User:And892/Mensola (torrente)

The Mensola stream (sometimes called la Mensola) is a short waterway of the Florentine area. It comes from the territory of Fiesole and it flows into the right side of the Arno river, between the districts of Varlungo and Rovezzano.

History
The name “Mensola” is ancient and according to a few theories, it may come from the Etruscan “Meisula”.

It is still unknown what the real origin of the name is but it is proved that the Mensola valley was colonized by the Etruscan civilization: Etruscan finds were discovered nearby so it is possible that urban settlements were created in that area. This theory may be true also because Fiesole already existed and the ancient Etruscan road to Arezzo was very close to this territory.

Instead, the master’s villas and the small farms at the foothill are part of settlements from the XIII century.

The name “Mensola” can be currently found in the place names of the village Ponte di Mensola, the near San Martino a Mensola church and on Settignanese road (now D’Annunzio street). The stream is also mentioned by Boccaccio in his poem “Il Ninfale Fiesolano”: the author narrates the story of Mensola, one of goddess Diana’s handmaids. The handmaid meets the shepherd Affrico and together they have a child; goddess Diana turns Mensola into a stream to punish her: she hasn’t respected her duty of chastity. After finding out that his lover was dead, Affrico decides to commit suicide: he is transformed into a stream, too.

Boccaccio knew the area and its toponymy very well and that is because he lived in the near Corbignano village until the age of 23; the “Decameron” is supposed to be set in the Poggio Gherardo villa, which is near the Mensola stream. Here, the main characters of the story go and take a bath.

Course
The Mensola stream originates in the Mulinaccio area, in a small valley between the Maiano and Vincigliata hillocks, from the union of Fosso di Bucine and Fosso di Valonica.

After overstepping I Tatti Villa (the Florentine location of Harvard University), it arrives in Ponte di Mensola; here it receives water by Fosso del Camposanto and it flows towards the valley in the area of Coverciano and Gignoro, straight to the Guarlone plain. Then, the Mensola stream is canalized underground so that it can cross the “Direttissima Firenze-Roma”, which is the high-speed railway that connects Florence to Rome; after a few meters, the stream is buried in a duct and here it traverses its last part.

The covered course of the stream is still recognisable; on the surface there is a strict and sinuous stripe of grass that crosses the railway station with Rocca Tedalda street and Aretina street. The so-called Giardino del Checkpoint can be found here: it runs along the Cambray Digny school and it arrives to a parking lot for buses; the inner boulevard of the garden follows exactly the direction of the underground tube where the Mensola stream flows.

Starting from here, the stream rejoins the Arno river and it sees the light again among the Maselli della Pescaia in Rovezzano, in a place called Sardigna, between the Varlungo bridge and the Rovezzano mill; here, men used to throw dead animals and scraps from slaughterhouses.

The protected area
The Mensola valley was recognized as a Protected Natural Area of Local Interest by the city councils of Florence (January 2002) and Fiesole (Maggio 2002); its upper part can be found of the territory of Fiesole and it is a direct continuation of the protected area of Montececeri.

The protected area of Mensola covers 297 hectares and they are equally divided between the two cities; it expands itself from Monte Ceceri to Guarlone, crossing the territory of Settignano. It is one of the areas in the Florentine hills that hits the most for its landscapes  and nature and it can be divided in four different zones:


 * Urbanized areas, thanks to the presence of little villages and master’s villas, parish churches, rural houses and gardens that are very popular for their history and locations; among the most important villas that were built in the valley, it is necessary to mention I Tatti Villa, Villa della Capponcina (that once belonged to Gabriele d’Annunzio), Gamberaia Villa, Strozzi Villa (Il Querceto) and Il Quercione Villa.


 * Agricultural areas, where many vineyards and olive groves grow; this specific zone is dedicated to ancient small farms.Many areas that once were used to be cultivated are not currently exploited; only in a few cases, plantations of wheat and alfalfa can be found here.Moreover, there are social vegetable gardens near Bracci villa: the City of Florence has given the whole control to the old people that live in the district so that they can develop a sustainable agriculture and the realization of compost.


 * Woodland areas split in two parts: the spontaneous zone, constituted by pubescent oak, Austrian oak, field maples; the anthropic zone, filled with stone pines and cypresses.


 * The river area, that is taken care by different cities and private associations; among these, l’Associazione Mensola plays an important role because it provides the cure of the banks, the cleaning of the stream and tree planting.

From the point of view of the fauna, the Mensola valley has animals such as crabs and shrimps, amphibious and small mammals like foxes, squirrels and hedgehogs; in the lower part of the stream, over sixty species of birds were recognized: for example, they are the common cuckoo and the western jackdaw, together with a few raptors.