Inhabitants in 1991: 4.065
The
Montecarlo territory extends for 15,59 square kilometres on the hilly
pre-appenninica crest which divides the Valdinievole from the plain of
Lucca. It reached its present day aspect in 1881 when the districts
of Altopascio, Marginone and Spianate, were detached to constitute the
new municipality of Altopascio.
Montecarlo developed in the late Medieval era around a castle
founded in 1333 on the hillock of Cerruglio in honour of Emperor
Carlo IV of Boemia, whose troops and helped Lucca in the war with Pisa.
In the village the populations of San Lorenzo in Campo, destroyed in
1314 by Uguccione della Faggiola, and those of the castle of Vivinaia
merged together. Its military importance, because of its position
and the efficiency of its fortification, grew in time and Montecarlo soon
had a vast jurisdiction over the surrounding plains. Maintaining itself
for about a century under the dominion of Lucca who put it into
the Vicariate of Valleriana, in 1429 it was besieged by the Fiorentini,
who became stable possessors in 1437. Fallen under the power of
Piero Strozzi in 1554, under the Mediceo government it was raised
to capital of the Vicariate, remaining so until 1772. Montecarlo
is the birthplace of the mathematician and physicist Barolomeo Bianucci
(1717-1791).
Places to visit:
The Fortress of Montecarlo, erected in 1300s around an older fort.
S. Andrea, 1300 parochial, remodelled at the end of the 1700s. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |