|  Inhabitants in 1991: 87.830
 The
municipal territory of Pistoia extends over an area of 236,77 square kilometres
on the edge of the plains, between Monte Albano and the Appenniniche
slopes on the left of the river Ombrone, partly in the plain partly hilly
and part on the first foothills of the mountains. A city of Roman foundation,
which maintains its original urban aspects even in the Dark Ages. In the
first centuries after the year one thousand it was surrounded by walls
which enclosed a surface of around ten hectares, enlarged during the 1200s
in so much that the new walls, constructed in the first half of the
1300s and still in existence, contained an area of one hundred and
forty hectares. The municipal growth stopped like this until 1877
when the municipal borders were enlarged with the aggregation of the districts
of Porta al Borgo, Porta Carratica, Porta Lucchese and Porta San Marco,
while in 1939 part of the district of Cireglio was detached and aggregated
to the municipality of Piteglio.
 The
city of Pistoia, which claims its origins in the II century B.C.
due to the fact that the Roman army needed to make use of a fortified
settlement as a logistic base in the war against the Liguri for the
conquest of the Appenninica area, it developed rapidly, also thanks to
the fact that it was crossed by the via Cassia. It was on the rise
overlooking the city that, in 62 B.C., the rebel Catilina was surrounded
by two Roman legions and killed. At the time of the first Barbaric
invasions it suffered destruction and consequent depopulation which
considerably reduced the urban area; at the end of the V century however,
the presence of their own Bishop was documented. Elevated to the rank
of King’s City by the Longobardi (who made it Seat of a Gastaldo
[Steward] independent of the Duchies of Lucca and Firenze), at the centre
of a committee in the Carolingian era, during which most of the Pistoia
territory ended up being divided up in a series of possessions already
held by certain Lordly dynasties like the Counts Guidi and the Cadolingi,
its inhabitants quickly organised themselves in a municipal organisation,
as is shown in the first mention of the Consuls of Pistoia, which goes
back to 1105, while the oldest written statute is ascribable to
1117. In the XII century the city was in full expansion and enlarged its
boundaries with a second surrounding wall. Under the influence of notable
commercial instigations, its politics were orientated towards an alliance
with Pisa, which is also testified by the artistic activity of Giovanni
Pisano, preserved in the church of Sant’Andrea. Pistoia’s
importance grew with the expansion of the exchanges and commercial traffic
in the Dark Ages, thanks to its position at the point of convergence of
the routes to the north of Italy, the Valdarno Inferiore and Firenze.
During the XIII century it fought a long series of conflicts
against Prato, Firenze, Lucca and Bologna and at the same time it
was divided internally by the district struggles between the Guelfi
and Ghibellini, aggravated at the end of the 1300s by the split between
the Bianchi and the Neri, originating from an internal division in the
Cancellieri family. In 1306, in order to punish a government in part Bianca
filo Ghibellino the Fiorentini army and that of Lucca united, after
a hard eleven month siege and starvation the city was conquered and the
walls razed to the ground. In the following years there were episodes
of struggle and brief moments of independence which were alternated by
the incidents by certain members of the local magnate class and Castruccio
Castracani from Lucca (Lord of Pistoia from 1322 to 1328) and to the always
more unavoidable Fiorentina guardianship, in the person of the magistracy
by the Captain in Charge. From 1401 the dominion of Firenze was definitely
affirmed over Pistoia, helped not least, by the civil struggle which continued
to divide the two opposing families of the Panciatichi and the Cancellieri.
Using as an excuse the centuries old feud which continued in the city
and in the territory for a further century, Cosimo I in 1538 abolished
for a decade all forms of auto-government, trusting the city and its
territory to four all powerful commissioners and successively (1556) to
a consul of the Pratica Segreta (secret commission) so that in time Pistoia
followed, completely overwhelmed, the choice and the fate of the Medicea
politics. In 1643, it was attacked by the Barbarini, in
the war between the Farnese of Parma and Pope Urbano VIII, but was able
to fend them off. During the Leopoldina era, which without doubt
marked a moment of economic and cultural revival for the city,
a politics of dynamic attention to the needs of the people was put into
action, with the administrative reforms, prepared by considerable public
works incentives for the resurgent entrepreneurial class.
The encouragement by the Grand Duke also maintained the important diocese
synod convoked in September 1786 by Bishop Scipione de’Ricci with
the intention of activating many reforms in the Jansenistic sense, pronouncing
among other things of being in favour of the subordination of the church
to the State; nevertheless the synod decisions were definitively condemned
in 1794 with the edict “Auctorem fidei by Pontiff Pio VI. The French
domination at the beginning of the 1800s was lived without particular
tension, in fact even with a little satisfaction to see the city made
Seat of a Subprefecture. The Lorenese restoration determined in
the first place an appreciable withdrawal by the jurisdictional faculty,
with the establishment of a Kings Commission in the city and the reestablishment
of the county Podesta office, in order to establish an enlargement of
the jurisdictional territory with the nomination of Pistoia as capital
of the district, and finally a new downgrading (1851) as soon as an
animated hotbed of anti Grand Duke activity emerged. The cultural urban
centres such as the Science, Letters and Art Academies in fact promoted
meetings of lettered men with patriotic aims and Niccolò Puccini,
a landed gentry from there, was a person of not little importance in the
domain of the moderate Toscans. Between the 18 and 1900s another from
Pistoia, by adoption, stood out for his intense political activity as
well as his cultural interests: Ferdinando Martini. During the twenty
years of Fascism founded in Pistoia by the agreement of the land
owners and managers of the major industrial complexes, compensated
by the provincial autonomy granted in 1927, the opposition to the regime,
even though severely repressed, had survived clandestinely by way of groups
which were seen in the Italian Communist Party, but also of diverse orientation,
above all among the students: libertarian communists, anarchists, Catholics.
