Anghiari

A Medieval Treasure between the Tiber and the Arno

The Name

The angular shape of the old castle (castrum angulare) is probably at the origin of the town’s name, although according to another interpretation it derives from the mass of ghiaia, or gravel, accumulated by the Tiber River over the millennia, upon which the historic center is built.

History

• 1048: a parchment kept in Città di Castello provides the first mention of the name of Anghiari.

• 1181: the rebuilding of the village destroyed six years earlier by Arezzo begins with the erecting of the second circuit of city walls.

• 1224: St. Francis, returning from Verna, is given hospitality by the lords of Anghiari, to whom he leaves his cloak, today on display in the Church of Ognissanti in Florence.

• 1259: the course of the Tiber River, which previously flowed near the village, is deviated toward Sansepolcro in the lowest part of the valley.

• 1385: Anghiari becomes part of the Florentine Republic.

• June 29, 1440: on the plain below the city walls, Florentine and papal armies troops defeat the Milanese army of Filippo Maria Visconti, who was attempting to expand his territory beyond the Arno. The Battle of Anghiari is the event for which this village will become famous, thanks to the legend surrounding Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated lost fresco painted in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. This masterpiece would later be “reconstructed” and reinterpreted by a number of great artists, including Rubens.

• 1860: Anghiari joins the kingdom of Savoy, and later the Italian State.

A Lost Masterpiece

Anghiari is a splendid medieval village overlooking the green valley of the upper Tiber River. An impregnable bastion with powerful 13th-century walls, it held a strategic position of great importance in the Middle Ages.

Proud of its Tuscan heritage, Anghiari was a consecrated ally and witness of Florentine civilization after the battle on June 29, 1440, celebrated by Leonardo with a masterpiece that has been lost and is still the subject of research. The aura of mystery, made ineffable by the magic of time, penetrates the medieval scenes, recalling radiant passions, heated hours, the clashing and clanging of swords.

In 1164 Thomas Becket passed through this corner of Tuscany: the Archbishop of Canterbury obtained from the lords of Anghiari the coal cellars of the castle where the Spedalieri di Sant’Antonio, his escorts, built an oratory.

In the 13th-14th centuries, the Church of Sant’Agostino was built over this, later enlarged following the collapsing of the campanile.
The Church of the Badia is of even older origin, perhaps rupestrian, and was the village’s first place of worship (9th cent.).

The delicate late 14th-century image of the wooden Crucifix on the high altar has two details that draw one’s attention: Christ’s loincloth, with the beautiful decoration painted on the background, and the real human hair, once long and flowing and now shorn for devotion. In the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built between 1628 and 1740 and restored several times on the outside, behind the altar there is a glazed terracotta Madonna delle Grazie by the workshop of Andrea della Robbia.

The imposing Fortress was the fortified nucleus around which Anghiari developed. The castle keep was a place of defense as well as a Camaldolensian monastery, which earned it the name of “Conventone.” Together with the old castle keep, the clock tower, called the Campano, is a major element in the urban landscape of Anghiari. Completed in 1323, it was destroyed in 1502 and rebuilt a century later, when the clock was installed. The most recent restoration was done in the first half of the 1800s.
Palazzo Pretorio, which stands in the center of the old heart of town, shows signs of its original structure in the façade, with round-arched windows, a large fresco under a loggia, and terracotta and stone coats of arms. The Palazzo was part of the fortress and was the residence of the podesta and the vicars of the Florentine Republic starting in 1386. Palazzo Taglieschi is immediately recognizable for its composite façade: in fact, although it is a Renaissance structure, it was formed from the harmonious union of preexisting buildings and towers. Opposite stands the Palazzo del Marzocco, a 15th-century edifice that formerly belonged to the noble Angelieri family. Today it is entirely restored and is the seat of the Battle of Anghiari Documentation Center.
The old watch route was the road found at the northern section of the city walls. Since 1444 this stretch of the circuit of walls has undergone a number of reconstruction works in order to make the village impenetrable in the event of an artillery attack.

The raising of the walls (contemporaneous with the building of the Sant’Angelo and San Martino gates, between 1181 and 1204) entailed the incorporating of the medieval battlements, which are still visible in some places. The work for enlarging the Church of Sant’Agostino was completed in 1463 with the construction of the unique semicircular tower.

Since 1388, Piazza Baldaccio, formerly Piazza Mercatale, has held the weekly Wednesday market. The Teatro dei Ricomposti, built in 1790 with a Renaissance-style façade, restored the village’s strong cultural vocation.

Local Products

Anghiari’s real product, if it can be called that, is “time” – the soft sheen that forms on things, the grain of the wood, the dusty hours that pass amid our belongings.

The village is a nest of expert antiquarians who scour the surrounding area in search of precious relics from the past.

This passion has turned into a commercial enterprise, thanks to the presence of skilled craftsmen who are able to restore any object to its initial splendor.

Local dishes

The classic dish of Anghiari is bringoli: thick spaghetti handmade from just water and flour by the village housewives, covered with a sauce made from porcini mushrooms gathered in the woods of the Tiber Valley, or else with a chianina meat sauce.