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Capraia e Limite
By the Arno
Closely linked to life on and around the River Arno, Limite was a river staging post since very ancient times. It has even been suggested that a port of Etruscan origin once existed here.
Limite developed as a river port due to the specific characteristics of the Arno in the stretch that runs through the town, which developed a reputation for fine boatmen, who were known everywhere for their ability to transport goods up and down the Arno. It is no coincidence, then, that the first rowing club in Italy should have been founded in Limite. The club has achieved, and continues to achieve, significant results in this field.
It was a short leap from boatmen to boatbuilders, and despite the distance from the coast, a number of important boatyards sprang up at Limite. In more recent times, this flourishing and specialist branch of the carpenter’s profession has moved to the coast. |
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The town’s rowing history is reconstructed at the Centro Espositivo della Cantieristica e del Canottaggio, which exhibits small-scale models of boats, period photographs, tools used by boatbuilders and carpenters together with materials documenting the history of the Società Canottieri Limite. |
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Local traditions associated with life on the river are kept alive today in two important local events: the Palio di San Lorenzo (3rd Sunday of July) and the Palio con la Montata (3rd Sunday of September) – two boating competitions held between the rioni (neighbourhoods) of the town, which compete in distinctive boats with eight oarsmen and a cox (known as gozzi).
| Capraia Fiorentina lies on the wooded or vine- and olive-clad slopes of the Montalbano hills. In the northern part of the area there are remains of the wall of the Barco Reale, a vast area that was used by the Medici as a hunting reserve between the 16th and 17th centuries. A good network of footpaths and trails extend all over the Montalbano, making it ideal walking country. Sites of interest include the Church of S. Jacopo a Pulignano (12th century) and the Abbey of San Martino in Campo (12th century), both of which are situated on the slopes of the Montalbano. In the valley there are the remains of the fortified village of Capraia, with its alleys and what is left of the walls; the Compagnia della SS. Trinità, which has some interesting frescoes, the Rocaille altar and an organ dating to 1820; and the Fornace Pasquinucci (an ancient kiln used for firing terracotta, now an exhibition centre). Nearby is the Villa di Bibbiani with a Romantic-style park laid out by Cosimo Ridolfi, which can be visited by prior arrangement. |
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Comune di Capraia e Limite
Piazza 8 Marzo 1944, 9 -
50050 Limite sull’Arno
tel. 0571 978136 - mail
Population: 6,691
Size of area: 25 km2
Altitude: from 28 to 320 m above sea level |
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