Affittacamere Stazione Empoli
Empoli - Via roma 85, empoli
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Empoli is a charming town situated on the border between the provinces of Florence and Pisa. Located in the Val d’Elsa, it sits in territory rich with places of interest. As the main town of the Empolese Valdelsa municipalities union, Empoli is positioned in an area bounded by the Arno and Elsa rivers; just a short distance from the town centre, however, you’ll find yourself in open countryside, where you can lose yourself among the stunning rolling Tuscan hills.
With almost 50,000 inhabitants, the town is compact and its historic centre is a pleasure to explore; furthermore, it makes an excellent base for accommodation whilst discovering the beautiful surrounding area. Empoli has all the amenities you could need, including numerous bars and restaurants, as well as shops, shopping centres, cinemas and nightclubs: there really is something for everyone, and your stay in the town will prove genuinely enjoyable.
Empoli’s town centre is situated in the immediate vicinity of Piazza Farinata degli Uberti, commonly known as Piazza dei Leoni. This is where you’ll find some of the town’s principal monuments, and it’s also where the main shopping streets fan out from.
Empoli’s principal church, the Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, sits in the heart of the historic centre and is built in Florentine Romanesque style, with Baroque interiors. The church you see today was constructed in the late nineteenth century, though a place of worship has existed here since the twelfth century.
Externally, the collegiata’s façade displays numerous geometric inlays on a base of white Carrara marble, echoing the style of the Baptistry of San Giovanni in Florence or the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte, also in Florence. Inside, the church features a single nave with five chapels on each side; the ceiling is entirely painted with an impressive work by two Empolese painters from the early post-war period. It’s worth pausing to observe the fourteenth-century crucifix located at the first chapel, crafted in wood and believed to be miraculous, as it reportedly halted the plague epidemic in the town at the end of the 1300s.
Next to the church is also a museum. It’s the Pinacoteca Museo della Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, displaying a collection of sacred works that once hung within the church itself, alongside numerous other paintings and sculptures from the surrounding churches. Among the masterpieces worth admiring is a marble sculpture by Giovanni Pisano representing the Madonna and Child, dated 1280, and the beautiful Madonna enthroned among angels and saints, a work by Filippo Lippi.
Beyond the ancient walls of Empoli, in Piazza della Vittoria, stands the Sanctuary of Madonna del Pozzo, dating back to the eighteenth century. It’s a small church, surrounded by a portico extending on three sides, covered with barrel vaults and supported by columns.
The church’s interior features a single nave, covered with a barrel vault, with two side altars positioned halfway along, whilst the organ pipes are located at the rear. The fresco above the altar is particularly striking, dating from the fifteenth century and depicting the Madonna with Child and four saints. Originally painted in the tabernacle that existed long before the church, it was later relocated inside.
The heart of Empoli’s historic centre is Piazza Farinata degli Uberti, which hosts numerous interesting buildings. To the east stands the Collegiata di Sant’Andrea, to the west the Palazzo dei Conti Guidi, whilst to the south sits the imposing Palazzo Pretorio.
The piazza is particularly beautiful, with an elegant nineteenth-century fountain, the Fontana delle Naiadi, or the Lions’ Fountain; the other buildings surrounding it are constructed in typical Tuscan style, with arcades on the ground floor. The piazza is also overlooked by Palazzo Ricci, from which Giuseppe Garibaldi appeared in 1867 during his visit to the town, when he addressed the local population.
Just outside Empoli’s sixteenth-century walls lies Piazza della Vittoria, one of the favourite gathering spots for locals to meet and socialise, day and night. It’s a beautiful rectangular piazza, at whose centre stands a bronze statue of the goddess Victory, erected in honour of the fallen of the First World War in 1925.
