The “Town of Boccaccio”
Certaldo is one of those places that feels quietly authentic without trying, a compact hilltop borgo where red brick, civic power, and literary memory align with unusual clarity. The upper town, Certaldo Alto, is strongly medieval in layout and atmosphere, yet its identity is not only architectural. This is Giovanni Boccaccio’s home ground, and the town has turned that fact into a coherent, walkable cultural route rather than a slogan.
What to see in Certaldo
Begin with the simplest, smartest entrance, the funicular. It links Certaldo Basso, Piazza Boccaccio, to the medieval gate area of Certaldo Alto, Porta Alberti, turning the climb into a short, designed transition instead of a logistical problem. Opened in 1999, it is also a good way to read the town’s two-part structure without spending your energy on the approach.
Once at the top, Certaldo Alto is essentially a single, purposeful axis, Via Boccaccio. This is not a generic pretty street, it is the town’s main cultural spine, where the landmarks are placed in a sequence that makes sense on foot, brick façades, compact courtyards, and a feeling of controlled medieval scale that stays consistent all the way through.
The essential stop is Casa Boccaccio, rebuilt largely after World War II and now conceived as a house-museum plus a specialist study centre. It holds a major fresco portrait of Boccaccio by Pietro Benvenuti, 1826, rare historical finds discovered during post-war restorations, including period footwear, and, most importantly, a dedicated library focused on Boccaccio’s works and scholarship, developed with the Ente Nazionale Giovanni Boccaccio. This is where Boccaccio becomes concrete, editions, research, and a sense of intellectual continuity rather than mere commemoration.
A few steps away, the Church of Santi Jacopo e Filippo adds a different weight to the visit. Originating between the late 12th and early 13th century, it contains Boccaccio’s tomb at the centre of the nave, and it is attached to a cloister and former convent complex that today hosts the local sacred art museum. It’s a compact, serious place, more historical presence than spectacle, and it completes the town’s literary identity with a genuinely civic-religious setting.
Close the route at Palazzo Pretorio, also known as Palazzo dei Vicari, the most emblematic civic building of Certaldo Alto. Its façade and interiors are marked by a dense constellation of coats of arms, stone, fresco, glazed terracotta, left by the Florentine vicars who governed here for centuries. The point is not decorative, it’s a visible archive of administration, justice, and rotating power, an unusually legible example of how a small Tuscan centre was managed within a wider political system.
Nearby - Castelfiorentino
A particularly rewarding nearby stop, close enough to feel like a natural extension of a Certaldo day, is Castelfiorentino’s Be.Go. Museo Benozzo Gozzoli. The highlight is the Tabernacle of the Visitation, frescoed by Benozzo Gozzoli with the assistance of his sons, a rare opportunity to encounter a major Quattrocento narrative cycle in a setting designed to bring you close to the painting surface and its details. It’s not a big-city museum experience, it’s a focused, high-quality encounter with Tuscan Renaissance craftsmanship at local scale, exactly the kind of visit that complements Certaldo’s own mix of civic history and cultural intelligence.
