Capraia

Capraia, an architectural jewel in the municipality of Talla

From Talla, heading towards Pontenano, after four kilometres (five hundred metres before Pieve di Pontenano), a road on the right with a rather narrow roadway leads in a few minutes to Capraia.
For its architecture, this tiny hamlet – which lies on the rocks of a cliff overlooking the surrounding territory, can be considered the jewel of the municipality of Talla. The visitor will soon realize that the precise delimitation of the village corresponds to the walls of a mediaeval castle connected to the more powerful one in Pontenano. The hamlets and the internal tight and often bristly alleys of the area, pass through very well-finished stone buildings, built close to each other. The castle of Capraia was completely destroyed in 1502 by the mercenary captain Vitellozzo Vitelli during his incursion in Casentino with the aim of damaging Florence. In certain parts, the walls of the ancient castle are still visible. The church has a very simple but pleasant architecture. The Virgin with the Child conserved here is very interesting; it is a terracotta artwork dated 15th or 16th century that comes from the Santa Trinità abbey. It is believed that the work arrived in Capraia around 1570. We can hypothesize this period because it is the same that from the ancient abbey, in phase of decadence, a beautiful polyptych of Mariotto di Cristofano with the Christ in Pity between Saints was brought in the church of the near village of Carda. https://www.ilbelcasentino.it/carda-en.php
Around the Capraia cemetery there is a path that leads to the namesake creek. Some parts of the pavement suggest that this is a very ancient itinerary and this is also proved by the presence of the Ponte di Sasso – a structure with an arch of mediaeval origin – which you can reach once you get to the creek. From Ponte di Sasso, in good season, it is possible to climb up the stream a few hundred meters. The natural beauty of this route is remarkable, but be careful, this type of excursion requires attitude to the ascent of mountain streams.
Capraia is crossed by the CAI 32 route, which comes from the Monte Lori area and descends to Talla. If from the small village we begin to climb up the path, after about five kilometers we reach the beautiful ruins of Badia Santa Trinita in Alpe, the place mentioned above from which Capraia inherited the refined Madonna and Child in terracotta that is now preserved in the church.