FALTONA

Faltona – km 27,1 – Refreshment N° 6

The road proceeds and we discover the mountains opening giving space to beautiful fields and on some hills we see sumptuous villas (Villa Mormoreto, Villa La Ruzza, Villa De Cini) that remind us of its feudal and noble past before we find ourselves in front of one most romantic and oldest parish churches of the Mugello, Santa Felicia a Faltona. The history of this church is lost in the mists of time (in 1076 it was already listed as Ecclesie Sanctae Felicitatas) and knowing the history of this ancient holy edifice so dear to the local population it breaks our hearts to see it nearly abandoned.

After a few hundred meters and having passed the bridge over the river Faltona, almost unexpectedly, as though by magic, we are presented with the broad width of the valley of the Mugello. Before we reach Borgo San Lorenzo, the capital of this defined territory, we are greeted by three grand eighteenth century villas, (Villa Guiducci a Serravalle, Villa Doni a Le Canicce, Villa Brocchi a Lutian Vecchio), a medieval mill and, last but not least, a scattering of ample farmhouses that serve as a crown for the ancient Chiesa di Santa Maria a Olmi, which dates back to Charlemagne. Over the centuries this church was loved, particularly by the De Medici family who often visited in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries bringing with them painters and other artists, who refined and beautified it with precious works of art.