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Località: Via della Pieve, 25, località  San Donato in Poggio - Tavarnelle Val di Pesa - Firenze

Parish church of San Donato in Poggio

The parish church of San Donato is located on one of the main tered et highways in the Florentine countryside, in the locality of Sanctum Donati de Pocis, on track today said of Dead Macìa, on the watershed between Val di Pesa and Elsa. The first written evidence on the parish church of San Donato date back to January 989. In the church was the site of a chapter of canons; remained the names of some of them, among which we recall, in 1129 the prior Ildebrando and his predecessor Renzo that he retired to live in Badia a Coneo. At the end of the XII century the church had an equal relationship with the Badia a Passignano and the Badia a Isola, as testified to by the documents of the time. The parish church in that period was under the protection of the Counts Guidi, to which the village of San Donato was confirmed both in 1191 and in 1220.

At San Donato in Poggio in 1176 and in 1255 was made peace between Siena and Florence; in 1313 the town was besieged by the troops of Henry VII. The pievani of San Donato in Poggio belonged for many years to the family Gherardini, who had property in the area. The chapter of canons was active, that probably met in the cloister, in 1356. In the vicinity of the parish church was also founded the Hospital of San Donato, cited in documents from 1333. In the sixteenth century the church was enriched by various works of art. In the XVII century it was placed the presbytery with the realisation of a others for every apse. In the nineteenth century began the restoration of the romanesque structure inside, followed, in 1911, the restoration of the bell tower and finally in 1927 was built the chapel of the Baptistery placed at the base of the campanile.

The parish church of San Donato in Poggio is a cathedral with three naves are covered by a roof and with three semicircular apses; the parish church has a coating filaretti of alberese stone is part of a fortified complex which also consists of a bell tower. The bell tower probably predates the parish. The facade a salient has on the right the bell tower and is distinguished for the beauty and the regularity of the facewalls, which originally was compact saw that all openings have been made subsequently in occasion of restorations; the realisation of the facade dates back to the XII century.

The interior is covered by wooden trusses and is characterized by the same strict simplicity and nakedness of the outside. It is divided into three naves of six spans each with two rows of pillars with a rectangular section. Thanks to these extreme simplicity the parish church of San Donato in Poggio has always been indicated as one of improving examples between Romanesque churches of the Florentine countryside erected in the XII century. In the first bay on the right, where in 1927 was realized the baptistery is located the baptismal font attributed to Giovanni Della Robbia (1513) and a triptych by Giovanni del Biondo (1375).

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