Certaldo is an Italian town of 15 593 inhabitants in the metropolitan city of Florence, famous for being the place of birth and death of the poet and writer Giovanni Boccaccio.

It is located in the center of the Val d’Elsa, and hosts numerous historical, cultural, and artistic buildings.

Certaldo had Etruscan-Roman origins, as evidenced by the numerous archaeological finds scattered throughout the municipal territory, such as Etruscan pottery, tools, and tombs, some of which have been recently discovered.

It made its official appearance in history in 1164 when the castle of “Certaldum” is mentioned in a document of Emperor Federico Barbarossa as a fiefdom given in concession to the Alberti Counts. Still, without a shadow of a doubt, the first fortified settlements on the hills are to be traced back to the Early Middle Ages.