A young Paraguayan finds some time for a break from work. She puts on hers bike e and adventure on a country road never beaten by her before. She unaware of her surprise that awaits her, suddenly she appears "in the middle of nowhere" the millennial Parish church of San Romolo in Gaville, Dante's witness of history, faith and Romanesque architecture in Valdarno.
"The other was what you, Gaville, plagues"
…Like this Dante Alighieri glosses canto XXV of his Inferno. He refers (it was evident to his contemporary readers) to a well-known event in the chronicle of the time, which also explains the solitary existence of the imposing temple where at the time there was an inhabited center. Come with us and we will see it.
Ignoring all this, Noemi Sanches, a young Paraguayan doctor of philosopher, decided that spring Saturday to post via del Cesto towards a new direction, astride her bike. After half an hour of cycling surrounded by the enchanting Tuscan countryside… an ancient beauty appears. It was, as she discovered, the Pieve di Gaville. Built around the year 1000 in the village of the same name today a hamlet of Figline and Incisa Valdarno.
In the midst of "an enchanting nothing"
It immediately made a considerable impression on her: “Suddenly, almost 'in the middle of nowhere' ... that is, in the middle of the countryside, with very few houses around, I found myself in front of an imposing shape, which abundantly repaid the effort of the climb. Also because I wasn't looking for it… It was a gift. A beautiful surprise! ". Noemi really likes ancient architecture, but the church was closed. He then decides to return the next day, Sunday, for mass, in order to be able to discover the interior as well.
Inside Gaville
"If from the outside it pushes you to look up to Heaven", confides in us, "From within it fills with its sacred silence that elevates the soul, makes you gather in yourself and bring you closer to God. You feel enveloped in his time that smells of eternity". Why “It tastes of an ancient past - it is a heritage - of simplicity and preciousness at the same time. But it also gives an original presence that goes beyond time… ”.
In church, Noemi reads some historical notes, in addition to that reference to the Divine Comedy.
The town surrounding the church was razed to the ground by the Guelph family of the Cavalcanti, in retaliation against the inhabitants of the Castle of Gaville, where their scion Francesco was killed.
San Romolo a Gaville and its history
As the web page illustrates nel valdarno, “The parish church of San Romolo a Gaville stands on a hill surrounded by a splendid olive grove, where the Via Adrianea once passed, which connected the Valdambra to Florence. In the rooms in front of the church there is the beautiful Museum of Peasant Civilization which offers an insight into the peasant life of the past. It was built between 1007 and 1070 close to the pre-existing watchtower at the behest of the Ubertini family, who owned the nearby castle, considered one of the most powerful in the Florentine Valdarno in medieval times. The parish had a period of great splendor, as exercised its jurisdiction over over 30 peoples, including that of Figline ". “She was disfigured during the works of the 1700s and damaged during World War II. Between the 40s and 60s, the church was completely renovated and brought back to the splendor and shape of the past ".
The moral of the story
It seems that it is worth venturing into the "nothingness" of the splendid ones natural frames with which the Creator has endowed our beautiful Italy! And man, over the centuries, has put his own. It has transformed the territory making it, if possible, even more beautiful, as well as productive. (For example: did you know that the cypresses, emblems of the Tuscan countryside, they have been introduced sooo long ago from Greece?) But, wisely, our ancestors transformed nature respecting it. Perhaps these little trips, with no other pretensions than a little respite from the daily grind, like that of Noemi, also teach us this. A lesson from our fathers that we hope to never forget.
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