Following the armistice Pistoia was occupied by the German army for a
further twelve months, the population continued to suffer and it was
made worse by the frequent allied bombardments; even with many difficulties
the partisan movement managed to distinguish itself with both actions
in the city and from bases placed in the Pistoia mountains.
After the war Pistoia keenly applied itself to the work of reconstruction,
while the local administration powers were trusted to the political strength
of the left. The notable improvement of the way of life, evident in part
from the 1960s, brought a consistent growth of the resident population
and rapid construction development in the suburbs, without evident strain
on the tranquil and industrious Pistoia society.
Among the illustrious men who were born in Pistoia one must at least
mention the poet and jurisconsult Cino da Pistoia (1270 ca.-1336),
artist Niccolò di Tommaso (middle XIV sec.), chronicler
ser Luca Dominici (1363-1410), humanist Sozomeno (died1478),
poet Antonio Cammelli (1436 1502), Giulio Rospigliosi (1600-1669)
who became Pope with the name of Clemente IX, burlesque poet Niccolò
Forteguerri (1674-1735), sculptor Marino Marini (1901-1980) and architect
Giovanni Michelucci (1891-1991).
Places to visit:
Piazza della Sala, from the
Longobarda era, the “Sala Regis” (King’s Salon)
was erected here, that is the palace of the governor of the city.
A triangular square, since the year one thousand it has been the Seat
of meetings, parties and markets. At its centre is found the Pozzo
(well) from 1453 with covered columns.
Piazza del Duomo;
large space of Medieval origins, onto which the major public and sacred
buildings of the city face.
Palazzo del Comune, elegant
example of Gothic architecture built between 1200 and 1300 firstly
under the direction of the Guelfi, then under that of the Ghibellini.
The interior was defined in the XV century. It hosts, on the first
floor, the Civic Museum formed by the collection of sacred
art.
Palazzo Pretorio, rich with mullioned windows with
two lights and coats of arms, it was built in 1367 on a pre-existing
building.
Palazzo dei Vescovi, constructed in the X century
next to the Cathedral, as Episcopal residence, it was successively
enlarged . The complex was the Episcopal Seat until 1786. Today it
is the property of a bank, and one can still visit it. In the basement
the Archaeological Route has been organised, equipped to illustrate
the evolution of the zone; The Capitolare Museum, on the first
floor, where it is possible to admire the Treasures of the “Opera
S.Jacopo” and the extremely precious shrine of the Virgin.
The Cathedral, dominates the square of the same name with a
fascinating façade with three different balconies. Founded
in the V century, it was remodelled in the Romanic Pisa form in the
XII and XIII centuries. In the following centuries it underwent diverse
remodelling, the last in 1951. It is named for S. Zeno. The three
nave interior preserves paintings and statues by famous artists, together
with the Renaissance masterpiece by Verrocchio: the Sepulchre Monument
to Cardinal Forteguerri.
Baptistery, an octagonal plan,
in Gothic style, found in front of the Cathedral. It was erected in
1337 on the location of a previous church. The interior conserves
a precious finely worked marble tank from 1226.
Ceppo Hospital,
present day sanitary structure, it was constructed in 1277 between
the first and second surrounding walls. The extremely beautiful Fiorentino
arcade, was enriched successively by the enamelled freeze from the
studio of Della Robbia, figuring the “Sette Opere di Misericordia”
(The seven works of Compassion).
S. Giovanni Fuorcivitas,
church constructed between the XII and XIII centuries, with an incomplete
façade, but with the northern side covered in white and green
marble and decorated with three blind arches. The single nave interior
preserves among other works a notable pulpit by frà Guglielmo
da Pisa from 1200
S. Andrea, parish church founded in the
Dark Ages, it is an example of Romanic Pistoia architecture; has an
incomplete façade. The three nave interior is very narrow and
holds a precious pulpit by Giovanni Pisano and diverse sculptures.
S. Bartolomeo in Pantano, church which owes part of its name
to the marshy location on which it was decided to erect it in 1159.
The Romaic Pistoia style has an incomplete façade. The bell
tower was erected over a cut off tower. The interior with basilica
plan is frescoed and conserves a pulpit by Guido da Como from 1250. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization
of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi
e Giuridici
Picture by Sandro Santioli
Translated by Ann Mountford
|
www.terraditoscana.com
