Visiting the town	Site index	Economy and typical products
Bagno a Ripoli	How to get there
	Tourist information
	Art and Territory

Tourism is bound to play a very important part in the future economic development of the territory of Bagno a Ripoli, with its fascinating history and wonderful surroundings, although the town is also certainly conditioned - now as in the past - by its position so close to the metropolitan area of Florence. The principal activities to be found in this residential town are small industries, crafts and tertiary work. The only typical productive sectors that still survive today are agriculture, crafts and a few artistic occupations like embroidery, terracotta and ceramics, together with several small and medium sized industries that have grown up in recent years. Today, however, the economy of the town has changed radically from what it was a few decades ago; this has taken place above all in agriculture, one of the traditional activities, whose distinctive characteristics have now been greatly reduced and transformed.

Olive and vine growing
The early presence of olive trees growing in the hills around Florence, especially at Bagno a Ripoli, can be seen in a famous 16th century lunette painted by Giusto Utens, showing the olive groves on the Grand Ducal Farm of Lappeggi. Nowadays in fact only the olive trees growing in walled terraces on the slopes of the hills and certain selected vines have managed to survive in what can now be defined as an urbanized countryside. Moreover a careful selection among the various kinds of olive tree - "frantoio", "moraiolo", "leccino", "pendolino" and other local ecotypes - coupled with hand scorching methods, has now made it possible to obtain a quality product, especially when cold pressing methods are used. Some of the fascinating old fashioned tools used for pruning and cleaning the plants are still often used today, especially on small family-run farms: the gattuccioor special pruning shears, the rastino for removing the bark, the manaiola and the malempeggio which were used for more decisive operations. Today the cultivation of the grapevine is concentrated on farms growing selected vines that are tended by paid farm labourers, helped, in the period of the grape harvest, by seasonal workers. Table wines, Chianti d.o.c.g. and Colli Fiorentini are all grown in this area.