Certaldo is the largest village of the three just described, it has 17,000 inhabitants against the approximately 8,000 of the others.
Certaldo is the homeland of one of the greatest Italian poets: Giovanni Boccaccio.
Boccaccio has been recognized as one of the greatest European storytellers of his time and is part, together with Dante and Petrarca, of the so-called “Three Crowns” of Italian literature.
Divided by the Elsa river and the Agliena stream, Certaldo is in the Province of Florence, today called the Metropolitan city.
Certaldo is not only divided by the Elsa river but also by two distinct residential areas: Certaldo Alto and Certaldo Moderno.

The medieval Certaldo is the high one and we can reach it with a comfortable funicular on rail that starts right from Piazza Boccaccio.
The conservation of this village is incredible, perfectly maintained here we can breathe the air of the medieval period. The narrow streets, the bright red color of the bricks and the small picturesque squares make us relive the medieval atmosphere by making time stop at the time of Boccaccio.
In the small upper village you can admire the former Church of Saints Thomas and Prospero, the oldest in the village, unfortunately almost totally lost due to a landslide, but where you can still admire, in the central nave, the Tabernacle of the Executed by Benozzo Gozzoli .
Another gem not to be missed is of course the Casa di Boccaccio, this was the residence of the writer and poet which overlooks the main street of the village.
Now it is home to a beautiful library which holds rare documents from the 16th, 17th and 13th centuries, and is also home to the Boccaccio study centre.
Certaldo is located in a perfect place to be able to reach San Gimignano as well, which we talked about earlier.