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Inhabitants in 1991: 1.558
 The
municipal territory extends for 23,89 square kilometres embracing the
entire surface of the island, one of the major Toscano archipelagos. It
has only two centres: Giglio Castello, capital of the Grand Duchy
community, and Giglio Porto.
The first reliable historic note goes back to the IX century when, because
of the so called false certificate of Carlo Magno and Leone III, the
Isola del Giglio was donated, together with Giannutri, to the Abbey
of the Tre Fontane. In the XII and XIII centuries it was subjugated
to the Aldobrandeschi Lords, who, between 1339 and 1345, ceded
all their possession rights to the Siena republic. In the same era however,
the effective dominion of Pisa was affirmed, Pisa had controlled that
stretch of sea since the XI century.
 At the capitulation
of Pisa in 1406, the island passed under the domination of Firenze
and stayed with them until 1447, when it was occupied by Alfonso
di Aragona, to be then ceded in 1460 to the Piccolomini family.
In 1559, in the process of territorial adjustments following the conclusion
of the war of Italy, it was sold to Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo
I, and at her death it was incorporated into the Grand Duchy. Above
all starting in the XVI century it was the object of repeated pirate
raids, so much so that it was several time repopulated, as when for
example in 1561 Cosimo I promoted the immigration of a Greek colony.
Places to visit:
Villa Marittima, ruins of a villa
from 1 century B.C.
Torre del Lazzaretto, from 1622
Rocca Pisana, 1300 establishment (there remains only one gate)
it was radically restructured during the 1600s. Inside the walls one
finds the parochial of S. Pietro Apostolo, also from the 1300s
and enlarged in the XVIII century. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization
of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi
e Giuridici
Picture by Sandro Santioli
Translated by Ann Mountford
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