Palazzolo sul Senio
A journey through Architecture, history and nature …
Palazzuolo sul Senio; in the past Palazzuolo di Romagna; Palazôl in Romagna) is an Italian town of 1,189 inhabitants in the province of Florence, administratively in Tuscany, but on the Romagna side of the Apennines (Tuscan Romagna).
History
In the late Middle Ages the territory of Palazzuolo was a fief of the Ubaldini family. In the XIII century the Pagani family emerged, whose most famous exponent was Maghinardo. With his death, in 1302, the fiefdom returned to the ownership of the Ubaldini. The most famous of this family was Marzia degli Ubaldini (also called Cia), she was the daughter of Maghinardo’s daughter. Marzia married the lord of Forlì, Francesco II Ordelaffi, and fought alongside him on several occasions, even during the crusade against the Forlivesi, when he heroically defended the city of Cesena. The popular voice wants it to be Cia (that is Marzia Ordelaffi) the woman who appears in the coat of arms of the Municipality of Palazzuolo.
In 1362 the territory of Palazzuolo became part of the Florentine Republic. With nearby Firenzuola, it formed the nucleus of Tuscan Romagna. Since then Palazzuolo followed the destiny of the Republic of Florence and was given in fief to the Florentine Strigelli family. At the plebiscite of 1860 for the annexation of Tuscany to the Kingdom of Sardinia the “yes” did not obtain the majority of those entitled (437 out of a total of 996), indeed most of the inhabitants did not go to the polls, a symptom of the opposition to the ‘annexation.
Monuments and places of interest
Religious architecture
Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Neve of Quadalto: in 1459, in the place where there was a pillar with an image of the Madonna, a small oratory was erected, which between 1630 and 1639 assumed the dimensions of the current church. The abbey of Santa Maria in Susinana was originally a Vallombrosan monastic complex remembered since 1090, in whose cemetery Maghinardo Pagani was buried, remembered by Dante for his misdeeds.
The parish church of San Giovanni Battista in Misileo is of medieval origin; it was completely renovated in 1781 and then incorporated into a stately building. The oratory of Saints Carlo and Antonio maintains its original seventeenth-century structure. Of ancient origin, the church of Santo Stefano was remodeled during the 18th century, restored in the early twentieth century and even after the Second World War.
Civil architectures
Villa di Gruffieto, an ancient villa from the late 17th century, situated in the middle of the woods between Palazzuolo and Marradi, is now completely restored. The complex consists of the villa, of considerable size and articulated shape, a chapel for religious worship, a building used as a dwelling for peasants with stables and service areas, a rural building used as a barn and stable, a burraia and another building where the oven and a chestnut squeegee are located. Famous people have stayed there, such as the poet Dino Campana and the humanist politician Gaspare Finali.