Certaldo Alto

Certaldo Alto is the medieval walled hilltop section of the town of Certaldo, rising above the modern lower town (Certaldo Basso) on a ridge in the Elsa valley, approximately 35 kilometres southwest of Florence in Tuscany. The village is built almost entirely in warm red and orange brick — a visual signature that distinguishes it from the pale stone hill towns more common in Siena Province — and its intact medieval street plan, towers, and palace facades have changed little in the past five centuries. Certaldo Alto is best known as the birthplace of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), author of the Decameron, a collection of one hundred novellas that is one of the most influential prose works in the history of European literature. The house where Boccaccio lived, Casa del Boccaccio on Via Boccaccio, has been converted into a museum and study centre with editions of the Decameron, archival materials, and a library open to researchers. Boccaccio is also buried in the town, in the church of SS Jacopo e Filippo on the main street. The Pretorio Palace at the upper end of Via del Rivellino has a courtyard facade covered in polychrome glazed terracotta coats of arms accumulated by successive governors, creating an unusually colourful display unique in the region. The walls and towers at the northern end of the village offer views across the Elsa valley toward the Chianti hills. A funicular connects the lower town to the upper village, with a journey time of about two minutes. In mid-July the Mercantia festival fills the streets with European street theatre and circus acts for five nights, transforming the village into one of the most animated outdoor performance venues in central Italy. Certaldo Alto receives a fraction of the tourist traffic of nearby San Gimignano, retaining a genuinely local atmosphere.