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Cultures
The Mediaeval Lordships - the Guidi and the Ubaldini- were soon in competition with the Commune of Florence which was expanding and in search of "new lands". Starting in 1300 this area went through a renewed period of a remarkable development thanks
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and economic value that the Mugello Basin held for Florence. The Medici family, which originally came from this area, and the Lorenesi family made it their pride and joy by investing financial resources to strengthen their presence around Florence.
Important buildings and fortresses, castles, villas and palaces remain to testify the development of the Mugello.
Moreover, even the cultural and artistic history of Florence finds elements of primacy importance for its development in this area.
Artists like Giotto and Beato Angelico were born here, famous architects worked at the construction of the towns of the "walled lands", the features in the landscape of many Florentine paintings have found their inspiration here. |
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Territory
A few kilometres from Florence, among the rolling hills, the tall cypress trees, and against the background of mountain peaks and passes, stretches the territory of the Mugello. Silent waters, a delightful countryside friendly, peaceful and hard-working people, healthy food, the places of the Medici, the historical villas, all to be found just outside Florence.
History, culture, high quality service in a renewed relation with nature these are the things the Mugello has to offer.
Access by bus and by car to the various localities in the area is excellent. From the A1 motorway, there is the exit at Barberino di Mugello. There are several interesting secondary roads too.
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| The fascinating old "Faentina" railway line takes the visitors into the Mugello area from the Romagna region departing from Faenza or from Tuscany departing from Florence. Local public transport is available for travelling in the localities. |
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Environments and climate
The territory of the Comunità Montana unites two geographic areas: the Mugello and the Upper Mugello or Romagna-Tuscany.
The valley in the Mugello is a reference point to the Upper-Middle part of the catchment basin of the river Sieve: it is a wide bowl confined by the main watershed of the Apennines (from Mount Citerna to Giogo di Villone) in the North, by the spurs of Mount Giove and Mount Senario in the South.
It is closed in the west by the Mounts Calvana beyond which the province of Prato spreads. In this area we find Vaglia, San Piero a Sieve, Barberino di Mugello, Scarperia, Borgo San Lorenzo and Vicchio. The Mugello landscape is a complex: from the thick woodlands of the ridges where boars, roe-deer and foxes reign up to the areas of chestnut woods and olive groves, from the vast flat land of old terraces confined by slopes cultivated with wheat and sun flowers, up to the fertile valley bottom where the main inhabited centres and roads of communication are situated.
To the North, among the mountain ridges of the Mugello and the passes which descend towards Bologna and the Romagna, in the upper part of the basins of the rivers Santerno, Senio and Lamone there is the Upper Mugello with Firenzuola, Palazzuolo sul Senio and Marradi which are its most important towns.
The big rocks and the peaks, although they are just over 1000 metres high, create massive outlines and scenes, at times very impressing. The landscape is dominated by uncontaminated beech, chestnut and oak tree woods, by vast meadows at times interrupted by juniper bushes or by the outcrop of stones. The limpid water and vigorous vegetation of these valleys are the right habitat for a great variety of birds and fish.
The climate is a transition between the severe one of the Padana Plain where the cold winds blow freely coming down the Alps and the milder Mediterranean ones, typical of Central Italy.
The Mugello basin, just below the higher passes of the mountain chain is often a meeting point of cold North winds and humid warm South-West, West, and South-East winds: this is the cause of fog in Winter |
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