Gavinana

Gavinana is a village with a lovely mild climate that has always been a holiday destination and an ideal place to take long walks and runs surrounded by nature. However, when exploring and appreciating every corner of this village, you easily see that there is much more in there.
Gavinana is one of the villages with the oldest history in the mountain. Its first inhabitants come with the first primitive settlements, while its name is a legacy from the Roman era. However, it is during the Renaissance that Gavinana reaches fame.
During the siege of Florence by the imperial troops of Charles V, the Florentine hero Francesco Ferrucci fought strenuously to ensure supplies and support to the city, and he fought his last battle right in Gavinana. Ferrucci sought a safe haven to spend the night before continuing his march towards the besieged city within the walls of the village, but his plan failed and he was forced into a fight. The time lost in the then enemy San Marcello and the alleged betrayal of one of his officers meant that on his arrival the gates of the village were already closed and the imperial army, led by Filiberto di Chalons and Fabrizio Maramaldo, was there ready for battle. The fight was terrible and fierce and serval people died, including Filiberto di Chalons, whose body was left to the Verginina di Mezzo, just outside the country, before being transferred to Florence. Eventually, Ferrucci, wounded and weakened by the fever, was forced to surrender, was captured, and killed by Maramaldo, who therefore allowed the Emperor and the Pope to retake Florence. The last moments of Ferrucci’s life, and the famous phrase “Vile, you kill a dead man” pronounced by the Florentine leader before being killed, have gone down in history, have condemned Maramaldo to be known as a coward without honor, and have turned Ferrucci into a national hero.
The figure of Ferrucci was rediscovered by Massimo d’Azeglio after one of his trips in the Pistoia Mountains. D’Azeglio turned him into a true hero of the Renaissance, famous enough to bring thousands of people on pilgrimage to Gavinana and to be included by Mameli in the Italian national anthem.
The Ferrucciano Museum, located in the center of the square, is the place where the finds of the battle were collected and where you can retrace the exploits of the Florentine leader. Symbolically, the place is also considered Ferrucci’s tomb since he was killed at the bottom of the museum stairs and the body was thrown, along with those of many others, in the mass graves. The equestrian statue of the sculptor Emilio Gallori celebrates the Florentine hero in all his vigor and towers over the town square, surrounded by plaques deposed by D’Azeglio and Garibaldi when they paid homage to the fallen hero.
Gavinana, however, is not just this. The Church of Santa Maria Assunta watches over the square from the top of its bell tower and its facade in perfect Romanesque style. Inside there are many treasures to discover. A few meters away from the square there is Palazzo Achilli, donated by the rich merchant to the population, home to the information point of the Pistoia Mountain Ecomuseum and a place rich in culture where exhibitions, book presentations, conferences and concerts are organized. On its lower floor, the M.U.N.A.P. Naturalistic Museum of the Pistoia Apennines was also recently opened. Here you can admire the history of the human presence in the Pistoia mountains.
In the village of Pian de’ Termini, which can be easily reached on foot walking along a quiet path among the trees, there are the Astronomical Observatory of the Pistoia Mountains and the Parco delle Stelle.