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Towns of the area

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Monticiano

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Inhabitants in 1991: 1.444

The municipal territory of Monticiano extends for 109,45 square kilometres in the hills of the valley of the river Merse. Feudal centre, then Vicariate Seat.

The first sure news of the castle of Monticiano was in 1171, when controlled by the local Lords the Lambardi, it was in fact submitted to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Volterra, Ildebrando Pannocchieschi, and confirmed to his successor Pagano in 1224 by Emperor Federico II. But there were in time, also claims over Monticiano by the city of Siena who by the middle of the 1200s considered it as part of their own county and after the battle of Colle (1269) occupied it with the army and in punishment for giving shelter to the exiling Ghibellini, had the walls and the fort of Castelvecchio knocked down. Monticiano was thus definitely subjected to the Siena municipality and in 1310 it became Vicariate Seat. In 1554 Monticiano passed under the Mediceo government, but in 1629 it was offered in feudal by Ferdinando II to Count Orso Pannocchieschi d’Elchi. Only in 1749 was the Lordship of the Pannocchieschi terminated but they remained proprietors of large portions of the land. During the resistance, Monticiano was chosen as base for the organisation of the first Siena partisan nuclei and became the operation zone of the Garibaldi brigade “Spartaco Lavagnini”. Among the numerous acts of war, of particular importance was the encounter between the partisans and the Germans on the night between 3 and 4 June 1944 in the town square.

Places to visit
S. Agostino, 1300s church with the interior remodelled in Baroque style. In the adjacent ex convent are preserved 1400s frescoes.

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


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