|  Inhabitants in 1991: 6.316
 The
municipal territory of Castelnuovo Berardenga extends for 177,03 square
kilometres between the plain and the hills of the high valley of the river
Ombrone. The original nucleus of the community goes back to the XIV
century but the definitive aspect was dated from 1777 with the Leopoldina
reform.
The district of Berardenga took its name from the Noble Berardo,
of Franca stock, who lived in the second half of the X century and was
the descendant of a Guinigi who had been Count of Siena. With the desegregation
of the Carolingian order and the consequent loss of Noble title, the
family Berardenga managed, between the X century and the beginning
of the XIII to impose their Lordship over a vast zone of the eastern district
of Siena, denominated for the first time Terra Berardinga in 1050.
But from the middle of the XII century Siena began to exercise an even
tighter control on the territory, which already, from the beginning of
the 1200s, had been inserted into the administrative committee, becoming
then Vicariate Seat in the first years of the 1300s. It was only in 1366
that the Siena government took the decision to construct a new castle
in the centre in this important territory: Castelnuovo was thus born,
destined to be the capital and economic mainstay of the Berardenga.
The fortifications were finished quickly and the castle had just begun
to take on its function when it suffered the assault of the Fiorentino
army captained by Giovanni Acuto (1382); Other attempts were made
by Firenze to remove Castelnuovo from Siena between the end of the 1400s
and the beginning of the 1500s, but only in 1554 was this managed with
the annexation of all the Siena State to the Mediceo Duchy. Montaperti
is in the municipality of Castelnuovo, and was the theatre of the battle
of 4 September 1260 which saw the victory of the Siena Ghibellina over
the Fiorentini troops and their Guelfi allies.
Places to visit:
The Castle, constructed in 1366, today one of the towers and
a few ruins remain. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |
