4 places to visit around Florence

What to see around Florence? Here are four places, less well-known but no less interesting, that we highly recommend you visit. Just a few kilometres separate them from the Tuscan capital and yet travelling through them means taking a trip to other landscapes, other times and other territories.

The Straw and Braid Museum in Signa

Signa, a small town about 15 kilometres from Florence (and easily reached by train) is home to the ‘Domenico Michelacci’ Straw and Plaiting Museum. Set up in what was once the Carabinieri barracks and, even earlier, the People’s House, it is dedicated to one of Tuscany’s oldest craft traditions. Inside are collected materials, equipment, documents and photographs relating to the cultivation and processing of straw used to make hats and fashion accessories, as well as a rich collection of artefacts from all over the world. The tour is divided into several exhibition rooms. The first on the ground floor is dedicated to audiovisuals: three video projectors are installed there for the continuous reproduction of films, photographs and interviews on the history of the museum. To this are added two rooms on the right for temporary exhibitions. On the upper floor three rooms are dedicated to the permanent exhibition in which machinery, paintings, candelabra, hats, mannequins and glass vases containing various seeds are presented for educational experiences.

The Medicean Park of Pratolino

A little more than 15 kilometres from Florence, and precisely in the municipality of Vaglia, is the Parco Mediceo di Pratolino, one of the largest in Tuscany and since 2013 also one of the Tuscan sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List of Cultural and Natural Heritage. It was built by Francesco I de’ Medici (1541-1587), who wanted to give his second wife Bianca Cappello a fairy-tale place, entrusting the work to Bernardo Buontalenti. After Francesco’s death, the park had ups and downs until the second half of the 19th century, when it was purchased by the Demidoff family, who undertook major renovation work. Today, it is owned by the Metropolitan City of Florence and, in addition to housing the famous Colossus of the Apennines by the mannerist sculptor Giambologna, it houses works and artefacts by Buontalenti’s genius of the original Medici (Chapel, Cupid’s Grotto, Stables, Villa Paggeria, Gamberaie). It offers trails for trekking and Nordic walking enthusiasts.

The Agresti Furnace

Located about 15 kilometres from Florence, Impruneta is a delightful town famous since the Middle Ages for the production of terracotta, the so-called cotto di Impruneta, which over the centuries has become a characteristic element of Tuscan architecture and landscape. Among the many terracotta kilns active in Impruneta, one has remained intact to testify to the ancient techniques. This is the Agresti Furnace. The factory, which belonged for generations to this family of local kilnsmen, of which there are records dating back to 1715, has not been in operation since 1990. It is currently owned by the municipal administration, which has made it a documentation centre on terracotta manufacturing. The kiln is important not only because of the historical value of the building as a whole, but also because it houses tools, moulds, forms and models that have been used over time. In addition to being a documentation centre, it also hosts concerts, exhibitions and tastings.

The Mario Romoli Museum

Finally, we recommend a visit to the museum of the Florentine painter Mario Romoli. It is located in the elegant Villa di Poggio Reale in Rufina, about 25 kilometres from the lily city. The building, whose first layout dates back to the 16th century, is so called because Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, stayed there in 1829. Romoli was an important protagonist of 20th-century painting, who received significant recognition and awards from the very beginning. In addition to the field of art, he devoted himself to the study of philosophy and science, with a humanistic vision that also produced technological inventions. Around sixty of Romoli’s works are exhibited in the museum, as well as an abundance of documentation relating mainly to his international contacts. Villa di Poggio Reale also houses the Vine and Wine Museum.

Feature photo © Ville e Giardini medicei in Toscana | Photo gallery © Visit Tuscany