|
Inhabitants in 1991: 2.508
 The
municipal territory of Castellina extends for 99,45 square kilometres
on the hills which dominate the three valleys of the Elsa, the Arbia and
the Pesa. Originally a Lordly centre it became capital of community
in 1774 following the Leopoldina reform, with a territory almost identical
to the “terziere” (Thirds) of the Chianti League which had
for centuries been the chief.
The presence of the Etruscan underground vault at Montecalvario, near
to the town of Castellina, proves that the place was populated from
the VII century B.C.; the first documented news of the centre was
from the beginning of the XIII century when the nobles of the Castel of
Trebbio were its Lords (from where comes the name of Castellina dei Trebbiesi);
after their submission to Firenze in 1193, Castellina passed under
the direct dominion of the Toscano capital.
 With the
Fiorentina conquest of all the Chianti region and the institution
of the same name league in the middle of the 1200s, Castellina was put
at the head of one of the three “terzieri” into which the
League was subdivided administratively, becoming from then on, for its
strategic position, a point of referral for Firenze in her
struggle against Siena. Destroyed in 1397 by the army of Alberico da Barbiano
in the pay of the Visconti allied to Siena, Castellina was reconstructed
and fortified in the first decades of the 1400s. Though remaining loyal
to Firenze, new sieges and devastation had to be suffered in the course
of the XV century by the Aragonese army and also for a short lived conquest
by Siena (from 1478 to 1483) until the termination of the long war between
Siena and Firenze in 1554 with the inclusion of all the Siena territory
in the Mediceo State.
Places to visit:
Tumulo di Montecalvario, a little way out of the town, can
be found this structure formed by four tombs from VII-VI century B.C. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of
Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e
Giuridici
Picture by Sandro Santioli
Translated by Ann Mountford
|
