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History of San Casciano in Val di Pesa in Tuscany

Dating back to Roman times, there was a stage post on the top of a hill which descended to Florence where the tenth cornerstone of the Florentine colony was set. The first written document about the colony is found in a 1043 parchment, but resulting from numerous Etruscan remains found in the area, it seems to have been inhabited since the 8th century.

The proximity to Florence and the amenities of the area, continuousy crossed by merchants and soldiers, let the area live through some of the most famous events of Roman and Italian history. In the 14th century, the Emperor Arrigo VII camped on the hill of San Casciano, occupying the village and destroying all of the castles in the Pesa valley.

Shortly after the Emperor’s departure, Castruccio Castracani arrived in San Casciano and destroyed the entire village. In 1343, construction began on the first circle of fortified city walls, finishing only in 1356. From that moment the raids stopped and a season of productivity of Florentine and Sienese artists left many works of art in this area. During all of the 1400’s, rich Florentine families built their palaces here.

Beginning in 1512, Niccolò Machiavelli, exiled to his villa in S.Andrea in Percussina, wrote his most important works. In the first half of the 1500’s, the town ceased to be sentry of Florence, and city gates, towers and bastions were demolished. The castles became spacious villas for the solace of rich Florentine families, and the furnaces of the Della Robbia were opened.

At the end of the 16th century, the town was invaded by the reformation mania of the baroque reign, but without the havoc that destroyed many valuable works of art in other areas.
After the destruction of the past, in 1944, the mines of the German army and the Anglo-American bombings reduced the land to a hill of ruin.

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