Rignano sull'Arno, between the river and the hills

All around Florence! Following the course of the Arno, we come to Rignano, a municipality in the Florentine Valdarno area which, like some of its neighbours, is also characterised by rolling hills and landscapes of exceptional beauty.

Historic and interesting places

The village developed along a ford on the Arno, which later became a bridge. The hills attracted the ruling classes from Florence as early as the Middle Ages. Farms, villas and stately homes sprang up in the area: this phenomenon is well illustrated by villas such as Torre a Cona, castles such as Volognano, and historic farms that now operate in the tourism and hospitality sector.
These settlements have shaped the landscape, with the vineyards and olive groves that dot the hills.

Rignano’s past is evident in the parish church of San Leolino, first documented in the year 1000, and in the site of Castelluccio, strategically situated to control the ford across the Arno and the ancient road network leading to the Florentine plain, dating back to the 11th century.

Other sites of ancient origin and great artistic interest include the Monastery of Santa Maria a Rosano, founded in 780, which has always been home to a cloistered Benedictine community of nuns. Among the parish churches are those of San Lorenzo in Miransù, San Cristoforo in Perticaia and San Pietro in Perticaia. Finally, there is the imposing Tower of Pian dell’Isola, 24 metres high and dating, in its original form, to the 11th century.

Two recent stories

The Futurist painter and writer Ardengo Soffici was born in Bombone, a hamlet of Rignano, on 7 April 1879, into a family of wealthy farmers. Soffici spent his childhood there until 1893, when his family moved to Florence. In 1900, he moved to Paris, where he worked as an illustrator for leading magazines; seven years later, he returned to Italy and settled in Poggio a Caiano, where there is a museum dedicated to him.
The rolling hills between Troghi and Le Corti were chosen by Robert Einstein (Albert’s cousin) as a place to live with his wife and daughters. In 1944, during the retreat of the Nazi troops, the entire family was massacred; their memory is honoured at the Badiuzza cemetery, where the graves of his wife, daughters and Robert himself are located; although he survived, he took his own life a year after the events.

Hiking and walking routes to Rignano

Rignano sull’Arno is also a crossroads of walking routes, making it the perfect place from which to explore the hills. The town is, in fact, a stop on the Way of St Francis in Tuscany, the Way of Dante, the Renaissance Ring Road and the Way of Remembrance.
See the map of all the walking routes in the Florence area.

How to reach Rignano
The town lies on the railway line linking Florence with the Valdarno and Rome, starting from Santa Maria Novella.

Download the All Around Florence brochure

To learn more about the history of the area surrounding Florence, download the brochure from the official tourism website of the Municipality of Florence and the Metropolitan City: Click here to download the brochure.