Village of Oliveto
Oliveto is a small one fortified village (at times it resembles a castle) built on the top of a small hill in 1300 and has remained intact until today in its nature and beauty.
Entering Oliveto means stop time and enter its history: the walls that surround it, the entrance doors, the towers, the narrow alleys and the stone houses that characterize it, are an intact testimony of its medieval history.
The small village is light years away from the chaos of the city or from the life of the countryside that surrounds it: a small oasis of relaxation, particularly silent, which fascinates anyone who crosses its doors.
The surrounding area is characterized by the many olive plantations that gave the small village its name, as well as by mule tracks and green areas particularly suitable for taking long walks in the midst of nature.
The date of foundation of the fortified village of Oliveto must be placed around the year 1385, that is, when the Florentine Republic had recently dominated Arezzo and its count. The land, unlike the whole Valdichiana, still marshy and malarial, was "healthy and fruitful" as the Florentines loved to call it.
The governor of the village also under the pressure of the Florentine Guelphs was forced to fortify the defensive walls with two watchtowers.
While the presence of the Saracini family is now visible only in the heraldic coats of arms outside the door of the castle of Oliveto, their protagonism since the early Middle Ages is out of the question Guelfi factional, they did not have an easy life in the Arezzo Ghibellina, nevertheless members of the family boasted prominent positions in the papal state and high offices in the service of the Marquises of Ferrara. The B&B Fondaco del Moro has decided to recover the coat of arms of the ancient family to make it the symbol of the structure.
A Little Pearl:
go to olive grove cemetery just outside the village and pay your respects to the tomb ofMuriel Spark, the writer, who also inspired by the beauty of the locality, was a true force of nature throughout the 1900s.
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