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Visita il Mugello, culla dei Medici, a due passi da Firenze e le bellezze toscane
 

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Towns of the area

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Montelupo Fiorentino

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Inhabitants in 1991: 10.064

The municipal territory of Montelupo Fiorentino extends for 24,60 square kilometres in Valdarno Inferiore. it had its origins as Seat of a Medieval Podesta Office. A modest group of houses called Malborghetto at the influx of the river Pesa into the Arno existed in the place where the Fiorentini, in order to confront Pistoia and the stock of the Counts Alberti da Capraia their allies, erected in 1203 an armed castle with the aim of making the passage of the Arno and the access to the valley of Pesa safer; according to the chronicles the name itself should have sounded like a derisive warning to the enemy (Monte Lupo meaning Mountain Wolf and Alberti da Capraia meaning Alberts of the Goats).

The castle, once it had tamed the riotous Counts of Capraia was reduced to a modest observation point, given over to the care of a chatelaine and a few soldiers, while at is feet the same name village was developing and was soon surrounded by walls. In 1325 Castruccio Castracani put the village to "fire and sword" and the following year the Firenze municipal ordered them to erect new and ampler walls surrounded the township. In the immediate neighbourhood Ferdinando I dei Medici, at the start of the XVII century, had erected, on the design of Buontalenti, the villa called Ambrogiana. Montelupo suffered severe damage during the last war, when nearly half the buildings were destroyed or gravely damaged. At Montelupo was born the sculpture and architect Bartolomeo Sinibaldi, better known as Baccio da Montelupo (1469-1535).

Places to visit:
The Castle, on the top of the hill the ruins and the high tower hosts the house of Baccio da Montelupo, a 1500s well and the priory of S. Lorenzo, with fragments of murals from 1284.
Pallazzo del Podestà, 1300 building endowed with a portico and arcade, has a facade rich with heraldic coats of arms Hosts the Museum of archaeology and ceramics.
S. Giovanni Evangelista, parish church with three naves, it was remade in 1756.

Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford

 
 
 
   
 
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