Lucignano @ Chariming Medieval Town in the Valdichiana
Lucignano is situated atop a hill in the Valdichiana. A town of Etruscan origin like most of Tuscan cities, Lucignano has maintained unaltered its Medieval urban structure.
The ancient city walls still partly surround the historical centre of the town, where the
Collegiate church of San Michele is to be admired. The late-16th century church houses a fresco by Matteo Rosselli and wooden sculptures dating back to the 15th century.
The 16th-century
Palazzo comunale houses the Civic museum, where works of artists of the Sienese school of painting that flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries are to be admired, along with a Madonna by Luca Signorelli and the so-called "Albero di San Francesco" (Saint Francis` Tree), a reliquiary by Ugolino di Vieri.
Lucignano
Particularly interesting is also the
church of San Francesco, dating back to the 13th century, with a Romanesque façade and a Gothic portal. The walls of the church are decorated with frescoes by Bartolo di Fredi and Sienese painters of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Outside Lucignano there are the
Medicean stronghold and the
Sanctuary of Madonna delle Querce. The latter was built in the 16th century and allegedly designed by Giorgio Vasari; the interior is attributed to Giuliano da Sangallo.
