Inhabitants in 1991: 3.013
The
municipal territory of Cinigiano extends for 161,66 square kilometres
on a hilly area which slopes down towards the plain of Grosseto, starting
from the Tyrrhenian anti-Apennine mountainous group on which towers l’Amiata.
Medieval castle it was capital of a Podesta Office in the Mediceo period.
In 1956 it suffered the detachment of the district of Montenero, aggregated
to the municipality of Castel del Piano.
In the Medieval era the Lords were the descendents of Bernardino
di Cinigiano, tied by a bond of Vassal to the Counts Aldobrandeschi
of the Santa Fiora branch. In 1254, the sons of Bernardino placed
the castle and its district under a partnership to the republic of
Siena, renewing thus an act of submission to which above all they
did not demonstrate too much loyalty, accustomed as they were to tyrannise
the poor population of Cinigiano. After the nth proof of disloyalty Siena
proclaimed in 1278, Bernardino di Cinigiano, son of the family founder,
with the accusation of having attacked a French prelate who was staying
at Viterbo with the court of Pope Giovanni XXI. Towards the end of
the XIV century Cinigiano was passed, through events not clear, under
the Lordship of the Counts Guidi di Poppi and di Battifolle. In 1389,
Siena decided to recuperate the castle by paying 2,500 gold florins to
Count Francesco di Ugone di Battifolle, but again at the beginning of
the XV century Cinigiano was dependent to the same Lords. Only in 1404
the inhabitants, free of the Lords of the Casentinese lineage, submitted
themselves to the Siena republic, with whom there was a sympathy.
In 1766 Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena decreed that its territory would
become part of the new Grosseto Province.
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford
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