Long contested in ferocious battles by Arezzo, Siena, Perugia and Florence for domination of the fertile Valdichiana below, the sleepy labyrinthine backstreets of the fortified medieval hilltop village of Lucignano belie its violent past. But they hide secrets worth discovery, not surprisingly: any Italian medieval hilltown, no matter how small (population of Lucignano, just over 3000), merits sleuthing.
Lucignano, medieval gem of the Arezzo area
Lucignano medieval alleyway
And we found a treasure right at the start of a recent three-day exploration of tiny southern Tuscan gems, S. Quirico d’Orcia, Chiusure, San Giovanni d’Asso and Monte Oliveto Maggiore, and Lucignano. First stop: Lucignano, fortified with walls by the Sienese in late 14th-century with increased fortification by the Florentines under order of Cosimo I de’ Medici, thus resulting in the characteristic elliptical shape with concentric rings of narrow streets, typical of fortified towns.
Lucignano, a fortified town of elliptical shape and rings of medieval alleyways
Stately towers, soaring like stalwart guards, are sign, too, of the town’s bellicose past. Admire their beauty but then turn around the corner and stop in to see the recently-restored 14th-c frescoes of the black-and-white-striped (characteristic of the Siena area) San Francesco church. As you come out, stop at the town Museum in the two-level building next door, with a patchwork façade of local stones and inside, an astounding treasure – which can only make you wonder why you’d never before headed to Lucignano.
Lucignano, a fortified medieval hill town of southern Tuscany
San Francesco church – and next door, a treasure once in that church – l’Albero della Vita
L’albero della vita (“the Tree of Life”), one of the few phytomorphic reliquaries still existing in Italy, is a stunning and rare example of the plant-shaped – often, the tree – reliquaries cherished in ancient times. Over two meter high, this stunning masterpiece of 14th-15th Sienese and Arezzo-area goldsmiths – once holding precious Franciscan relics as well as slivers of the True Cross – is an intricacy of gilded bronze, embossed silver, translucent enamels, rock crystals, coral branches and parchment illuminations and was once kept in a locked cupboard in the sacristy of the adjacent San Francesco church.
Lucingnano’s Albero della Vita, reliquary splendor
Like us, you’ll probably spend a good amount of time in stunned silence, gazing at the Albero, peering at the intricacies of the embossed silver reliquary capsules, the illuminated parchment images, the forked coral branches (the coral symbolizing the blood of Christ). Pino was tall enough to study the detail of the solid gold Crucifix on the top; I marveled at the intricate details of the spires of the gold Gothic temple, serving as base.
Embossed silver imagee of a saint on reliquary capsule
Coral, often symbolic of Christ’s blood
Solid gold Gothic temple serves as the base
Pino observes the reliquary splendor
We moved on – if reluctantly – to the next room to see another museum treasure, Luca Signorelli’s painting, “San Francesco Receives the Stigmata,” linked to the splendid reliquary. Once thought to have been commissioned for the top part of a cupboard built to hold the sacred reliquary in the San Francesco church (right next door), art historians now discount this theory.
San Francesco receives the stigmata – Luca, Signorelli, early 16th c
In any case, at least the Albero della Vita has come out of the cupboard (real or fictitious) – and makes a trip to Lucignano a must.
Read about where to eat in Lucignano
Click here to read about nearby Trequanda, another southern Tuscan favorite
Read about Petroio, not far away
Montisi is yet another southern Tuscan gem
Read about Sinalunga, a nearby southern Tuscan hill town we often visit
Read about Tuscan gem, Anghiari and its artisan market
