Serravalle Pistoiese is one of those villages that you begin to admire from afar. Has it ever happened to you to drive along the highway and be struck by the beauty of a town, that maybe is not your next destination? In that moment you usually try to figure out where you are, remembering the exit of the highway. Here, Serravalle Pistoiese is something like that.
Contested between Florence, Lucca and Pistoia, Serravalle preserves two elements that recall the town’s past as a fortified place: the remains of two fortresses on opposite sides of the town. We can distinguish the Tower of Barbarossa, in calcareous stone, and the Castrucian fortress, now known as Rocca Nuova. The latter has a peculiar triangular shape with a hexagonal tower rising and from which the view is extraordinary. In the past, these two structures were connected by a guard walkway that was part of the city walls. Only a few sections of the latter are preserved, but these include the Porta della Gabella, which opens onto a road towards the village of the same name, which, as its name suggests, was a customs house in ancient times.
After admiring the Church of San Michele Arcangelo in Serravalle, we venture into its hamlets, scattered over a wide area, but each with its own particular sites of interest. Among these are Cantagrillo, Casalguidi, Castellina and Vinacciano, which offer worthy buildings such as elegant villas in the green and views of the surrounding valley.
