Vicopisano, Caprona | Tower and Parish Church

The Torre Upezzinghi, better known as the “Torre di Caprona“, is one of the most scenic locations along the Pisan Mount. It is what is left of the 11th century castle of Capron, conquered in 1289 by the Florentine troops and dismantled in 1433. According to local tradition, the tower would represent the only surviving piece of the medieval fortress, nothing less the bulwark.

On August 16, 1289, to the conquest of the castle also attended the great poet Dante Alighieri, young soldier. The castle fell, but guaranteed Caprona a citation in the twenty-first canto in the Divine Comedy.

The charming Romanesque church of Santa Giulia, surrounded by olive and cypress trees, is dominated by the Tower in a green plain by the side of the Arno. Made of blocks of sandstone and verrucano draft, it reveals various phases of construction, starting from the year 1096. In this period, the church had a single nave, smaller than the current one, with a small semicircular apse, whose wall remains emerged during the restoration works.