|
Inhabitants in 1991: 4.417
 The
municipal territory of Palaia extends for 73,82 square kilometres in the
Val d’Era on one of the highest crest which divides it from the
Valle dell’Arno; comprising hills and plains. In the first half
of the 1900s it suffered a series of territorial reductions, and an increase
in 1928 with the aggregation of the district Ogliati, part of the municipality
of San Miniato.
Around the XI century, an era in which the first certain historical
news arises, Palaia was a castle belonging half to the Bishops of Lucca
and half to the family of local Lords. Successive Imperial certificates,
that of Enrico VI (1191), and Carlo IV (1355), confirmed the Ecclesiastic
jurisdiction on the Episcopate of Lucca, but affirmed at the same
time the political and civil jurisdiction to the municipality of Pisa,
causing and fuelling a centuries old discord between the two cities. Palaia
passed then from one dominion to the other until 1406 when during
the siege of Pisa it subjected itself, together with the other castles
in the Val d’Era and the Pisane hills, to the Fiorentina republic.
Except for a brief period of occupation by the troops of the Visconti
di Milano, at war with Firenze in 1431, and a rebellious attempt in 1495
it remained stable under the Firenze dominion sharing their fate
until the Unity of Italy.
Places to visit:
S. Martino, Romanic-Gothic parish church of the XIII century
and remodelled in the 1800s. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |
