Parish church of San Leonardo

The parish church of San Leonardo is located not far from the Medici Villa La Ferdinanda in Artimino.

The building is a typical example of a Romanesque structure, with interventions by Lombard workers and there are popular beliefs that attribute a role in its foundation to Countess Matilde of Canossa.

The original structure of the church dates back to the second half of the 10th century and has not undergone substantial transformations with the passage of time. In the fourteenth century the naves were covered with cross vaults, and in the following centuries the interiors were enriched with altars and decorations, while the rectory and the company were added outside. In the 1960s, a radical restoration project was carried out by Guido Morozzi which recovered the medieval structures.

Outside, a staircase leads from the street below to the sixteenth-century loggia of the main entrance. The basilica façade is characterized by an imposing blind arch in the center and the wall below the loggia preserves fragments of Etruscan cinerary urns, now replaced by casts (the original ones are in the Etruscan Archaeological Museum of Artimino). On the left side is the decorated sandstone bell tower, modified between the 16th and 17th centuries.

The most suggestive and recognizable part of the building, however, is the rear one where the three apses of Lombard-Ravenna inspiration stand out, probably created by Lombard workers.

The three-nave interior houses polychrome wooden statues from the 15th and 16th centuries, an ancient copy of the Madonna del Pozzo by Franciabigio and a wooden sculpture of the scene of the Visitation.

Information

• Address: Via della Chiesa, 23, Artimino, Carmignano

• Opening time: by reservation

• Ticket: free entrance

• Phone: 055 8718068

• GPX coordinates: 43.779566,11.0336556