From Loro, ascend in the direction of Poggio di Loro and San Clemente in Valle. At the intersection, bear right for San ClementeSan Clemente and continue to the next cross-roads. Leave this road to the left and continue to the right towards Trevane until meeting another intersection that leads to the left to the Castle of La Trappola. Bear right, passing under Trevane and ascend for about 2000 m as far as Chiassaia. Continue on, and at the next cross-roads leave the road to Faeto to your right. and after 5300 m ascend to Anciolina (altitude: 920 m).

The first document that mentions the Castle of Anciolina, together with the church that used to be located there (named for St Michael the Archangel), was dated 1065. However, the place had been inhabited ever since very remote times, as witnessed by a bronze axe that was discovered in the vicinity of the ruins of the ancient fortress. In feudal times, the Castle of Anciolina followed the destiny of all the other castles in the region of Loro: Loro, of course, Trappola, Rocca Guicciarda, etc. – and, more in general, in the Valdarno – with a continuous alternating of lords and sovereignties. Within the framework of the struggles that characterised his life, Dante Alighieri was registered as being present at an anti-Florentine meeting that was held in the small church of San Godenzo, in June 1302. Not many years later, however, also the Castle of Anciolina came into the possession of Florence. Several local historians would have it that the humanist Poggio Bracciolini was born in Anciolina, while the more widespread traditions says that he was born in nearby Terranova. There is no doubt, however, that the castle was owned at some time by the Bracciolini family and that its history is contained in it in some way.
No trace remains of the original ecclesia Sancti Angeli ad Lanciolinum , that was eretta ad honorem Dei et Sancti Michaeli Arcangeli no later than 1065 (the only chronological fact that can be verified). According to a tradition refused by the inhabitants, it was incorporated into the new church, which was larger than the preceding one and was rectangular in design like others in the area. Anothertradition maintains that it was located next to the entrance to the fortress, and that the ruins of it could still be seen no more than one hundred years ago. Originally Romanesque, it belonged to the parish of Gropina. Preserved in its interior are a gilded-bronze processional cross of the 13th-14th centuries, decorated with berries and engraved with Florentine stories involving personages taken from Christian symbolism; a bronze thurible with a cover in the form of a small temple, prior to 1300;a Byzantine-style chalice; a 14th-century silver goblet, with base and stem of gilded copper: the words “fraternity of Gropina” can be read engraved on the base, while the shaft is clasped by a knot characterised by six buttons decorated with the figures of Christ, the Madonna, and Saints; a 15th-century tabernacle for holy oil, now fitted in with the front part of the ciborium on the altar, made of very precious white stone.
A water cistern which served as a deposit until the recent construction of the aqueduct is recalled inside the fortress of Anciolina, as well as a secret passage – which some make coincide with the cistern – that corresponded with an exit in the locality called “la Botolina”. The information on the latter is very plausible, since the presence of these types of exit passages from fortresses and castles was not infrequent. However, it cannot likewise be documented.
There is a food shop with adjoining bar and tobacconist shop at Anciolina.

The visit takes 30 minutes.