In addition to fossils, various rock samples have been collected from the Monsummano hill. Particular attention has been given to the marbles that, since the Middle Ages, have been used extensively in important buildings, like the red marble used to decorate the Florentine churches of S. Maria del Fiore and S. Maria Novella as well as Pistoia’s Church of Our Lady of Humility and the golden travertine used in the loggia of Monsummano’s Osteria dei Pellegrini.
The area’s population dynamics from proto-historic era to the Middle Ages are documented here. During the Etrusco-Roman era, Valdinievole was primarily a transit area in which some stopping places
A collection of iconographic materials document the Padule’s historical geography since the beginning of the XVI century. Moreover, particular attention has been given to the various uses of the
The grand-ducal farms. Maps and image collections show the structure and characteristics of the grand-ducal farms that were distributed around the lake-marsh, forming the estates of Ponte a Cappiano, Altopascio,