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History of Certaldo in the Valdelsa near Florence

Two sharp peaks on a hill outside Certaldo hide many traces of the Roman and Etruscan civilization: the experts discovered that the Poggio del Boccaccio was actually seat of an impressive Etruscan tomb chamber of the 3rd-2nd century B.C. In the 7th century an agricultural center was commenced. Escavations dug in the stone of 'Poggio alle Fate' (the name of a hill) have revealed 'Pozzi-silos', a bottle-shaped, underground granary made by the Romans.

Today the shape of the original centre that stands on the hill (Certaldo Alta or Castello) and that still preserves the original, medieval and renaissance structures, complements the modernity of the industrial centre (il Borgo) and city centre that developed on the plain, along the river Elsa and stream Agliena, during the last two centuries.

The centre of Certaldo lies at the foot of a castle owned by the Alberti family, on the Via Francigena, the major route that linked Canterbury to Rome and this was certified by a document of Barbarossa (1164): but Alberto Degli Alberti, captured by the Florentines in Pogni, in the area of Marcialla, decided to destroy its towers.

Subject to Florence, in 1923 Certaldo entered officially the Florentine Municipality. In 1415 Certaldo is seat of the vicarship of Valdipesa: where once stood the castle there is the Praetorian Building and new walls are built. The plunder of 1479 by the troops of the king of Naples and by the Pope, allied of Siena, doesn't prevent Certaldo from developing; in the surrounding area of the marketplace, which had a very flourishing activity, at the foot of the hill, there is a big built up area.

In 1748 the vicariate was abolished by grand duke Pietro Leopoldo and included in that of San Miniato. This was an act that caused decline and regression – reported also by Lord Byron – from which the city of Certaldo recovered only from the second half of 1800. Death and destruction characterized the city during the Second World War, for the most part between 1943 and 1944.

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