Sant'Alluccio Tower

The Tower of Sant'Alluccio, in the Middle Ages, dominated the ridge of Montalbano right where the road from Vinci passed on the other side to head towards Bacchereto. At the foot of the tower is a spring said to be of holy water.
The history of the tower is connected to the ancient hospital of the Guidi counts, which was located near the Balenaia ravine. At the time of Leonardo da Vinci, who drew it in one of his maps, it probably already belonged to the Florentine Ridolfi family.
Today the tower is part of the Barco Reale complex but is in poor condition.
In the woods there are benches and tables under wooden canopies where you can stop for a picnic or to camp out. It is very useful for trekking in the area.

During the Middle Ages, the Tower of Sant'Alluccio dominated the Montalbano ridge at the point where the road from Vinci passed on the opposite side to continue in the direction of Bacchereto. At its feet are the sources of holy water, the stream that continues downstream with the name of Rio di Balenaia and then Vincio. Its history is closely linked to that of the ancient hospital of the Guidi counts which was located near the Balenaia gorge, as recent and fortuitous archaeological finds seem to demonstrate. At the time of Leonardo, who represented it on Montalbano on the Windsor paper RL 12685, it probably already belonged to the Florentine Ridolfi family. Currently the tower, incorporated in the building complex that belonged to the Spalletti counts, is located inside the Barco Reale but is in poor conservation conditions.
In the woods there are benches and tables under wooden canopies where you can stop and camp out

It was built three centuries before the year one thousand. It served as a refuge for the many wayfarers who passed through those wild places. It was an era in which dangers were not lacking, including those deriving from the attacks of the bandits who were stationed in the mountains. Attached to the ancient hermitage, there was a chapel which over the centuries was transformed into a rustic building for the use of the peasants who lived there, after the complex lost its primary function.

Equipped with a beautiful crenellated tower (now destroyed). The entire building is in a complete state of abandonment. Legend has it that it was built by the French monk Alluciem, who with two other companions Justis and Barontes, left the monastery of Cluny, from which it had taken its name from the order to which they belonged; Cluniac. The three monks moved to these mountains in three different places. Each of them built a chapel and a hermitage.

These places (San Baronto, San Giusto al Pinone and Sant'Alluccio) took and still have the name of the three French friars. Legend has it that the three friars passed the ladle from one place to another to wall up the three buildings. In these buildings the pilgrims were not only refreshed, but if they needed it they were also physically treated.