GIOVI, CAPOLONA E SUBBIANO
You take the road from Arezzo towards the village of Giovi where you will find the Pieve a Siétina, dedicated to St Mary Magdalen. Records show that this church, which has been extensively reconstructed over the years, has been here since the 11th century and was once under the patronage of the Bacci family of Arezzo, the same family who commissioned Piero della Francesca.
Inside the church, with its nave separated from the two aisles by pillars, there are some interesting frescoes by local artists ranging from the late 14th century to the end of the 15th. There is a Madonna and Child Enthroned, an Annunciation, and two figures, St Bernardine and St Anthony, all painted perhaps around 1490 and ascribed to the circle of Lorentino d’Andrea, the most prolific of the painters assisting Piero della Francesca in the Cycle of the True Cross in San Francesco, Arezzo. And it is to the workshop of Lorentino, and perhaps also to his son and assistant, Niccolò, that we can attribute the late 15th-century fresco cycle decorating the chapel of San Giuseppe in the Castello della Fioraia, the ancient manor house built near Castelnuovo di Subbiano. This building was originally a small but powerful stronghold, from which the tower remains, and it was transformed into a manorial residence by Simone della Fioraia. During this reconstruction phase, perhaps, frescoes were commissioned for the small chapel depicting the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, and St Anthony Abbot with St Roch, St Sebastian and St Lucy.
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