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Accommodations in Tuscany

I would like to reserve Alcova Antico Talamo The Duke The Magnum Il Rustico The Tower Number of guests 1 2 3 4 Total Days:

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A Brief History

The spectacular position of Lucignano, 414 metres above sea level, overlooking the Valdichiana, and on the main route between Siena and Arezzo, has given it strategic importance since its origins and meant that it was continually at the center of battles between the surrounding territories as a medieval castle. For the three centuries form 1200 to 1500, Lucignano passed continually between the giurisdiction of Siena, Arezzo, Firenze and Perugia. Lucignano received the gift of Perugia's coat-of-arms, (still used today), the winged griffon, to which she added a star to show the hilltop position of the town. The name Lucignano probably originates from a Roman castrum founded by the consul Licinio, and which became known as Lucinianum after the conquest by Lucio Silla in the 1st century B.C.. Important archaeological finds indicate that there were also Etruscan settlements in the surrounding areas.
The present day layout of Lucignano originated around the year 1200, and was completed in the 16th century, when the summit of the hill where the castle was originally was transformed into a center of religious and political power. In 1300, under the rule of Siena, the fortifications were completed with the city walls and three city gates (1371): Porta S. Giusto, Porta S. Giovanni, and the so-called Porta Murata. The fortress with its two towers was also built during this period. When Lucignano came under the rule of the Medici in 1554, a number of major additions were made to the town, including the beginning of work on a new fortress, attributed to Bernardo Puccini, the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Querce (1568) outside the town limits, attributed to Vasari, the Convent of the Cappuccines (ca. 1580), the Church of the Misericordia (1582) and the Collegiate Church (1594).
Today, Lucignano still maintains intact its fascinating atmosphere of an ancient village where agricultural and artisan traditions offer the visitor an interesting variety of products ranging from extra-virgin olive oil and honey, the production and restoration of inlaid furniture, the production of ceramics and gold jewellery, work in pietra serena and travertine, and the making of high quality clothing, all produced by the highly skilled and professional local population.

 

The Town Museum

The civic museum is housed on the ground floor of the Town Hall (13th c.)
One reaches the museum by going through a doorway with a rounded arch that leads off the entrance hall of the palace.
This leads into a barrell-vaulted corridor which opens onto two side rooms and the Chancellery of the old Tribunal.
Along the corridor are two pairs of Sienese school "coffin heads", painted on both sides. The first pair date 1626 and come from the oratory of S. Francesco; the other pair date to 1777 and come from the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Querce. Towards the end of the corridor is a glass case with sacred objects from the Sanctuary of Madonna della Querce; and on the end wall are two paintings on canvas by an unknown artist of "Saint Catherine of Siena" and a "Virgin and Child with Saints". In the first of the two adjoining rooms there are two panel paintings by Luca Signorelli of "Saint Francis receiving the Stigmata" and a "Virgin and Child".
The first work belongs to a larger project by Signorelli of 1482 for the reliquary cabinet of the Church of S. Francesco which contained the "Golden Tree" or "Tree of Life".
The second work has been restored a number of times as can be seen in the tooled-gold background and the suppression of the figures on either side of the Virgin. In the second room there are various works from the Sienese school dating from the 13th through the 15th century: a beautiful "Virgin and Child Enthroned" (14th c.) with a portrait of the donor at the bottom of the painting and the inscription "Monna Muccia, moglie che fu di Guerrino Cantari" ("Monna Muccia, who was the wife of Guerrino Cantari"). On the left hand wall there is a tryptych (14th c.) by Bartolo di Fredi of the "Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist". On the end wall there is a work by Giovanni d'Ambrogio (1409c.-1449) of Saint Bernardino showing his disapproval of worldly goods by crushing mitres under his feet, symbol of ecclesiastical power, highlighted by the blue and gold of the background, a painting considered a masterpiece by critics.
On the same wall there is a 13th century "Crucifix" which recent studies have attributed to the Umbrian School.
The painting came to light during restoration work on the palace and is considered a work of great artistic and cultural value because of its lively use of color and the attention to detail in the figures.
The vault and lunettes of the Chancellery are frescoed with a cyle of illustrious men, a homage to the greatness of the ancients and an example to those who had to administer justice in this room. The work was done between 1438 and 1479 and originates in the tradition of the representation of ancient heroes from Roman history and the Bible which from the 14th century onwards appear in the decoration of civic buildings in the territories of Florence and Siena.
An inscription on the entrance wall refers to the purpose of this type of cycle and gives the following advice: "Speak little, listen carefully, and bear in mind the aim of what you are doing" and continues with the warning, "Listen to the other side".
A doorway, which is now walled-up, in the entrance wall is a reminder of the access to the prisons underneath the Town Hall.
There is a glass case in the this room containing the "Golden Tree", "Tree of Life" or "Tree of Lucignano" as it is variously known.
It is a reliquary of the 14th-15th centuries which comes from the church of S. Francesco.
The central trunk rests on a base in the form of a Gothic Tempietto on three levels. The tree has twelve branches and is surmounted by a crucifix and a pelican, symbol of the passion of Christ. Small branches representing the blood of Christ, made from coral, sprout from the main branches, and these are decorated with leaves with enamelled plaques at their tips.

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