Handicrafts
|
The best Artisan Masters
show their works through their art |
|
|
|
Italian
Minds |
The italian style, famous
all over the world, full of original and fine ideas |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
communication,
and the expansion of the nearby city, modified the social reality
of this area, which was divided between a residential identity,
guaranteed by the beauty of the area, and a productive identity,
that was based on the artisan (leather and wood) work and small
industries (electrical, mechanical and chemical). The landscape
is hilly, characterized by vineyards and olive groves, and by
a considerable forest coverage at the higher altitudes. This
area has a great variety of landscapes which provide the ideal
setting for those who love to move in contact with nature. Starting
from the valley bottoms of the Sieve and Arno rivers, it is
possible to ascend along the hills and upland plains cultivated
with vines and olive trees, alternating with large extensions
of woods, and finally arrive on the pre-Apennine ridges which
are covered with snow in the winter. The Arno and Sieve rivers
offer the possibility of pleasing trips by canoe, of average
difficulty, an activity most enjoyable in the springtime. Throughout
the area, they are numerous active equistrian centers which
look after many hiking trails of varying difficulty: from the
beginners to the most learned hikers. Great opportunities for
cyclists and for mountain bike enthusiasts. A network of paths,
marked out by the CAI and other groups, enable hikers to go
on excursions of differing challenges and varying durations.
The woods house a quantity of plant and animal species and a
dense population of ungulates: roe deer, wild boar, at the higher
altitudes fallow and red deer. |
|
|
|
The
name, (Terre del Levante Fiorentino), indicates the territory which
occupies the nord-east part of the Florentine province and is made
up of the Communes of Pelago, Pontassieve,
Reggello e Rignano
sull'Arno. Its natural boundaries are: to the north, Monte Giove
(992m) and the dorsal of Pratomagno (Poggio Uomo di Sasso, 1538m),
and to the south, the chain of mountains of Chianti (Poggio di Firenze
693m). The area, which was inhabited in prehistoric times, shows a
considerable presence of Etruscans, testified to by numerous archaeological
findings; it was massively colonised during Roman times, testified
to by many place names and also by a large quantity of findings. During
the Early Middle Ages, it was dominated by the Counts Guidi and series
of their vassals, who filled the hills with their castles. The feudal
society then gave way to the inevitable rise of the Commune of Florence,
which reorganised our countryside into the Leagues of Diacceto, Monteloro,
Rignano, and Cascia. The ancient
nobles were replaced by nouveau-riche citizens (the Albizzi, Portinari,
Gondi, Pazzi, Guadagni, Castellani families) who, in the centre of
their holdings strewn with characteristic farm houses, built valuable
villas-cum-farm houses. These families are today still
involved in the production of the renowned local wines. From the mid
19th century on, with the building of new roads and railways and with
the development of industrial activities - glass works, cement factories,
brickyards, railway workyards, wine cellars - the towns in the valley
bottom acquired greater importance. The transition of post-industrial
from the development of means of |
|