This is where you’ll find the Sanctuary of Madonna del Pozzo, as well as the old house of Ferruccio Busoni, birthplace of the famous Italian composer and one of the country’s greatest pianistic geniuses. Today Casa Busoni is a museum, displaying photographs, autographs and posters of the maestro. There’s also a piano, donated by the family. On the ground floor of the building, you’ll find the Ferruccio Busoni Musical Studies Centre, which houses an archive and library specialising in twentieth-century music.
Inside Palazzo Ghibellino, situated in Piazza Farinata degli Uberti, you’ll find the Civic Paleontology Museum, which displays specimens documenting over two billion years of our planet’s history.
On display are rocks, tree trunks and fossils from all over the world, many from the private collections of the Empolese Paleontological and Mineralogical Group. The exhibition is divided into five thematic rooms, dedicated respectively to geological eras, Earth sciences, the Tuscan Pliocene, the palaeo-environmental evolution of the Valdarno, and human origin, namely the appearance and evolution of mankind on Earth.
Jacopo Carucci, or Jacopo da Pontormo, was one of the most important Florentine painters of the sixteenth century. Many art enthusiasts, however, are unaware that he was born in Pontorme, which today is a district of Empoli not far from the centre; here, the house where the artist was born was acquired by the municipality in 1995, shortly after celebrating the five-hundredth anniversary of his birth. Following an eleven-year restoration, it was opened to the public in 2006.
Today you can admire the ancient medieval house of Pontormo by following a route that winds across three floors, allowing visitors to see up close reproductions of drawings and paintings, as well as the Diary, or Libro mio, the original of which is housed in Florence’s National Library.
Inside Pontormo’s birthplace, you’ll also find the didactic section of Empoli’s Cultural Heritage.
In the following map you can see the location of the main places of interest mentioned in this article.
Within Empoli’s historic centre you’ll find a handful of apartments and B&Bs, ideal for those wishing to stay close to the monuments and main places of interest. There are also several options for accommodation near the station, particularly on the southern side of the railway; again, these consist mainly of apartments or room rentals, and small family-run B&Bs, with the exception of one hotel situated directly opposite the station building.
These properties are perfect for staying close to Empoli, its amenities and everything the town has to offer, but if you prefer to venture into the countryside to experience your Tuscan holiday as if from a film, simply head out of town a few kilometres, either north or south. You’ll be met with bucolic landscapes, where farmhouses, country properties, villas and estates abound, where you can spend wonderful holidays devoted to relaxation and tranquillity, surrounded by stunning scenery.
Empoli is remarkably easy to reach, served by three exits on the SGC FI-PI-LI major road, known as Empoli East, Empoli and Empoli West.
Specifically, Empoli’s centre is just over half an hour’s drive from Florence, accessible by taking the SGC FI-PI-LI towards the Empoli East junction, the first you’ll encounter coming from Tuscany’s capital. You’ll reach the centre by taking Via Viaccia, the Empoli East slip road and Via Piovola, until you reach Via Luigi Cherubini and Via Renato Fucini.
From Pisa or Livorno, reaching Empoli takes less than 50 minutes: simply take the SGC FI-PI-LI, being sure to exit at the Empoli junction.
The distance from Empoli to Siena is 85 kilometres, covering in approximately one hour and 15 minutes by taking the Florence-Siena motorway link in a northerly direction until the San Casciano in Val di Pesa exit, then continuing along road SP12, which connects the motorway link to the FI-PI-LI, entering at Ginestra Fiorentina and exiting at Empoli East.
Reaching Empoli by public transport is extremely simple and even faster than by car. The town is situated on the Florence-Pisa railway line, and trains are very frequent. From Florence Santa Maria Novella, trains depart approximately every 20 minutes, with journey times between 25 and 30 minutes. From Pisa Centrale the journey is also very short, lasting under 40 minutes. Once you’ve stepped off the train, simply cross Piazza Don Minzoni and walk along Via Roma, and in just over 5 minutes on foot you’ll already be at Piazza della Vittoria.
What's the weather at Empoli? Below are the temperatures and the weather forecast at Empoli for the next few days.
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