La Croce e la Misericordia
La Confraternita della Croce e della Misericordia di Casole d’Elsa dalle origini all’età contemporanea

by Isabella Gagliardi

The vicissitudes of the Compagnia della Santa Croce of Casole d’Elsa, founded in the 14th century, are explored here through the ages, culminating with its unification with the Confraternita di Misericordia in 1873. The history of the pious societas is sketched out starting with the reconstruction of the milieu in which it was founded and developed. The land of saints, pilgrims and convents but also part of a dense network of parish churches, the Elsa river valley safeguards the memory of the region’s oldest religious associations. The rise of the confraternity is thus sketched out in its historical horizons, as part of a continuity that explains the rootedness and success of forms of solidarity in the Tuscan tradition.