Pieve di San Giovanni Battista a Remole

The first mention of the Pieve di San Giovanni Battista a Remole, located in the heart of the village of Sieci, dates back to the year 935. Between the 12th and 13th century, in the place of the old church, a new one was built with three naves and a basic structure that is similar to the current one. During the 18th century the patronage passed to the Albizi family who revolutionized the inside of the church, plastering the stone walls. The latter were then made visible again thanks to further restoration works that brought back the evocative sternness of Romanesque art to the structure.

In the year 1300, during the fight between black and white Guelphs, Corso Donati chose the church as the meeting place for his troops, preventing the soldiers belonging to the rival Cerchi family from returning to Florence. In 1740 a disastrous flood caused considerable damage to the church: the street that once passed in front of the main door was made to pass, as it is today, behind the apse, forming an S-curve. Currently the slender and elegant bell tower, that occupies a part of the left nave, consists of six levels of openings: single gable in the first two orders, with mullioned windows on the following three floors, and again single gable in the belfry.

The church features, at the beginning of the right nave, a baptismal font in polychrome marble dating back to 1753, enclosed by a 15th century pietra serena balustrade behind which lies an early 16th century glazed terracotta portraying Saint John the Baptist. The parish church includes several other panels of interesting value.