1. A view of Piazza Agnolo. In the back the rock, seat of the city hall

The main part of the surviving "Romagna toscana", that means the grand-ducal "Valli Transappennine", is occupied by the communal territory of Firenzuola, one of the most extended territory of the region. The boundaries are represented by:Borgo San Lorenzo, Scarperia, Barberino, Castiglione dei pepoli, Palazzuolo sul Senio, Castel del Rio, Monterenzio, Monghidoro e san benedetto Val di Sambro.

This territory occupies the high basin of the river Santerno, the main right affluent of the river Reno, and it extends on the adriatic side of Apennines form Passo della Futa to Monte Paganino.This area has been always interested by the road conditions between the valley of Florence and the region Romagna, and so Pianura Padana. In the territory of Firenzuola there are the current Passo della Futa, the cross of Osteria Bruciata, which is now abandoned but which was very famous in the middle Age, and the Giogo of Scarperia. From all these passes it is possible to reach the Passo della Raticosa along the road to Bologna, or it is possible to go down along the valley of Santerno to reach Imola. The foundation of Firenzuola, in 1300, is linked to its road function, as well as the foundation of the parishes of Cornacchiaia, Camaggiore e Bordignano which, with their limited number of dependent churches, also testify the relative inhospitality of the area. The parish of Cornacchiaia, which is situated on the northern side of Passo dell'Osteria Bruciata, seems to complete the function that was carried out, on the southern side, by the parish of Sant'Agata, not far from Scarperia.

3. Cornacchiaia - The parish

It is not a concidence the fact that two churches, situated on the opposite side of the same mountain, have, more or less, the same features in their architectural structures. Except the changes, the parish of San Giovanni a Cornacchiaia presents the same number of "valichi" between the nave and the aisles, and this is the same structure of the parish of Sant'Agata.

The territory of high Mugello and the correspondant side of Romagnoli Apennines were, since the High Middle Age, "signoria" of the Ubaldini family. The power of this family in this area was so strong that a part of the correspondant mountain chain was called "Alpes Ubaldinorum", at least until the beginning of 1300. After this period, when Florence dominated this area, the part of Apennines mentioned above represented the Alpe Fiorentina.

The power of Ubaldini and that of the members of the same faction was established upon a great numbers of castles, from which these families could control the various

4. The Santerno at Ferniana

roads, which crossed the Apennines (the most important one was the pass of Osteria Bruciata). Today most of these castles are ruins.

2. The Santerno nearby "Ca' Bassa"

The power of Ubaldini on this area was practically absolute, and every villages or resorts was owned by this powerful faction.

The power of Ubaldini represented a real obstacle for the Republic of Florence as it concerns the control on this territory, especially relating to the negative consequences of the road conditions towards the Bolognese, so that in 1306 the foundation of two "terre nuove" was decided : one of them in "Mucello" Scarperia, and the other "ultra Alpes", that means firenzuola.

Some years before, in 1299, in Valdarno Superiore, some new settlements were founded in order to cancel the feudal powerful: this annulment was made not with military action, but with the social and economical restructuration of the human potential of the countryside, in order to favour the dominating town; this kind of intervention was similar to the one carried out in Mugello with the foundation of Scarperia and Firenzuola. The new settlements of Firenzuola was inhabitated by the inhabitants of the resorts of Tirli and Bordigliano, which represented two of the most powerful settlements controlled by the Ubaldini.