Train: From Santa Maria Novella in Florence, buy a ticket to Marradi-Palazzuolo sul Senio. I recently came back with cookies made with chestnut flour, a bottle of terrific grappa (brandy) made with chestnut honey, and a big jar of the honey itself.
Marradi also offers plenty of stores selling chestnut products to take home. A plate of pasta will cost under 20 euros, a lavish multicourse lunch might cost 40 to 50 euros (or about $40 to $50), and there are excellent local desserts - but save room for those chestnut treats. Order the fantastic housemade pasta with sausage and porcini, or ravioli with black truffles try the grilled lamb chops with cherry tomatoes or the beef filet topped with a large porcini mushroom cap. You might want to reserve a table for lunch at the restaurant you passed as you walked from the train station: Ristorante Il Camino, which has tables along the street and overlooking the river.
In the apse of San Lorenzo in Marradi, you will find her at the Madonna’s right hand.
Up through the Middle Ages, she was the patron saint of Florence (the Duomo replaced a church dedicated to Santa Reparata). The Maestro was probably a pupil of Domenico Ghirlandaio, and he originally painted these paintings for the Abbey of Marradi, which was dedicated to Santa Reparata, a young virgin - in some stories, only 11 years old - who was tortured and martyred for her faith in the third century. Before you cross the river into town, you will pass the neoclassical, 18th-century church of San Lorenzo, where you’ll find paintings by the Maestro di Marradi, or Master of Marradi, an anonymous painter working at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th. Take the five-minute stroll from the train station, pausing, perhaps, to eat a chestnut fritter. On the train ride there (see below for information), you’ll pass olive groves, cypress trees and hill towns. But visiting any day of the week will immerse you in chestnut season.Ībout 28 miles northeast of Florence, Marradi is in a broad green valley called the Mugello, which claims connections to both Giotto and Dante. On Sundays in October the Tuscan town of Marradi holds its chestnut festival, with food stalls, music and the pervasive scent of chestnuts roasting.
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