Inhabitants
in 1991: 2.471
The
municipal territory of Campagnatico extends for 162,15 square kilometres
in a partly hilly and partly flat area crossed by the River Ombrone. Medieval
castle, capital of a Podesta Office in modern times, it has suffered over
the years changes to its borders with the detachment between 1920
and 1926 of the districts of Pari, Casal di Pari, Civitella and Paganico
which now form the municipality of Civitella Paganico.
Recorded in a document from 973, Campagnatico and its territory
were subjected to diverse jurisdictions during the Medieval. In
XI century the Abbey of San Salvatore on Monte Amiata and the same Pontiff
court owned land there. Again in the XIII century the castle belonged
in co-ownership to the Visconti di Campiglia and the Aldobrandeschi:
Omberto di Campagnatico was part of the latter lineage, he was
mentioned in the XI Canto of Dante’s Inferno, and who in
1256 attacked and imprisoned in the castle several ambassadors of the
Siena republic. Three years later Siena vindicated the affront it received
by having Omberto killed by assassins; his assets passed then to his sister
Fochina, bride of Donusdeo Tolomei, who already had a lease contract on
one third of the castle, the court and the territory of Campagnatico.
On the death of Tolomei his widow and the other co-owners, the Visconti
di Capiglia, starting in 1282, gradually sold the entire castle to
the Siena republic, to whom in subsequence Capagnatico remained tied.
In 1363 the territory was occupied for a brief time by an adventurer company
captained by Niccolò di Montefeltro. It declined in the Medieval
period and returned to prosperity under the government of the Grand Duke
Pietro Leopoldo I di Lorena who gave it an agricultural reform abolishing
the great landed estates, actuated the rebuilding of the biggest part
of the run down buildings, and promoting the building of a printing house,
a watchmakers and a glassworks. Other major districts of the capital are
also rich in history: Montorsaio, castle owned by the Visconti di Batignano,
then by the Salimbeni di Siena, and from 1375, it passed to the Siena
republic definitively. Theatre of partisan operations during the resistance,
Campagnatico was liberated by the local group on 12 June 1944.
Places to visit: S. Antonio, ex 1200 church, then
Seat of the Perseveranti theatre, the interior is finely decorated
with 1300-1400 murals. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |