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The first mention of Gavignano dates back
to a private sale dated December 990. A estate located in Gavignano is
later inserted into the false donation of the Marquis Ugo (dated 25 July
998) drawn up by the monks of Marturi at the end of the 11 C. There are
no further records until the 13 C.
In July 1221, however, men from this locality appeared in an oath made
by the inhabitants of Poggio Bonizio in Siena. From the second half of
the 13 C, a church is also documented.
It is probable that the toponym began as an indication of a small
settlement and only after the acquisition in the Marturi heritage did it
develop as a village in the mid-13 C, a period during which the church
also had to be erected. Numerous land parcels placed within the
appurtenances of the village of Gavignano are then recorded in the
estimate drawn up in 1318. The church was part of the parish of
Sant'Appiano, in the mediaeval diocese of Florence. It is documented for
the first time in the late 13 C Decimaries (1276-1277;
1302-1303). Also in 1221, on the occasion of the oath of the men of
Gavignano in favour of the Siennese in Poggiobonizzio, no mention was
made of the people of the rural parish, who were indicated instead in
the submission to the Podestà of Poggibonsi in 1323.
The church has preserved its Romanesque structure. It is a small hall
originally completed by a semicircular apse, of which the infill of the
arch in the terminal wall can be seen today. The facade has a portal
with jambs made up of two sandstone blocks, arranged longitudinally and
two blocks horizontally. The round arch of the portal, which encloses
the monolithic lunette, has the extrados set on the architrave,
an unusual solution in rural Tuscan Romanesque architecture. Above the
portal is a mullioned window redone in the archivolts but which
preserves the original capital decorated with a rosette. The column is a
restoration. A campanile with spaces for two bells, dating from the
modern era, is set on the right face of the facade, the upper part of
which is the result of a reconstruction. The side walls also retain the
regular wall face, made up of carefully squared and flattened sandstone
ashlars. |
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