Route of Dante's places in the Empolese Valdelsa and Montalbano area

This route winds through a few places, mainly located in the Empolese Valdelsa area, that recall events and characters linked to the Supreme Poet.

Let's start with the capital of the Empolese area: namely Empoli. The main square in the old town is dedicated to Farinata degli Uberti; who was he? His actual name was Manente degli Uberti and he lived in Florence in the 13th century. An aristocrat and Ghibelline leader, during the congress of Empoli, following the Florentine defeat of Montaperti, it was Farinata who defended Florence from the wrath of the Sienese who wanted to raze the city to the ground.
In his Comedy, Dante places Farinata among the heretics and, although they were political opponents, he recognises his valour and courage, picturing him in one of the most evocative portraits of the whole poem.

Now we move a little more south, to Castelfiorentino where, on November 23 1260, Florence and Siena sealed a peace deal after the battle of Montaperti. The curtain of the Teatro del Popolo di Castelfiorentino remembers this event with the 19th century painting which adorns it, a work by the Sienese painter Dario Maffei.

Even the fortified village of Semifonte was mentioned by Dante; because of its rebellion against the Florentine hegemony, it was razed to the ground after a long siege. All that remains there today is the chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel, built in the 16th century with the proportions of Brunelleschi's Dome.

Certaldo, the famous hamlet that was the birthplace of Giovanni Boccaccio, at that time was a feud of the Alberti family, supporters of the Emperor who opposed the Florentine policies of expansion into the Valdelsa area. After submitting to the Tuscan capital, many Certaldo citizens emigrated to Florence, fueling inner contrasts and discords that Dante condemns in the Comedy by the mouth of Cacciaguida.
Giovanni Boccaccio was Dante's first biographer and the one who first read the Divine Comedy's verses in public; in Certaldo you can visit Boccaccio's birthplace, preserving a precious library and relics of the time.

The route ends in Fucecchio, at the far eastern end of the Florentine province; here some documents show that Dante's father worked as a prosecutor in a lawsuit involving the abbot of the San Salvatore church, still standing today in the old town of Fucecchio, on the Poggio Salamartano hillock.