HISTORIC CENTRE

The first information relative to the built-up area of Reggello is of the first half of the 14th century. The town known as “Rigellus” had risen along the Resco torrent, at the meeting of three roads: the Via Cassia, currently the Via dei Sette Ponti (Road of the Seven Bridges), from Arezzo to Florence, and two routes that descended from the Casentino: at first, Reggello rose as a road junction and a stopping-over place, and then it was turned into a market town. From the 14^th century on the built-up area began to develop around a central square, currently known as Piazza Potente, and to assume the role of an economic centre. On the north-east side of the said square, in 1427 there was a hospital named for St Lawrence and an “industrial nucleus” that exploited the waters of the Resco torrent. It consisted of three mills, two fulling-mills, and a blacksmith’s forge (Via dei Mulini, I Monechi). From the end of the 14^th century on, routes through the passes began to be utilised as transhumance roads. A customs post was set up (Via della Dogana) in Reggello, in the vicinity of the Piazza and of the Ponte Vecchio [Old Bridge] over the Resco, along the Via del Casentino. In 1531, the loggia of Piazza Potenza was still being fitted out, and the proceeds from the sale of public property – on the occasion of the Saturday market – were earmarked for this work. By the end of the 15^th century, the built-up area of Reggello had taken on the appearance as we know it today: the Piazza [Square], the mills over the Resco, and a chapel, the future Church of San Jacopo [St James].