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Inhabitants in 1991: 10.258
 The
municipal territory, one of the largest in the province, extends for 180,23
square kilometres from the Appennini to the Apuane, it became autonomous
community with the Leopoldine laws of 1771, it reached its present day
extension in 1983 with the addition of the districts of Gragnolo and
Cortila which were detached from Fosdinovo.
Inhabited by Ligurians and then Roman colonies, Fivizzano was, after
the year one thousand, a land subjected to the dominion of the Marquises
Malaspina della Verrucola, of whom the most illustrious member was
Spinetta the Great (died in 1352), who tried to make the Verrucola the
centre of a vast territorial system. With the death of the dynasty,
in 1477 Fivizzano made itself a municipality and became part of the Fiorentino
State. And becoming the Seat of a Captaincy. And thus remained –
living prosperous times above all in the 15 and 1600s, when it assumed
the form and habits of a true and real city – until the French domination,
under which it was annexed to the department of the Appennini and then
assigned in 1808 to Elisa Baciocchi Bonaparte. In 1815 it returned
to the Grand Duchy of Toscana, but in 1844, at the realisation of certain
clauses and against the will of the inhabitants it passed to the Duke
of Modena, who governed it until the Unity of Italy. A disastrous earthquake
hit the municipality in 1920. During the last conflict the local population
suffered numerous and cruel Nazifascist reprisals with more than
one civilian victim.
Places to visit:
Piazza Medicea, in the ancient
inhabited nucleus, and surrounded by elegant Renaissance palaces with
a fountain from 1683 at their centre.
Ss. Jacopo e Antonio,
church erected in the 1300s and enlarged in the 1500s. the three nave
interior is supported by imposing columns in Serena stone. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |
www.terraditoscana.com
