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Poggio Bonizio first becomes known towards the end of 13 C as a town at the point where the rivers Staggia and Elsa meet, on the famous via Francigena. Poggio Bonizio was destroyed in the 1270 by Guy de Montfort, a legendary figure even in Tuscany - he merits a cameo role in Boccaccio's Decameron as well as Verdi's Sicilian Vespers. The town was rebuilt in the lower valley, on the site of the village Marturi. Sites of interest are the Fonte delle fate (fairies' fountain) of the 13th century, by Balugano da Crema, with its beautiful ogival arches and the unfinished fortress, designed in 1478 by Giuliano da Sangallo at the request of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In the 14th century convent of San Lucchese, first belonging to the Camaldolese order and then from 1213 to the Franciscans, there are frescoes of the 14th and 16th century and a urn containing the remains of San Lucchese, patron of the town.
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