The town of Castelfranco di Sopra is in the slope of the Valdarno in the Pratomagno in the province of Arezzo. It is set at 281 m. a.s.l. and it has about 2,000 inhabitants. The Tower, the Oratorio of San Filippo Neri built in the XVIII century and the XVII-century church of San Tommaso can be admired in the territory.

Originally, the castle of Soffena (or Sofena) rose where the chief town is set today. There is no reliable news on the end of the stronghold, but it is known that it inherited its name from an abbey raised around 1090 that was managed by the Vallombrosa order. In the XII century, the abbey of San Salvatore in Soffena was at the centre of a long dispute between the friars and Renuccio Ranieri, lord of Faella, who was supported by the emperor Frederick. Then, Florence began to establish its presence in the area.
The Florentine republic founded the modern town in 1299 and its name probably derived from the edict that defined the town was a"franco", that is to say free from taxes and other burdens for some years. The Florentines usually issued this kind of law to convince the rural populations to settle down in these "new lands". The main reason of the construction of Castelfranco, built on the remains of the castle of Soffena, was to oppose the rural seigniories that raged on Tuscany.
The XIII century, in effect, was characterized by violent clashes between the Florentine Republic and the feudal aristocracy. The area of Castelfranco, in particular, underwent pillages and the guerrilla caused by the Ubertini, the Guidi and the Pazzi who did not accept to lose their ancient dominions in Arezzo's countryside. Since the beginning, then, the village had huge defensive structures, it was populated in few years thanks to fiscal exemptions, and it led the League of Castelfranco together with Florence.
Once the powerful nobles were defeated because of the Florentine's war power that strongly retrenched their aspirations, Castelfranco became a "mercatale" and benefited from its position on the junction road between Pratomagno and the Valdarno. In the XV century, the village became the chief town of a town hall with jurisdiction on the nearby area of Pian di Sco'. As such, t entered the Kingdom of Italy in the XIX century.
At the time of the Grand Duchy, any remarkable events regarding the town of Castelfranco did not happen. Yet, the arrival of the Lorraine, a branch of the Hapsburg that was called to govern Tuscany after the decadence of the Medici, marked the end of the centuries-old Abbey of San Salvatore. The abbey's land was suppressed, dismembered and divided into two farms with the church and the ancient convent used as houses.