galileo`s `perverted` work and at the so-called `Ciampolata` [a play on Ciampoli`s name] which, in spite of him, had induced him to publish it"

THE FORMER CONVENT OF ST. FRANCIS in Greve in Chianti From Via Roma, we travel the steep Via di San Francesco that leads to the Museum of Sacred Art of Greve in Chianti. The Convent of San Francesco was built for the monks of Santa Croce at San Casdano during the first haif of the 16th century, at the beginning of the old road that led to Montefioraile. It was a hospice that was used as a stopover place for the Franciscan monks on their way from Florence to Siena. After the temporary abolition, due to the Napoleonic laws, the monks left the convent for good. In 1866, the Hospice of San Francesco began to be used as a prison until 1927, and was then destined for use as a civilian residence. A convention stipulated between the Commune of Greve in Chianti and the Diocese of Fiesole was the initial step in setting in motion the project to realise a museum of sacred artThe Museum houses an important collection of paintings, sculptures, vestments and sacred furnishings. One of the most important works in the collection is located in its original position on the ground floor of the oratory: the magnificent polychrome terracotta ofca. 1520-1530, with Delia Robbian frame, representing the deposition of Christ from the cross, attributed to Santi Buglioni On the same premises are other precious works, among which are the Virgin between Saints Lucy and Anthony of Padua by Curradi, the Virgin of the Rosary by Francesco Boldrini; a I4th-century marble has relief representing St Francis; and a sculpture of painted stucco, attributed to Nanni di Bartolo, that depicts the Madonna and Child. Several sacred vestments are on display in the sacristy. This exhibition is completed by a rock

Hiking Greve in Chianti

The zone of Greve in Chianti offers a range of routes, stopovers, refreshment points, natural and artistic beauties, every single aspect of which is worth becoming acquainted with. For those who Intend to make a major commitment along footpaths and mule tracks where ancient routes and old fountains are encountered and one becomes aware of the presence of a small fauna in its natural inhabitat, the itinerary that leaves from the small medieval village of Ferrone and reaches the top of Monte San Michele at an altitude of 892 metres as., the highest peak in the Chianti Mountains, is truly fascinating. From the centre of the village, a dug-out path winds towards a maquis that becomes always denser: this is the Poneta pinewood, one of the loveliest in Chianti, where in springtime broom fills the air with the fragrance of its yellow flowers. After leaving Poggio Mandorli and the smaller builtup area of Chiocchio, we enter the Barberino estate, where we will stop for a short while at the fountain of the same name, a formerly abandoned spring.A short descending stretch, and just after the Croce road we catch a glimpse of the historic medieval villages of Mugnana and Sezzate.The castle of the latter is located in a central position and, after skilful works of restoration, still preserves the ancient late-medieval structures. It was here that, in 1198, the treaty approving the birth of the Tuscan League was signed. At an altitude of 600 metres, in coincidence with the Rugliana cross-roads, the road continues and climbs, creating a direct route to Monte San Michele, the highest peak of these mountains. For the panoramic ridge over the valleys below, we have to cross the Sugame Pass, amid lovely pinewoods and a luxuriant underwood. Instead, our "classical" route makes a detour to Le Caselle, giving us the opportunity to admire the old Etruscan-Roman fountain from which a brief stretch of road departs. From the Lame estate, a short ascent leads us to the Castle of Uzzano.The dug-out road effortiessly passes by the entrance to Greve in Chianti, and once past the Zano estate, one of the programmed stop overs is San Cresci. From its knoll we can glimpse Colognole.

