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It is set in a beautiful place on the Southern slopes
of Poggio di Noccola. Contrary to other villages, it has not a round
shape but it has been built along a road on a ridge of a hilly crest.
The name maybe comes from Ripa albella, that is “Ripa bianca” (white
steep bank), because of the whiteness of its tuffaceous and sandy soils
that are on the top of the hill. In Medieval papers and up to the XVII
c. its name was “Ripalbella” or ”Ripabella”.
The small castle was probably built around the year 1000 and it belonged
to the property of Counts Della Gherardesca. At that age they lived in
two other small castles in the surrounding, Belora and Bovecchio. The
former already quoted because of the Etruscan excavations, the latter
entirely lost and also the place where it was it is now unknown.
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