Territory

Larciano is located in the Valdinievole area, on the Montalbano slopes and it borders the Fucecchio Marsh.

Honours

Italian gold medal bar

"During the last world conflict, this municipality of approximately five thousand two hundred inhabitants suffered one of the most brutal and atrocious retaliation by the Nazis troops, who slaughtered one hundred and seventy-five unarmed citizens, above all women, young people and children. Guided by a deep faith in a better, free and democratic country, the locals participated in the struggle against Nazi-fascism, giving a great example of exceptional self-denial, firmness and patriotism."

– 23 August 1944

Religious buildings

• San Rocco Church
• Parish Church of San Silvestro
• San Donnino Church
• San Niccolò Church

Civil buildings

• Villa Banchieri

Military buildings

• Larciano Castle

Natural areas

• Fucecchio Marsh

Other

• Monument to the martyrs of the Fucecchio Marsh. It was inaugurated in September 2002 in Castelmartini, where one of the bloodiest massacres, known as the massacre of the Fucecchio Marsh, was committed by the Nazi-fascists after the armistice. It is located in via Francesca. It is a Carrara marble work made by Gino Terreni from Empoli. The former President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, was present at the inaugural. There are seven preparatory works, including the original plaster of the monument to the martyrs of the Fucecchio Marsh, created and donated by Gino Terreni, at the new Centre for Research, Documentation and Promotion of the Fucecchio Marsh in Castelmartini.
• Garden of memory. It was inaugurated on August 23, 1996 in Castelmartini and it aims to commemorate the massacre carried out on August 23, 1944 by the Nazi-fascists, in which 175 people lost their lives. It was created by Andrea Dami and Simone Fagioli, who recovered the former cemetery by intervening with permanent art installations. The work called "Paysage", realized by Andrea Dami, consists of 36 panels dedicated to the dead of the municipality of Larciano: the quadrangular and cubic panels recall women, while the spherical and round ones evoke men. The shapes are not identical, as the lives of the victims were different, and they are located slightly obliquely to the horizon, meaning the randomness and unpredictability of life. In addition, Andrea Dami and Simone Fagioli created the "walkable postcard" called "My brother is here", which is a series of graphic and cultural themes that emerged from eighty-two emails arriving from different countries of Europe, America and Asia. "My brother is here" consists of nine mosaic "pictograms-seats-tables-platforms" representing the world (universality of the message), the relationship between man and woman (human archetype), the eye (symbol of direct vision of massacre), the table of peace (element of constant reflection), the duality between sun and moon (duality of life), the cross (sacrifice of the 175 victims in the massacre), blood (blood of all the people killed), the dove (symbol of peace par excellence) and the word "no!" (one word against violence and war).^[4]

• Marzocco. In the Florentine Republic, the marzocco was a lion, symbol of the popular power. In the fourteenth century, next to Palazzo Vecchio (Florence), the Signoria kept a menagerie of lions, hence the name of the street "via dei Leoni" (literally “street of Lions”). Even today there is an example of marzocco in Piazza della Signoria in Florence. The example of marzocco situated in the centre of the square of Larciano Castello differs from the Florentine one in the absence of the lion's head; in fact, it is said that it was stolen by Cecina, the nearby and historical rival.^[5]
• Bagno gate, San Marco gate and South gate. Today the wall path presents three entrance gates; a northwest gate (San Marco gate), a northeast one (Bagno gate) and finally a south gate. In the description of the castle, the Liber Censuum book (dated back to the year 1382) mentions “duarum portis, quarum una vocatur Porta a Bagno, and alia Porta S. Marci”.^[6] However, it is difficult to recognize through this toponymy the gates mentioned above and, consequently, it is not easy to date them. The Bagno gate and the San Marco one have the same constructive characteristic, namely the Liutprando’s foot (ancient unit of measurement of Lombard origin); for this reason they can be dated between the tenth and thirteen centuries. While the San Marco gate is related to the expansion of the thirteen century walls, the Bagno gate could already be referred to the first stone walls dating back to the twelfth century. In addition, the latter gate suffered the lowering of the threshold level, linked to the profound changes in the internal viability of the castle, which also led to the destruction of part of the wall path. On the other hand, the southern gate is the most recent of the three access points to the village, as it can be noticed in the use of the Pistoiese arm as a modular base. It was built following the extension of the walls, so after the year 1382, but prior to the establishment of the Florentine arm as a single module in Tuscany, so before the end of the eighteenth-century.

Library

In Larciano there is a municipal library which offers many services, such as the local, the interlibrary and the home loan, the consultation, some educational activities for adults and children and activities to promote reading and a playroom.^[7]

Research

• Astronomical observatory of Castelmartini.

Schools

In the municipality of Larciano it is possible to find two public kindergartens, a primary school and a middle school; the Istituto Comprensivo di Larciano includes all these schools.

