How to reach
Lucignano can be easily reached by following the Motorway A1 until the exit Monte San Savino, from which it is approximately 10 km away.
History
In the year 1554, Lucignano passed under Medicean control, and the Florentine Republic began a great series of urbanistic works, like the construction of the Fortress, commissioned in 1558 by Cosimo and attributed to the architect Bernardo Puccini; the sanctuary of the Madonna della Querce, attributed to Vasari and placed outside the historical center (1568); the religious house of the Cappuccini (1580); the churches of Misericordia (1582); and Collegiata (1594).
The construction of the Medicean Fortress, or rather 'Le Fortezze' (The Fortresses), as it is called today, was begun by the Sienese and continued by the Florentines after the victory in the Battle of Scannagallo (1554) that marked the turning point in the War of Siena in favor of Florence. Stand alone on the hill opposite the urban settlement [today in front of the new cemetery]. It consists of two unequal bastions facing towards Siena and united by a stone curtain, in the center of which opens the main gate (called 'Reale'). The two round towers that rise on each bastion are a last-century addition, used as windmills. The construction of the fortress never ended, and after nearly 50 years of abandonment and decay and a long restoration that began in 2019, it was reopened to the public in March 2024.