Montelupo Fiorentino is a ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' (municipality) in the
Metropolitan City of Florence
The Metropolitan City of Florence ( it, Città Metropolitana di Firenze) is an administrative division called Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Tuscany region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Florence. It replaced the Provin ...
in the Italian region
Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Citizenship
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 = Italian
, demogra ...
, located about southwest of
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
.
Geography
The area is predominantly hilly and is crossed by the river
Pesa that, particularly in the municipal area, flows into the
Arno
The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.
Source and route
The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a ...
river.
History
Human presence in the area of Montelupo dates back to the
Palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone to ...
era. Evidence of this are the many
prehistoric sites which have been identified in the last twenty years, in the municipal area.
Testimony of human presence during the
classical era
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
recently emerged from
Etruscan civilization
The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...
tombs in the old town and from the discovery of a Roman villa dating from the Republican age. The place was known as
Mansio ad Arnum, as evidenced in the
Tabula Peutingeriana
' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire.
The map is a 13th-ce ...
, and it is probable that in the area there was a bridge that, during
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
, permitted the crossing of the river
Arno
The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.
Source and route
The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a ...
.
During the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the area faced threats of
barbarian invasions, and the population left the plains and relocated to the surrounding hills. This phenomenon reached its peak during the 10th century, during the time of power struggles between the great families Guidi, Cadolingi and Alberti. These families realized in the area, a dense network of military facilities, which included the towns of
Capraia
Capraia is an Italian island, the northwesternmost of the seven islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, and the third largest after Elba and Giglio.
It is also a ''comune'' (Capraia Isola) belonging to the Province of Livorno. The island has a p ...
and Montelupo Fiorentino.
At the end of the 12th century AD, began the expansion stage of Florence in the area, which found the fierce opposition of the Counts Alberti. Beginning on the 13th century AD, the town of Montelupo Fiorentino is destroyed by the Florentines, whom, on the same site, built a walled castle - true symbol of their domination in the territory.
Towards the end of the 14th century AD, Montelupo Fiorentino (who never had the name of Malborghetto, a real romantic invention) became a "walled village" of the Florentine countryside. The walls were built in 1348 (the year of the
Black Death), and the Statute of the Powers dates back to 1414.
Until the 16th century AD, Montelupo Fiorentino lived his golden age. In mid 17th century AD, due to the plague that hit the area hard, a period of decline began, and irreversibly Montelupo Fiorentino was led to a drastic restructuring, which reached its peak in the late 18th century AD.
Since then and until World War II, Montelupo Fiorentino found himself on the border of everything. The country was shaken in the last half of the 20th century AD by some catastrophic natural events in nature. Most important are the floods of 1949,1966 and 1992. In these three events in fact, the
Arno
The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber.
Source and route
The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a ...
River north of Montelupo Fiorentino, and the
Pesa River adjacent, flood submerging the country below four meters of water (two meters in 1992).
Production of ceramics during the Renaissance
Montelupo Fiorentino was one of the most important centers of pottery production during the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...
, particularly tin-glazed earthenware known in Italy as .
Montelupo was producing maiolica by the fourteenth century, usually painted with non-figurative motifs derived from imported Islamic ceramics. By the fifteenth century, the city's workshops had developed their own regional style.
Since then, and for more than three centuries, the furnaces have proliferated within the city walls (built in the mid-14th century), to over 50 units at the end of the 15th century. The production level was such that required an “Editto del Potestà” (
Edict
An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement".
''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum.
Notable edicts
* Telepinu Pro ...
) to prohibit that the huge quantities of waste and processing residues were thrown in the adjacent
Pesa River, so to avoid its stream to be diverted.
![Montelupo Arlecchino plate 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Montelupo_Arlecchino_plate_03.jpg)
In the mid-15th century, Montelupo was an important part of the circulation of techniques and knowledge that characterized that period of history. Artists trained in Montelupo Fiorentino went to work in the cities of
Faenza and
Cafaggiolo
The Villa Medicea di Cafaggiolo is a villa situated near the Tuscan town of Barberino di Mugello in the valley of the River Sieve, some 25 kilometres north of Florence, central Italy. It was one of the oldest and most favoured of the Me ...
, among others. Montelupo’s potters have also been documented in
Caltagirone, where they influenced the pottery traditions that continue today.
Some pieces of Montelupo Fiorentino pottery have been found in archaeological sites in Central America related to the first European settlement in the area, as well as in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and Scotland.
Among Montelupo’s ceramics were Renaissance “''istoriato''” (historiated) maiolica, which is featured in international museums such as (
Musée de Cluny
The Musée de Cluny ("Cluny Museum", ), also known as Musée national du Moyen Âge – Thermes et hôtel de Cluny ("National Museum of the Middle Ages – Cluny thermal baths and mansion"), is a museum of the Middle Ages in Paris, Fr ...
, and
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
. A particular specialty was the 17th century "Arlecchini" style, a satirical depiction of different professions and national types, including the fearsome
Landsknechts
The (singular: , ), also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were Germanic mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line wa ...
, German mercenaries who fought on behalf of
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
At the end of the 17th century, after the production of wonderful artifacts for pharmacies Florentine Dominicans of
San Marco
San Marco is one of the six sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Saint Mark's Square, that was never admin ...
and
Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
The ch ...
was finished, it began the slow but inexorable decline in the production of ceramics in Montelupo. Only through the production of the Capraia’s pots the tradition survived during the 18th and 19th centuries. The memory of the great ceramics of Montelupo, was then lost.
In 1977, the volunteers of the "Archaeological Group of Montelupo Fiorentino”, discovered inside the castle, overlooking the medieval village, the mouth of a large well (the well of washing), filled with fragments of pottery from the town’s kilns. The findings are displayed in the
Museum of Ceramics of Montelupo
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
.
International relations
Montelupo Fiorentino is
twinned with:
*
Manises
Manises (, ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Horta Oest in the Valencian Community, Spain. Located in the province of Valencia, it had 30,693 inhabitants in 2018 (NSI) and is famous for its pottery and being the location of Valencia Airp ...
, Spain
*
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie (; oc, Mostiers Santa Maria), or simply Moustiers, is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. In 2017, it had a population of 709. It considere ...
, France
*
Beaucaire (Gard), France
*
Nove
Nove is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza in the region of Veneto, north-eastern Italy, with just over 5,000 inhabitants. It is located on the Brenta river, near Marostica and Bassano del Grappa.
The town is home of a local networ ...
, Italy
References
External links
Official website
{{authority control
Cities and towns in Tuscany