San Cresci in Greve in Chianti : the rediscovered jewel - The parish church of San Cresci began to be mentioned in 948. Named for the saint and martyr Acrisius, popularly called Cresci, the parish church is part of a complex consisting of tie priest`s house, the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the sacristy, and a farm house.The simple structure of the church consists of a central room ending with a presbytery consisting of four columns and six semi-columns that support a cupola formed of a vaulting cell. Today, very little remains of the original architectural structure: the date 1668, discovered on the architrave of one of the doors that open on the courtyard, can confirm a general systemisation of the entire complex, which was in fact realised during the second half of the 17th century. In 1966, lightning struck tie roof, and caused it to collapse. The already considerable damage was aggravated by tie subsequent rainfall, which freely penetrated inside the church from a breach opened in the roofing. The restorations, which were carried out by the Diocese with the advisory service of the Government Office for the Architectural Heritage and the general coordination of Professor Duccio Trassinelli, lasted until 1997. Restoration of the inside of the parish church enabled the discovery, underneath the 1854 plastering that had concealed them, twelve figures of saints arranged along the side walls and those of the presbytery. In 2003, the cellars and millstone pertinent to the farm house were in turn restored, and these produced several of the characteristic elements of the thousand-year-old rural tradition. From San Cresd,tie path continues towards the famous Abbey at Passignano, with brief stopovers at tie San Rocco spring and at the fountain ofPugliano. Our hike, in coinddence witi tie Locaka II Casino and tie first San Rocco spring, detours over an Etruscan route and rises loan altitude tiat varies between 300 and 400 metres d.s.l. in tie direction of Montefioralle. Very ancient in origin, it was perhaps the first settlement in Chianti, and is considered tie first religious and administrative seat of the Etruscans in Val di Greve.

Montefioralle in Greve in Chianti: a window on the middle ages - Once the theatre of centuries-old battles between Sena and Florence for the supremacy over central Tuscany, the castle today is still inhabited and preserves intact its medieval townplanning. A walk among the tiny stone houses with vases at their windows is an authentic plunge into the Middle Ages - The only road, with its dean paving climbs up to the summit of the hillock, and then returns to the starting point Today, the powerful structure of the medieval keep is occupied by the small Gothic church of Santo Stefano, a building with a single nave that conserves one of the richest and most valuable artistic patrimonies in the area: a I3th-century panel of the Madonna and Child by an anonymous Florentine artist, among the best conserved in existence; a representation on a panel of the Holy Trinity, a 15th-century work attributed to Neri di Bicci; and a late I4th-century Annunciation of the Florentine school, perhaps by the same artist who painted the Straus Madonna and to whom the lovely polytych of the Madonna and Saints conserved in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Greti is also attributed.

Amerigo Vespucci a man of the renaissance - A modest building is traditionally indicated as the house of Amerigo Vespucci. America di ser Nastagio Vespucci, born in 1454, was an explorer, navigator, merchant, astrologer, and scholar, in addition to being the only person to give his name to a continent in short, a true Renaissance man. A point of interest regarding his illustrious family: the last of the Vespucds, Amerigo Di Cesare, is buried in the graveyard of Montefioralle. "In 1875, the andent lineage of the discoverer of the NewWorld ended," recites the epigraph surmounted by an American eagle clutching the Vespucd coat of arms. Once past the watercourse of Montefioralle, we can glimpse the fountain of La Lama: an ancient fountain, a stopping place between Greve and Montegonzi. Prominent in this journey to discover the old fountains is the spring of Ragnolo, Continuing we reach Vignamaggio with its history and examples of renaissance architecture, the beautiful formal garden, and last but not least, the precious cultivation of vines and production of wine.Then, beyond the villa of the estate, the road climbs along a route that can be dated to Roman times and which crosses the castle of Lamole.The Roman road continues, skirting the mill stream and two small springs in the vicinity of the rare houses in Casole.The ancient route follows the watercourse of the Macconcini and the medieval village of San Michele, and then climbs -with a fair amount of difficult/ -to the peak of Monte San Michele.The Barbiere and Lavatoi fountains, with lovely enamelled terracottas, rise at the foot of a refreshment and reception structure. Several recent findings have demonstrated the existence of a Roman guard post, as garrison to theVia Cassia Adriana which used to cross Monte San Michele from the Sugame Pass. From the early years of the 20th century, the building of a large iron cross on a stone base was the signal of, the invitation to, a "destination" that today can be reached on horseback, by mountain bike, and... on foot But apart from the commitment required by hiking, the zone of Greve offers many possibilities for outings involving little athletic skill but rather an interest in things culinary, both as regards eating in the various trattorias and also as regard the purchasing of ingredients, above all oil, wine, meat, and processed pork products. The zone is completely studded with places making agroindustrial offers that are among the most predous in the entire region:irresistib\e restaurants, small shops, and luxurious butcher-shops at which it would be sheer madness not to schedule making a tasty stop-over. And also handicrafts in this zone are not to be underestimated: today, they are still highly developed and, in various fields, offer products of very high quality, as we shall see further on. .... from `Greve in Chianti` ( Municipality of Greve in Chianti )