Exploring the Hidden Charms of Carmignano: A Journey Through History and Landscapes

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Hello dearest friends!

As usual, I hope your week is going well. The weather situation in Emilia Romagna isn’t the best, and I’ve had several appointments canceled. But if I look on the bright side, it gave me some time to write this post and share some photos I took a while ago when I visited Tuscany.

As always, I love showing you new places, and this time, through this post, I’m taking you to an area of Tuscany that some may consider lacking in architecturally and culturally significant monuments. However, I must say that’s not the case! The town of Carmignano, in the province of Prato, is indeed an enchanting place that extends through the hills of Montalbano. In that area, there are several villas from the 16th century, and they’ve also found various artifacts dating back to the Etruscan period.

As I was saying, what makes the landscape around Carmignano beautiful is the land used by wineries, especially for producing its red wine, which, it seems, boasts a centuries-old tradition.

It's said that Carmignano as a village dates back to the Medici period, when Cosimo III already considered wine to be of great importance, thus defining these lands as significant for wine production.

Naturally, as usual, my exploration of this place started on foot. The first thing I visited was La Rocca di Carmignano, a medieval fortification built around the 11th century to defend Pistoia from conflicts with nearby cities like Florence. I had read before arriving that this castle had been partially restored back in 2005, but honestly, I didn’t notice anything to that effect. I had also read that it had been transformed into a sort of contemporary museum, but in reality, the only truly interesting thing I noticed was the series of fascinating trails around the castle, and of course, the beautiful panoramic view.

Then, I headed down to the town center, where I must say there’s a lovely square and a beautiful fountain, and there was quite a bit of activity. It seemed to me that there were few tourists, mostly people who lived there as residents. Even in this village, there were some houses in poor condition, quite rundown. I was told that these are all houses inherited by people living abroad who don’t take care of them at all.

I continued my stroll through the streets of the village, but after two hours of walking, I was quite tired, so I made my way to the car to return to the place where I was staying.

I hope you enjoyed the photos I shared. This is definitely a place to visit because I really liked the castle area, mostly for the breathtaking views you get from there. See you in my next post, and I wish you all a good day.