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History of Sesto Fiorentino in the Province of Florence, Tuscany

The territory of Sesto is distributed over the Florentine plane and the hills that peak in Mount Morello. It has been inhabited since remote times, as the numerous Etruscan tombs discovered in the area demonstrate Among these, the Tomb della Mula and the Tomb della Montagnola are well preserved. The area was later colonized by the Romans.

The name of the town originated during this time, corresponding to the milestone which signaled the sixth mile (“Sesto”) from Florence on the Via Cassia (Sextus ab urbe lapis). From the first years of the 1200’s, the territory was under the Florentine Diocese. Because of high taxes, the population of Sesto rebelled in 1260, receiving in exchange an excommunication. It passed under the Florentine Republic and in the 1300’s, the village grew both in economic and demographic terms, becoming the chief municipality of the countryside.

The reclamation of the wetlands, began by the Florentine Republic, gave an impulse of prosperity to the surrounding areas. It was reunited with Fiesole in a podestà where the residing magistrate lived periodically in both towns.

In 1736, the manufacture of Doccia porcelain was started by the marquis Carlo Ginori, which signaled the rapid industrialization of the area, creating a numerous and pugnacious working class. In 1898, the first of a series of Socialist administrations was installed in the municipality, which lasted until 1922, when the inhabitants suffered the fascist reaction.

The present arrangement of the municipality dates back to 1928, with the transfer of a part of the territory to Florence, and countered by the acquisition of part of the suppressed municipality of Brozzi.

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