ARCHITECTURE OF THE HISTORIC CENTER
There are no medieval buildings left in the town apart from the perimeter walls of the chapel of St. Catherine, the result of destruction and looting which the town was subjected to due to a lack of stable defensive structures and constant reutilization of the areas on the edge of the road for building purposes.
However, a few buildings on the eastern side of the village reproduce the original building type with storage areas on the ground floor, narrow stairs leading to the upper floors, and two openings at the front.
Even the most important buildings present multiples of the original lots, the consequence of merging and splitting of the lots themselves.
Tavarnelle must have enjoyed a decent economic level throughout the 15th century, so much so that the inhabitants of the place “called le Tavarnelle” were bid in 1415 to contribute to the reconstruction of the bridge of Sambuca, while in 1471 “Niccolò Bertini of Tavarnelle di Valdelsa” commissioned from Neri de Bicci the panel with the Annunciation for the church of Borghetto.
It was only in the 16th and 17th centuries that modest buildings were constructed by the local middle class to echo the palaces of the city’s mercantile bourgeoisie.
There are even examples of rusticated portals from the 17th century that due to the irregular shape of the lot have “sbieco” doors or doors cut on the bias.https://soundcloud.com/user-403067712-363561338/arch-nel-centro-storico_ing/s-prV5BFs0nMg?si=dcc363d4f4074abf98c181a1cee70f4b