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Towns of the area

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Carmignano

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Inhabitants in 1991: 9.584

The municipal territory of Carmignano extends for 38,59 square kilometres in a region mostly hilly, in the valley dell’Ombrone Pistoiese. Seat of a Podesta office in the Medieval capital of community (in 1774 with the Leopoldine reforms), in recent time (in 1962) the districts of Poggio a Caiano and Poggetto were detached to form the new municipality of Poggio a Caiano.

Perhaps of Roman origin (as the place name testifies), Carmignano was mentioned for the first time in a document of 998, when Emperor Ottone III confirmed the possession of the land to the Pistoiese Bishop, under whom the jurisdiction of the castle remained until 1125. It then became fortified as stronghold of the frontier of the Pistoiese borders, provoking the ambitions of Prato and Firenze who tried more than once to take it from Pistoia; this was achieved by Firenze in 1228 and the victors imposed the destruction of the walls and the tower, which among other things were newly erected during the XIII century. In 1301 Carlo di Valois, sent as peace maker to Firenze, gave Carmignano to his man of trust the banker Musciatto Franzesi, already Lord of Staggia. He in turn sold it to Firenze in 1306 on the occasion of the Capitalisation of Pistoia, but in 1314 the Carmignanese managed by their own will to return under the government of Pistoia, and then asked to again become part of the Fiorentino county in 1325. Occupied in the same year by Castruccio Castracani during his war against Firenze. The castle was retaken by the Fiorentini and their allies Pratesi, after an extremely hard battle in 1328. From then on it was definitively part of the Fiorentino State. In the communal territory one must also mention Comeana, an ancient Etruscan settlement, and in the Dark Ages possessed by the Magnate Mazzinghi family. Artimino was also an important Etruscan centre probably destroyed by the troops of Silla, then in the Medieval a well populated fortified centre which saw similar political events to that of Carmignano until the Fiorentina annexation in 1330 and which is noted for the Medicea villa built by the Buontalenti for Ferdinando I in 1594.

Places to visit:
La Ferdinanda, elegant Medicea villa built for Ferdinando I as a hunting lodge. It has as a particular characteristic a large number of chimney stacks, in that every room had a fireplace.

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


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