Parish Church of Santi Pietro e Paolo in Coiano

The parish church of Santi Pietro e Paolo is in Coiano, a small village located on the historic path of the Via Francigena in the section that separates Valdelsa from the Valdegola. The parish church was cited by Sigerico, the archbishop of Canterbury in England, describing one of the stages along the path of the Via Francigena that he travelled between 990 and 994 in order to get to Rome. Coiano was the twenty-first stage or "submansione" of the 80 provided by the itinerary. The building that we see today is not the one that the archbishop saw: perhaps at that time it was only a small rectangular room, equipped as a place of refuge and cult. The first certain notice of the existence of the church dates to 1029, the year in which it was mentioned with the title of parish church, which is to say a church where baptisms may take place. In the 14th century it governed six hospitals and nineteen minor churches, many of those spread throughout the valley floor of Elsa. It is of Romanesque construction, preceded by a splendid and picturesque staircase, and featuring a sandstone, brickwork façade, a blind arcade and a central mullioned window. Inside, one can admire some 14th century frescoes and a few capitals finely decorated with geometric motifs dating to the first building phase. The baptismal font and side altar, in plaster and limestone, date to 1600 and are last Baroque works of art remaining in the church. In 1837 the bell tower was raised, using the historic sandstone base.?