Cana
Canà: let's discover together this small Tuscan hamlet!
Cana is a small hamlet located in the province of Grosseto, in Tuscany, about 10 km from the main town of Roccalbegna. In this article, we'll discover the history and monuments of this charming Tuscan village.
History
This hamlet has medieval origins and rose on a hill overlooking the valleys of the Trasubbie and Albegna streams. In the 13th century, the village was first controlled by the Aldobrandeschi family, who built a fortress, and later by the Sienese family Tolomei.
At the end of the 14th century, the village became part of the Republic of Siena, and one century later an autonomous statute was approved for the population that remained in force even after the annexation to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the mid-16th century. This statute was only abolished at the end of the 18th century, when the hamlet of Cana was incorporated into the municipality of Cinigiano, before finally passing to that of Roccalbegna.
Monuments and places of interest
Religious architecture
In Cana, we can find the Church of San Martino, the parish church of the hamlet, almost completely rebuilt in the 20th century in a modern style, except for the bell tower.
We also have the Church of Madonna del Conforto, built in the Renaissance period as a rural chapel outside the settlement, preceded by a fake porch and which preserves a 16th-century painting depicting the "Virgin of Comfort," which was later placed in the modern parish church inside the village.
Civil architecture
The Medicean Cistern is a valuable cistern built at the beginning of the 17th century that collected rainwater to distribute to the inhabitants of the village.
Military architecture
The Aldobrandesca Fortress is an ancient medieval fortified complex that composes the historical nucleus of the village and was also called "Rocca al Cane" (Fortress of the Dog). The fortress, the Palace of Justice, and the House of the Great Dog, once the seat of the civic palace, remain.
The Walls of Cana, on the other hand, are a defensive structure from the medieval period. Some traces of it still remain.
Finally, we can find the fortified farm of Castagnolo, located in Castagnolo, with its mysterious "Buca di Pietro Pinca" (Pietro Pinca's Hole). It is an example of a primitive 11th-century castle transformed into a farm with an underground typical Tuscan granary and a rural church dedicated to San Pellegrino with traces of an ancient cemetery annexed to it.
Society
Regarding the demographic evolution of the hamlet of Cana, from 1991, only the inhabitants of the town center are counted by Istat, not the hamlet's inhabitants. Below is a table with the demographic evolution of the Cana hamlet.
|Year |Hamlet Inhabitants |Town Center Inhabitants | |---|---|---| |1640 |462 | - | |1745 |306 | - | |1833 |542 | - | |1845 |614 | - | |1921 |1111 | - | |1931 |1119 | - | |1961 |751 | 574 | |1981 |444 | 336 | |1991 | - | 256 | |2001 | - | 225 | |2011 | - | 263 |
Image gallery
Finally, I leave you with some images of these splendid monuments and places of interest that we saw during this article.
<div align="center"> <gallery> Image:Cisterna Medicea di Cana. </div>I hope this article has made you know a little more about this small Tuscan hamlet. See you in the next article!