Museums

• The Museum of Rural Life “Casa Dei”. Located inside a two-storey farmhouse inside the Fucecchio Marsh, the museum collects materials from the peasant life of the early twentieth century. The museum is divided into sections and the final goal is to make people aware of the relationship established between the place, the agricultural activity and the role in the rural life at that time. The aforementioned museum was created in collaboration with the Tuscany Region and with the patronage of the Province of Pistoia and the Municipality of Larciano within the project called "Along the Migratory Routes" and it has entered the museum network of the Tuscany Region since 2012.^[8]
• The Civic Museum of Larciano Castello. Located in Larciano Castello and inaugurated in 1975, the museum collects some objects coming from the Valdinievole area and others arriving from other places, through donations or temporary loans thanks to museums. The finds cover a large time frame that starts from prehistoric times until the late Renaissance. The museum is organized in two sections: a local and an educational section.^[9]

Events

• Settembre Larcianese (literally “September in Larciano”). The fair was created in 1874 to encourage the breeding and the livestock trade and it was annually held in the square of San Rocco. The fair was immediately successful, so much that in 1875 the square of San Rocco was enlarged to give more space to animals. In addition to the purchase of animals, the competition for the best beasts and the livestock exhibition, the fair gave the opportunity to take part in traditional competitions, to see the fireworks and to have a great time thanks to storytellers and fire eaters. In 1907 the flight of the “colombina” was introduced: this event was auspicious for the forthcoming agricultural year. Initially, the fair lasted only one day, more precisely it used to take place on the second Thursday of September; today it continues for several days. The program of the fair has been changed due to the economic transformation of the area, from agricultural to mainly industrial and artisanal; this is the reason why the animals for the various competitions are no longer seen in the square.
• Cherry festival: takes place in Castelmartini. Initially it used to last a week, from Sunday to Sunday at the turn of 13 June, at the same time as the celebrations in honor of Saint Anthony of Padua. Today the festival lasts for two weeks and continues to attract many citizens. The name of the festival is due to the fact that the cherries of the area are distributed free of charge during the first Sunday of celebrations.
• Castagnata (literally “chestnut festival”): takes place in Cecina on the penultimate Sunday of October. During the fair, chestnut products, such as “necci”, “castagnacci” and “frugiate”, can be found and there is also the possibility to taste the local wine.

Hamlets

Larciano is composed of four hamlets: Castelmartini, Cecina, Larciano Castello and San Rocco.

Castelmartini

It is a residential area characterized by a strong productive component. The original inhabited center, dating back to the end of the thirteenth century when a "castrum Martini Jacobi Admannati" is mentioned in the Liber censuum, is located west of via Francesca; in the same area there was the ancient hospital of San Donnino in Cerbaia, which has now disappeared and it is remembered through the name of the current church of Castelmartini. The ancient hospital was located not far from the place where Pistoia had a port which connected it with Pisa, through the canals of the marshes. Besides, this ancient hospital was connected to a road of considerable importance that crossed the Montalbano area, thus it was an important accommodation facility in the organization of the territory under the government of the Pistoian municipality. The Parish Church of Castelmartini, built as a chapel around 1200, underwent a radical makeover at the end of the nineteenth century, resulting in a late neoclassical aspect. In the building next to the church, the headquarters of the Centre for Research, Documentation and Promotion of the Fucecchio Marsh is located. Its purpose is to promote initiatives aimed to the conservation and enhancement of the marsh from an environmental and naturalistic point of view, in terms of an area of national and international interest. Proceeding towards the Morette Port, which is a particularly interesting area of access to the marsh, the Villa Poggi Banchieri is situated; it was built by expanding and modifying the ancient Castrum Martini which gave its name to this place.

Cecina, on the background Montevettolini.

San Rocco

At the end of the nineteenth century, the population, that had settled inside the church of San Rocco since the seventeenth century, had grown considerably. In fact, a great number of people had moved from Larciano Castello to the flat areas, that had been reclaimed, so consequently, free from malaria and arable. The population commissioned the church in the place where there was already a small church dedicated to the Holy Virgin in 1631 when the plague, which had affected the territory of Larciano, was coming to an end and this building was dedicated to the saint considered the protector against evil.

The Town Hall in the main square of San Rocco.

In 1884 San Rocco was detached from San Silvestro from which it used to depend, and three years later it was recognized as a parish. This event marked the beginning and the subsequent development of the town of San Rocco, different from Larciano Alto. In 1897 Larciano obtained the administrative autonomy from Lamporecchio and the centre of San Rocco obtained the seat of the Town Hall, restored and inaugurated in June 1997.

Other localities in the territory

In Larciano there are other smaller localities, such as Baccane, Biagiotti, Biccimurri, Case di Monte, Colonna, Mungherino and Puntoni.

Newspapers

Orizzonti is a cultural, informative and historical monthly magazine that deals with topics related to the municipalities of Larciano, Lamporecchio, Vinci and Cerreto Guidi; in the last years, articles related to Valdinievole area and Empoli are also inserted. The principal aim is to promote the socio-cultural activities linked to these territories; for this reason, readers are active users in the construction of this magazine, since they are invited to show any issues, proposals and suggestions, as well as they can write any articles having to do with topics of public interest.

Twin towns

• Poussan, from 2013
• Rousset, from 2013

Football

Larciano has several football clubs, among which the most important is the U.S.D. Art. Ind. Larcianese, showing the expression of the community of artisans, industrialists and citizens of Larciano. Recently, the Larcianese football club has achieved unexpected goals for a little village such as Larciano: it won the Italy Amateur Cup in 1998 and it had been playing in D-Series for several years.

Cycling

The Larcianese U.C. association embodies the passion of residents for cycling. It organizes the GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano, a cycling race for professionals that generally takes place at the beginning of March, between the Strade Bianche and the Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Larcianese cycling association was born thanks to Nello Bonfanti, who was the representative of the Salvarani cycling team. Founded the association, Bonfanti became involved in organizing cycling races; so, starting from the early 60s the tradition of the cycling race named "I circuiti degli assi" began in Larciano and it continued until the mid-70s.

This cycling association was recognized nationally and then internationally.