Discover Castroncello: Via Fonda, Festivals and Church History

Castroncello reveals itself through an old road, ecclesiastical history, festivals and its connection to the Sentiero della Bonifica. For your stay, this creates a range of focal points spanning local history, events, cycling and water-management history.

Church and Via Fonda

The parish church of Castroncello is officially named Santi Marco e Francesco. The new church, dedicated to San Marco and San Francesco, was consecrated on 22 May 1881 by Bishop Giuseppe Giusti of Arezzo. Its official name and the exact date of consecration give the village’s connection to church history a concrete form.

Via Fonda – vi' Fonda – is an old road in Castroncello that is still in existence. Before the construction of today’s provincial road SP27, it crossed the entire hamlet; it has always been regarded as the heart of Castroncello. It thus conveys both the former importance of this route and the changing nature of the local road network.

Festivals with local connections

The Corsa delle Micce takes place twice a year as a walking event, each time involving a different hamlet. Castroncello is one of the nine hamlets of Castiglion Fiorentino that compete in the Corsa, with their riders on donkeys. In the second edition of the vi' Fonda Cup, Fabbri, Ceppeto, Vicinato and Capannacce competed against one another in football matches. The two formats make community competition visible in different forms.

Cycling route and water-management history

A 55 km cycling tour on the Sentiero della Bonifica led from the Chiusa dei Monaci in Arezzo to Castroncello. The Galleria Allacciante in the Castroncello area is one of the historic waterworks along the Sentiero della Bonifica that bear witness to the draining of the marshes. The cycling and water-management context expands the local history with a landscape and engineering focus.

Festa del Grano and remembrance

Castroncello’s traditional peasant culinary heritage finds its strongest expression in the annual Festa del Grano. The traditional date is the second Saturday in July. The Monumento ai Caduti di Castroncello commemorates the soldiers who fell in the First World War. Festival tradition and historical remembrance therefore represent two different sides of the village.

Those focusing on culture can combine the church and Via Fonda; those interested in community events can include the Corsa delle Micce, the vi' Fonda Cup and the Festa del Grano in their trip. Cycling and water-management history offer a separate way of exploring the area.

When choosing accommodation for your stay in Castroncello, you can take your preferred focus for each day into account: church history and Via Fonda, the festivals, or the combination of a cycling tour and historic waterworks. This allows you to tailor your travel plans to your personal interests.

For further trip planning, you can also view Polvano, Pergognano, Montecchio and Le Piazze.

For the higher-level travel overview: Castiglion Fiorentino.