Parish church of San Leonardo

The Pieve (parish church) of San Leonardo stands not far from the Medici Villa "La Ferdinanda" in Artimino. Tradition attributes its foundation to Countess Matilde di Canossa and is a typical example of Romanesque structure, with interventions of Lombard skilled workers. The original structure of the church, dates to the second half of the tenth century, has not undergone substantial transformations: in the fourteenth century the naves were covered by cross vaults, and during the following centuries the interior was enriched with altars and decorations, while on the outside the bodies of the presbytery and society were added. A radical intervention carried out at the end of the sixties by Guido Morozzi has rediscovered the medieval structure. A stairway from the road below leads to the sixteenth century loggia of the main access. The facade is characterised by an imposing round blind arch. The wall below the loggia preserves fragments of Etruscan cinerary urns, now replaced by casts (the originals are at the Etruscan Archaeological Museum of Artimino). On the left-hand side made of decorated sandstone, there is a bell-tower, modified between the sixteenth and Seventeenth century. The most suggestive part of the building is however the rear with the three nice apses of Lombard-Ravenna inspiration. The interior with three naves hosts polychrome wooden statues of the fifteenth-Sixteenth century, an ancient copy of the Madonna del Pozzo by Franciabigio and a plastic version of the Visitation by Pontormo.

Information

• Address: Via della Chiesa, 23, Artimino, Carmignano

• Opening time: by reservation

• Ticket: free entrance

• Phone: 055 8718068

• GPX coordinates: 43.779566,11.0336556