Towers peep through rooftops and compete with bell towers: from a distance Certaldo is an elegant hat crowning a low hill.

It has the warm, reddish color of the Sienese lands, with which it borders, the character of a medieval village but the authentic charm of a community that does not live on tourism alone.

Known for its sweet onion and for its most illustrious novelist, Messer Giovanni Boccaccio – the author of the Decameron who decided to spend the last season of his life here – Certaldo has kept its medieval layout intact, but unlike other Tuscan towns it does not revolve around a square, which it does not have; rather, it rises uphill along a street, Via Boccaccio, toward a more than spectacular vanishing point: Palazzo Pretorio.

The 12th-century building is famous for its facade decorated with Della Robbia ceramics and numerous marble and stone coats of arms, the effigies of the vicar families who ruled Certaldo over the centuries.

Along Via Boccaccio opens the Museum of Sacred Art, housed in a 15th-century Augustinian convent. Inside, unknown treasures include a 13th-century wooden crucifix, a rare example of Christ Triumphant on the Cross. Just beyond, the Giovanni Boccaccio House Museum gives access to a rich library dedicated to the 14th-century writer, with several illustrated editions of the Decameron.

How to get there?

Certaldo can be reached on foot by climbing the steep Costa Alberti and Costa Vecchia, by funicular from Piazza Boccaccio in the lower part of Certaldo, or by car via Via delle Mura, undoubtedly one of the most scenic arrivals.

In summer, we recommend visiting around sunset, when you will happen to meet the elderly sitting in the shade of the houses, talking, as they used to do in the old days, or the children running along Via Boccaccio on their bikes. In July you can’t miss Mercantia, a street arts festival that transforms the village into pure magic. In October, on the other hand, it’s Boccaccesca season, a food and wine festival that occupies the palaces and streets of the old village.

Palazzo Pretorio and Casa Boccaccio are open from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.-winter hours valid every day except Tuesdays from Nov. 1 to March 31-and from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day from April 1 to Oct. 31.