The Museums of Chianti
Pieve di San Leolino a Panzano

San Francesco Museum, Greve in Chianti
The gold-work section includes sacred items from the 16 C to the 19 C, including a 16 C thurible and censer and the 17 C Reliquary of San Canziano from the Badia di Montescalari. In addition to the museum, the former convent complex also houses an archive and a room for temporary exhibitions.
Opening hours:
Winter Thu - Fri 10 am - 1 pm and Sat - Sun 3.30 pm - 6.30 pm
Summer Thu - Fri 10 am - 1 pm and Sat - Sun 4 pm - 8 pm.
Click the link for more about the Sacred Arts Museum in Greve.

Museo di Arte Sacra of Impruneta
The silverware collection is in the Sala Silvani, where there is a display of precious silver and gold items, many of which are arranged according to type. The most significant pieces are: a partially gold-plated and enamelled silver-lamina processional cross, attributed to Lorenzo Ghiberti (1425 ca.); two silver patens attributed to Antonio di Salvi (1515); and a collection of rock crystal objects, four candlesticks with a cross-holder and cross given to the Virgin of Impruneta by Cristina of Lorraine in 1633. On the left-hand wall of the same room there is the 15 C bas-relief depicting "The Finding of the Icon", which evokes the episode that lies at the origin of the worship of the Madonna of Impruneta.
In the manuscript section there are eleven valuable illuminated codexes, seven from the 14 C and four from the 15 C, including: a gradual attributed to Lippo di Benivieni (ca. 1310 - 20); an antiphonary from the mid-15th century decorated by an illuminator influenced by Orcagna; and three 15th-century manuscripts illuminated by Antonio di Girolamo.
The section devoted to liturgical vestments consists of a collection of very fine sacred vestments that includes unique items such as the “capes” used for the venerated image of the Virgin.
Opening hours: Wed - Fri 10 am - 1 pm. Sat - Sun 10 am - 1 pm and 4.30 pm - 8 pm.
More about the Treasure of Santa Maria at Impruneta.
Basilica di Santa Maria of Impruneta
A visit to the museum can easily include a visit to the basilica, which has been restored and renovated a number of times over the centuries and embellished with some fine works of art. There are enamel terracottas by Luca della Robbia in the chapels which were designed by Michelozzi, on each side of the presbytery, and there are some 17 C paintings including "The Nativity of the Virgin" by Passignano, "The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian" by Matteo Rosselli and "The Vocation of St. Peter" by Jacopo Chimenti known as Empoli.
More about the Basilica of Santa Maria at Impruneta.

Museo Arte Sacra of San Casciano Val di Pesa
In the same room, there are some fine gold-background 14 C panels including: the Madonna and Child by the Master of the Horne triptych; various works on the same subject by Jacopo del Casentino, Master Francesco, Cenni di Francesco, the Master of Sant’Jacopo a Mucciana; and a painted cross attributed to the Master of San Lucchese and produced at the beginning of the 15 C. In front of the steps leading to the upper floor there is a polychrome marble statue attributed to Gino Micheli and dating to 1341.
In the final room, given over to liturgical vestments, there is a thurible and five processional crosses dating from the 14 C -15 C, two chasubles of Florentine manufacture executed between the 15C and the 16C, and a fine 18 C French cope.
Click here for details of the art displayed in the San Casciano Museum of Sacred Art
Opening hours:
Winter Sat 4.30 pm - 7 pm and Sunday plus public holidays 10 am - 12.30 pm and 4 pm - 7 pm
Summer Sat 5 pm - 7.30 pm and Sunday plus public holidays 10 am - 12.30 pm and 4.30 pm - 7.30 pm
Museo di Santa Maria sul Prato (della Misericordia) of San Casciano val di Pesa
This contains a fine collection of art works gathered over the course of time by the Compagnia della Misericordia and housed inside the church of Santa Maria sul Prato. The paintings worthy of note include three 14 C panels by Ugolino di Nerio depicting the Madonna and Child, St. Peter and St. Francis, and the Crucifix by Simone Martini. On the right wall of the church there is a marble pulpit from the middle of the 14 C, an important work by Giovanni di Balduccio.

Antiquarium di Sant'Appiano
In the first of the two rooms making up the Antiquarium, there are some alabaster funerary urns from the Hellenistic period, with effigies of the dead carved on the covers and bas-reliefs depicting Greek mythological scenes. Two smaller containers, one of which has a depiction of a knight wrapped in a shroud about to enter the underworld, are inside a case together with red-figure Attic ceramics that date back to the period between the 6 C and 5 C BC. The cabinets in the second room contain Late Middle Age and Renaissance ceramics typical of the Florence area, some Etruscan memorial pillars and a small pagan idol in sandstone depicting the god Eros astride an animal, which was found during the demolition of the baptistery.
Click here for more about the Antiquarium of Sant'Appiano at Barberino Val d'Elsa
Pieve di Sant'Appiano
The interior of the parish church exhibits two different Romanesque architectural styles: an early Romanesque style dating to the founding of the building and a later style in the same style; this can be seen in the right aisle, which was destroyed and rebuilt between the 12 C and the 13 C. On the walls there are a series of frescoes by the Florentine School from the end of the 15 C (in the left aisle) and 16 C frescoes on the vault at the base of the bell tower and in the Cappella del SS. Sacramento.
Opening Hours: Sat - Sun 4 pm - 6 pm
Click here for more about the Parish church of Sant'Appiano.

Museo di Arte Sacra of Tavarnelle Val di Pesa
There are also two cases devoted to the “embroidery of Tavarnelle”, an ancient local art. There are both church vestments and domestic furnishings.
In the second room are works from the parish church of San Donato in Poggio. There are a number of fine paintings: a 14th-century triptych attributed to Ugolino di Nerio; the Madonna and Child between the Archangels Raphael and Gabriel by the Master of Marradi; two Saints by Giovanni Montini and other Florentine School works from the 18 C and 19 C. The vestments and artefacts include silverware by Zanobi Biagioni, a goldsmith working in Florence at the end of the 18th century.
The museum also has a room given over to popular devotion and worship, with the display of a series of silver and gold-leafed wood reliquaries. Finally, in the corridor of the priest’s residence there is a selection of ancient liturgical fabrics and a section devoted to figurative documentation of popular worship in the area.
Click the link for more details of the Tavarnelle Museum of Sacred Art
Opening Hours:
Winter Sat - Sun 3.30 pm - 6 pm
Summer Sun - Sat 4.30 pm - 7 pm
Museo di Cultura Contadina of Tavarnelle val di Pesa
In the Castello di San Donato in Poggio located in via del Giglio, there is a museum named after Emilio Ferrari, an engineer who made available for public viewing an extensive collection of farming tools, utensils and equipment. These items provide an insight into the way in which the agriculture and small-scale rural craft industries of the Chianti region functioned. There are also numerous copper utensils and containers of various origins, mainly from the 19 C.
Opening Hours:
Winter visits only by prior booking
Summer Mon - Sat 9.30 am - 12.30 pm and Sun 9.30 am - 12.30 pm
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